Marketplace fee calculator
The headline commission is the tip of the iceberg. Stack every cut — commission, service fees, ads, forced discounts, per-order fees — into one effective take-rate, and see what it drains from your margin each month.
- Free
- Your numbers, in your browser
- No sign-up
Shopee fashion (Category A): 10% admin + per-order processing fee. Adjust to your category.
The commission is not the cost
Every seller knows their headline commission. Almost none track the full stack — the mandatory service fees, the ads you must run to stay visible, the campaign discounts you’re pushed into, the per-order processing fee. One by one each looks reasonable. Added together, they’re why margin never improves even as revenue grows.
The fix isn’t to leave the marketplace — it’s strong at discovery. It’s to stop paying the full take-rate on every order. Let the marketplace find a buyer once, then move the relationship to a channel you own, where the second order and beyond don’t pay the cut again. See how that works on a channel you own, and estimate the WhatsApp side with the cost calculator.
Frequently asked questions
What is an “effective take-rate”?
The effective take-rate is the share of every sale a marketplace actually keeps once you add up everything — category commission, mandatory service fees, ads you must run to stay visible, forced campaign discounts, per-order processing fees, paylater costs, and returns. The headline commission is only one line. The effective take-rate is the honest number, and it is usually far higher than the commission alone.
Why include ads and forced discounts as marketplace costs?
Ads and forced discounts count because on most marketplaces they are not optional. Visibility is pay-to-play, so ad spend is the price of continuing to sell, not a one-time acquisition cost, and campaign discounts are often required to join the traffic events that drive sales. If a cost is effectively mandatory to keep selling, it belongs in your take-rate.
Is this a substitute for leaving the marketplace?
No — marketplaces are strong at discovery, and this calculator is not an argument to quit them. The fix is to separate discovery from ownership: let the marketplace find a buyer once, then move the relationship to a channel you own (like WhatsApp) so repeat orders do not pay the full take-rate again. The calculator shows what those repeat orders are costing you today.
What would the same repeat order cost on WhatsApp?
On a channel you own, a repeat order carries no marketplace take-rate — only Meta’s per-message WhatsApp fee, published on Meta’s official rate card and free inside a customer-initiated service window. Compare that with the effective take-rate this calculator shows for your own account — commission, service fees, ads, and forced discounts stacked on every repeat order. Estimate the messaging side with the WhatsApp cost calculator.
Own the second order — on WhatsApp.
Let the marketplace find the buyer; keep the relationship. bitbybit captures the customer, builds the record, and re-sells on WhatsApp where repeat orders skip the take-rate. Start free, no credit card.