Reselling income calculator.

Worked example

Take a seller who lists 20 items a week, sees 50% of each week’s listings sell within 30 days, and averages a $40 sale on an item that cost $10. Profit per sale is $40 − 13.6% fee ($5.44) − $0.40 per-order fee − $6 shipping − $1 supplies − $10 cost − expected return cost (5% of $6 shipping plus 25% of $10 cost, about $0.43) = $16.74. Ten sales a week is about $167 before 30 miles of driving at 76 cents ($22.80), so weekly profit is $144.55, monthly $626, and over 20 hours that is $7.23 an hour.

The second row halves only the sell-through. Profit does not halve, it falls by more, because mileage and your hours stay the same. That leverage is the main thing the bands are for.

How the model works

Methodology. Items sold per week = items listed × the 30-day sell-through you enter. Profit per sale = sale price − (price × fee %) − per-order fee − shipping − supplies − item cost − (return rate × (shipping + cost × share lost)). Weekly profit = sold × profit per sale − miles × mileage rate. Monthly profit = weekly × 52 ÷ 12. Hourly = weekly profit ÷ the hours you enter. The Low and High bands re-run the whole model with your volume and price multipliers (volume is capped at 100% sell-through), keeping costs and hours fixed. The break-even sell-through is the rate at which weekly profit reaches zero.

Treating 30-day sell-through as the share of a week’s listings that become sales is a simplification: items that sell later are not counted, and slow stock ties up money. See the hold or markdown calculator and the bankroll planner for those costs, and the hourly-rate page for a task-by-task time budget. For the idea behind the numbers see how much you can make reselling on eBay.

How to use it well

Start with the last four to eight weeks of your own records rather than hopes: hours actually worked, items actually listed, and the share that sold. Enter them, then widen the bands until the low band is a stretch you could survive. If the low band loses money for several months, the plan relies on good luck, and it is worth lowering costs or raising the average sale before scaling. Re-run it whenever a fee, shipping rate or sourcing cost changes, and compare the break-even sell-through with what you have actually achieved. Keep the tax set-aside separate: profit here is before income and self-employment tax.

What this tool does not cover

• Income taxes, self-employment tax and sales tax. Use the self-employment tax calculator and the 1099 set-aside calculator; this page is general information only.
• Item-level variation. One average sale price and one average cost stand in for a very mixed inventory.
• Listing, promoted-listing, store-subscription and payment-dispute fees beyond the percentage and per-order fee you enter.
• Unsold stock still on the shelf, which is money spent but not yet earned.
• Any forecast. The bands are your own multipliers, not observed ranges.

Sources (retrieved October 2026)

• eBay fee tables: final value fee percentage and per-order fee used as the default inputs. Retrieved October 2026. Rates differ by category and change, so check the page for your category.
• IRS standard mileage rates: the business rate used as the default mileage input. Retrieved October 2026. You can enter any rate.
• IRS About Schedule C (Form 1040): how self-employed sellers report profit or loss. Retrieved October 2026.

Every other number on this page is an input you type or an assumption labelled as an example. Results vary, and nothing here is an income claim.

FAQ

How much can you make reselling?

There is no single answer and this page does not claim one. It turns your own hours, volume, sell-through, prices and costs into a profit and an hourly rate so you can see which assumptions matter. Results vary widely.

Is reselling worth it?

It depends on your real hourly rate after fees, shipping, returns, driving and time spent sourcing, listing and packing. Enter honest numbers and compare the base-case hourly rate with what else you could do with the hours.

What do the low and high bands mean?

They are multipliers you choose for sales volume and sale price. They show how sensitive your profit is to a slower or faster stretch. They are not a statistical range of outcomes.

Why is my hourly rate lower than expected?

Hours include sourcing, photographing, listing, packing, messages and returns. Divide weekly profit by all of them, not only the time spent shipping. The hourly-rate page breaks the hours down task by task.

Which fee should I use?

The default 13.6% and $0.40 mirror the eBay US final value fee for most categories, from the eBay fee tables retrieved October 2026. Categories, store plans and promoted listings differ, so enter your own.