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Flip profit calculator
Type a sale. See what is left after commission, the flat fee, the label, the mailer, and what you paid. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Enter your numbers above.
Why the fee rate is a box you type
Commissions and per-order fees move. They also vary by category and by seller status. A calculator that hard-codes last year's eBay number is wrong the week a schedule changes. Read your current rate from the platform's own fee page and type it here. The tool stays usable.
How is flip profit calculated?
The flip profit calculator runs one line of arithmetic, and you can run the same line on paper.
- Buyer pays = sale price, plus shipping if the buyer pays it.
- Commission = your fee rate × what the buyer paid.
- Net profit = buyer pays − commission − per-order fee − label − packaging − what you paid for the item.
- Net margin = net profit ÷ sale price.
- Return on inventory = net profit ÷ what you paid.
- Break-even sale price = the price where net profit reaches zero, after commission on that price and on any shipping the buyer pays.
A worked example with the defaults
With the defaults, net profit is $27.46, a 69% net margin on the $40 sale. The defaults are a $40 sale, $8 shipping paid by the buyer, a 13% fee on the $48 total, a $0.40 per-order fee, an $8 label, $0.90 of packaging and a $5 item. Commission comes to $6.24. The 13% is a placeholder for the example. Read your real rate from your platform's current fee page and type it in, and take the sale price from recent sold listings for the same item.
The two settings that move the leftover most
Two settings move the leftover most: who pays shipping, and the label cost against the shipping you charge.
Who pays shipping
On eBay, commission is charged on the total the buyer paid, including postage they paid. Flip 'buyer pays' and 'you pay' on the same item and compare the two leftovers.
Label cost versus shipping charged
Separate boxes on purpose. Charging $8 and paying $11 for the label is a quiet way to lose money on a sale, especially on anything that trips dimensional weight.
What to do with the four numbers
Net profit is the number a buy ceiling should sit against, net margin compares categories, return on inventory shows where buying cash should go, and break-even sale price is your floor.
| Output | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Net profit | The number a buy ceiling should sit against |
| Net margin | Comparing one category to another |
| Return on inventory | Where limited buying cash should go |
| Break-even sale price | Your floor before you take an offer |
The long walkthrough of each line is what you keep on a $40 sale. If the leftover is fine and the week still feels broke, the evening is the problem: listings per hour. If nothing is selling at all, run the not-selling checks before you cut a price.
How do I calculate profit on a reselling flip?
Is free shipping better than charging the buyer?
What is a good net margin for reselling?
Does this calculator store my numbers?
Disclosure The FlowLister team writes First Thousand Flips. FlowLister is our AI eBay listing tool: from your photos it writes the title, category, item specifics, a price from sold listings and the shipping, and it publishes to eBay through eBay's official Trading API, using eBay's own sign-in. It is AI, so it misses things. We built it, so read this as a disclosure, not a review. Nothing on this site needs it.