The two fees
When an item sells on Whatnot, two separate fees are deducted before the money reaches you:
- Commission— Whatnot’s share of the sale, a percentage of the item’s final sale price.
- Payment processing — 2.9% plus a flat $0.30, charged on every transaction.
On a single $100.00 sale at the standard 8% commission:
Fee 1: Commission — 8% for most categories
Commission is charged on the item’s final sale price, excluding shipping and taxes. For most categories the rate is 8%. Coins & Money is 4%, and Whatnot runs limited-time promotions — at the time of writing, several categories pay 0% on the portion of a sale above $1,500.
Because the rate varies by category and promotion, the calculator lets you set your own commission percentage instead of assuming one.
Fee 2: Payment processing — 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
Processing covers the cost of charging the buyer’s card. It has two parts: 2.9% of the amount paid, plus a flat $0.30 for every transaction. It is charged per transaction even when purchases are later bundled into one shipment, and $0 giveaway items incur no processing fee at all.
One accuracy note: Whatnot applies the 2.9% to the total the buyer pays at checkout, which includes buyer-paid shipping and tax. Our calculator estimates processing from item totals in your export, so your real processing fees run slightly higher when buyers pay shipping or tax on top.
The $0.30 problem: why low prices get eaten
The 2.9% scales with price, but the $0.30 is the same whether an item sells for $1 or $100. So the effective processing rate depends entirely on your average order value:
The dashed line is the 2.9% floor — everything above it is the $0.30.
| Average order value | 2.9% part | $0.30 part | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1.00 | 2.9% | 30.0% | 32.9% |
| $2.00 | 2.9% | 15.0% | 17.9% |
| $5.00 | 2.9% | 6.0% | 8.9% |
| $10.00 | 2.9% | 3.0% | 5.9% |
| $25.00 | 2.9% | 1.2% | 4.1% |
| $50.00 | 2.9% | 0.6% | 3.5% |
| $100.00 | 2.9% | 0.3% | 3.2% |
A stream of $1 sales hands 32.9% of revenue to payment processing before commission even enters. The same $0.30 on a $25 average is barely noticeable. Raising average order value — bundling, fewer $1 starts — is the only lever that moves this number; commission stays the same percentage no matter the order size.
What actually lands
Net earnings = final sale price − commission − payment processing. Cancelled and failed orders incur no fees, and the calculator excludes them from every figure for the same reason.
See your own numbers — upload your export
Don’t have the file? Here’s how to export it from Whatnot.
Rates verified against Whatnot’s official seller-fee article on 27 July 2026. Rates and promotions can change — Whatnot’s page is the authority; your order receipts are the ground truth.