Poshmark’s 20% looks like the worst deal of the three, and on one measure it is the best. On another it is the worst by a wide margin. Here is one jacket worked through all three, with every number visible, because the headline percentages hide where the money actually goes.
A $60 jacket with $0 shipping charged to the buyer on eBay and Mercari (free shipping), $12 to source, $7.50 to ship, and $1 to pack. The same item and the same costs throughout; only the channel changes. Poshmark is the odd one out: the buyer pays Poshmark’s prepaid label at checkout, so on Poshmark the seller pays no postage at all.
| Poshmark | Mercari | eBay | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Selling fee | $12.00 | $6.00 | $8.16 |
| Fixed fee per order | none | none | $0.40 |
| Postage you pay | $0.00 | $7.50 | $7.50 |
| Total fees | $12.00 | $6.00 | $8.56 |
| You keep per sale | $35.00 | $33.50 | $30.94 |
Poshmark takes 20% of the item price: $12.00. Mercari takes 10%: $6.00. eBay takes about 13.6% of the order plus $0.40: $8.56. Yet Poshmark leaves the most, because $7.50 of postage comes out of your pocket on the other two. The fee is not the whole cost of a sale; who pays for shipping can outweigh a ten-point difference in the fee.
Returns are handled differently: on Poshmark the illustrative return rate is low and the buyer carries the return label, while on Mercari and eBay it is higher and you pay to receive the item back. Counting that, the expected keep per sale is $34.26 on Poshmark, $28.56 on Mercari and $27.21 on eBay. Poshmark’s lead widens.
The illustrative days to sell are 60 on Poshmark, 18 on Mercari and 21 on eBay, with sell-through of 30%, 55% and 65%. Waiting costs money when your cash is tied up in the next jacket:
| Poshmark | Mercari | eBay | |
|---|---|---|---|
| You keep / day of waiting | $0.58 | $1.86 | $1.47 |
| Worth per 30 days of shelf | $3.81 | $9.35 | $11.75 |
The channel that pays most per sale is last on both. Which column to read depends on what you are short of:
The calculator can also tell you the size of the premium that would change the answer: Mercari would have to sell this jacket for about $67 and eBay for about $69 to leave what Poshmark leaves at $60. Whether your jacket can carry that is a judgement about its buyers, not arithmetic.
Every figure above is the calculator’s own arithmetic on the inputs named, not a published fee schedule, and the days-to-sell and return numbers are illustrative starting points rather than a claim about any marketplace’s velocity. Poshmark is switched off by default there, since it only suits clothing, shoes and accessories: turn it on in the channel list.
Put your own item through all three → Once you have an answer, the comparison hands the same numbers to the Poshmark calculator, the Mercari calculator or the eBay calculator for the questions this page cannot answer.
On the worked example of a $60 jacket that cost $12 to source, Poshmark's fee is the highest at $12.00 against $8.56 on eBay and $6.00 on Mercari, yet Poshmark leaves the most on the sale ($35.00 against $33.50 on Mercari and $30.94 on eBay), because the buyer pays Poshmark's prepaid label while the seller pays $7.50 postage on the other two. Rates are illustrative inputs, so replace them with your own.
Not on speed. With the illustrative days to sell in the calculator, Poshmark takes 60 days to Mercari's 18 and eBay's 21, so Mercari leaves $1.86 per day of waiting, eBay $1.47 and Poshmark $0.58. Per 30 days of shelf, which also counts sell-through, eBay is worth $11.75, Mercari $9.35 and Poshmark $3.81. Which column matters depends on whether your cash or your closet is the constraint.
About $67 on Mercari and $69 on eBay, against $60 on Poshmark. The calculator solves for that price rather than choosing for you, because whether a listing can carry the premium is a judgement about your item and the buyers on each channel.