eBay Best Offer calculator
The lowest offer you can accept and still keep your minimum profit, plus what to counter when an offer comes in under it.
Decide the floor before the offer arrives
An offer notification feels like money. If you decide your floor then, you'll take less than you meant to. Work it out once per listing, from what you'd actually keep, and the answer to every offer is quick: accept, counter, or let it sit.
The floor is the offer that leaves exactly your minimum profit after the fee, the per-order fee, the label, packaging and what you paid.
Where the fee numbers come from
Type your own fee rate and per-order fee from eBay's selling fees page. They vary by category and change over time, which is why there's no rate baked in. The 13% and $0.40 here are the same example numbers the flip profit calculator uses.
eBay charges its fee on the buyer's total, which includes shipping they paid and sales tax. That's why shipping and tax sit in the fee base here. What a sale actually pays walks through each line.
The math
| Output | Formula |
|---|---|
| Fee on the buyer's total | fee rate × (1 + sales tax rate) |
| Fixed costs | per-order fee + label + packaging + what you paid |
| You keep | (offer + shipping charged) × (1 − fee) − fixed costs |
| Lowest offer to accept | (minimum profit + fixed costs) ÷ (1 − fee) − shipping charged, rounded up to the cent |
| Counter | halfway between the offer and your price, rounded up, never under the floor |
What it can't see
It doesn't know if the item has sat for 90 days or got five watchers yesterday. A stale listing might be worth taking a little under the floor. It also leaves out promoted listing fees. If the item is promoted, the ad fee comes on top. Adding your ad rate to the fee rate gives a rough floor. The halfway counter is a habit, not a rule. Use your sold comps from pricing from sold listings to decide how firm to be.
Questions
What is the lowest offer I should accept on eBay?
The one that still leaves your minimum profit after fees, the label, packaging and what you paid. Enter your numbers and the tool gives that price to the cent.
Does eBay take its fee on shipping too?
Yes. eBay's selling fees page says the fee is charged on the total amount of the sale, which includes shipping the buyer paid and sales tax.
How much should I counter a lowball offer?
This tool suggests halfway between the offer and your price, rounded up and never below your floor. It's a starting point. Firmer is fine when sold comps back your price.
Why is the fee rate a box I fill in?
Rates vary by category and change. A hard-coded rate is wrong the week a schedule changes. Read yours from eBay's fee page and type it.
Related
Sources: eBay selling fees (fee base includes shipping and sales tax).
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.