eBay promoted listings fee calculator.

How the ad fee works

eBay's Promoted Listings general campaign strategy (the product many sellers still call Promoted Listings Standard) charges you only when a promoted item sells within 30 days of a shopper clicking your ad. The fee is your ad rate multiplied by the item's total sale amount. eBay's help page defines that amount as including the item price, shipping, taxes and any other applicable fees, so a $30 item with $5 shipping and $2 tax is charged on $37, not $30. The rate you choose can run from 2% to 100%; a higher rate raises the chance your ad is shown but also raises the fee every time it works.

This calculator applies that rule. It then subtracts any final value fee you enter, the cost of the item and your postage from what the buyer paid for the item and shipping (sales tax is passed on to the tax authority, so it is in the fee base but not in your income). The result is your profit on a sale that came through a promoted click.

Worked example

Item $30, shipping $5, tax $2, ad rate 10%, final value fee 13% plus $0.30, item cost $10, postage $4. Total sale amount $37.00; ad fee $3.70; final value fee $5.11; profit before the ad fee $15.89; profit after the ad fee $12.19. The break-even ad rate is $15.89 divided by $37.00, which is 42.95%, so for this item the ad fee stays profitable up to a rate far higher than most sellers need.

What the break-even ad rate tells you

Break-even rate = profit before the ad fee / total sale amount. If it is below eBay's 2% minimum, a promoted sale loses money at any rate eBay allows and the listing is not worth promoting at that price. If it is far above your campaign rate, you have room to raise the rate when you need more visibility. Remember that the ad fee only applies to sales that eBay attributes to an ad click, so the share-of-sales field shows your average ad cost across all orders.

• No final value fee percentage is hard-coded, because it depends on category and seller status. Enter the figure from your own eBay fee page.
• Priority or cost-per-click campaign strategies are charged differently and are not modelled here.
• Ad rates are set per listing or per campaign, so check the rate eBay actually applied on your sold items report.

Last checked against the sources 2026-10-19. Sources: eBay Help: General campaign strategy (ad rate 2% to 100%, total sale amount, 30-day click window).

FAQ

How is the eBay Promoted Listings fee calculated?

It is your ad rate times the total sale amount, which eBay defines as item price plus shipping, taxes and other applicable fees. You pay it only when a promoted item sells within 30 days of a click on your ad.

What ad rate range does eBay allow?

eBay's help page says you choose an ad rate between 2% and 100% of the item's total sale amount. Higher rates give your ad a better chance of placement.

Do I pay if my promoted listing is clicked but does not sell?

No. With the general campaign strategy you pay only when the promoted item sells within 30 days of the click.

Is the ad fee charged on shipping and tax?

Yes. eBay's help page includes shipping and taxes in the total sale amount the ad rate applies to, which is why the effective rate on the item price alone is higher than the rate you chose.

What is a good ad rate for eBay Promoted Listings?

There is no fixed answer. Use the break-even ad rate shown here as your ceiling, then compare it with the suggested rate eBay shows in your campaign dashboard for that category.

Is Promoted Listings Standard the same as the general campaign strategy?

eBay now describes this pay-when-it-sells option as the general campaign strategy. The fee mechanics modelled here follow that help page.