Buyer Premium and Seller Commission
Why a charge you never pay still costs you.
From headline to bank balance
The number an object sells for and the number that reaches the seller are rarely close, and the distance between them is not one deduction but several arriving at different times from different directions.
Nothing in this section is tax advice. It describes how the deductions are structured and names the bodies that publish the rules, so that a reader can find the current position for their own circumstances. Where a figure appears it carries the date it was read.
Three kinds of deduction
The first kind is the platform or agent's share, taken automatically before the money moves and visible on a statement. The second is cost the seller incurred: packing materials, carriage, insurance, sometimes the cost of getting the object assessed. The third is tax, which arrives much later and is the seller's own responsibility to work out.
Only the first is deducted for you. The other two are easy to lose track of, and the second is the one that makes an apparently profitable sale turn out not to have been.
| Deduction | Marketplace | Auction consignment | Outright sale | When it lands |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platform or agent percentage | Yes, by category | Yes, commission on hammer | No, it is inside the offer | At the sale |
| Fixed per-item charges | Listing fee, sometimes | Lotting, photography, insurance | None | At the sale |
| Payment processing | Usually | Handled by the house | None | At the sale |
| Carriage and materials | The seller pays | Often the seller pays to deliver in | Usually the buyer collects | Before or at the sale |
| Tax | The seller works it out | The seller works it out | The seller works it out | A different year entirely |
The two sides of an auction fee structure
Salerooms charge both ends. The seller pays commission out of the hammer price. The buyer pays a premium on top of it. Sellers frequently confuse the two and assume the premium is somehow theirs.
It is not, but it affects them anyway. Bidders decide what they are willing to pay in total, so a higher premium leaves less room in the hammer figure the seller is actually paid from.
Marketplace charges are published and category-specific
eBay publishes two seller charges: one raised at the point a listing goes up, and one taken when the item finds a buyer. The same page states that up to 250 listings a month carry no charge for going up, and more with a store subscription. As read on 29 August 2026 the percentages taken on a sale differ by category rather than sitting at one rate.
That variation is the practical point. There is no single figure to plan with, and a rate quoted second-hand from a forum or an older article is likely to be wrong for the category in question. Read the schedule for the specific category before committing.
Tax arrives last and is the seller’s own problem
No platform and no saleroom works out what a seller owes. They may report payments, and separately a seller may have an obligation, and the two are not the same thing.
The distinction that matters most for people clearing a house is between selling personal possessions at a loss and running something that looks like a business. Those are treated differently, and a seller who assumes the first while doing the second acquires a problem quietly. choosing where to sell is about choosing a route; this is about what the route leaves behind.
Deductions that arrive after the money
Two kinds of cost turn up once a sale looks finished, and neither appears on any statement.
The first is a reversal: a buyer who does not pay, a chargeback, or a return under a marketplace policy. The money arrives and then leaves again, sometimes weeks later, and the selling fee is not always returned with it.
The second is tax, which arrives in a different year entirely and is calculated on a basis nobody deducted anything for. A seller who has spent the proceeds by then has a problem that is entirely predictable and entirely avoidable by setting something aside at the time.
Common questions
Is any of this tax advice?
No. This publication is not qualified to give it and does not attempt to. What is here describes how the deductions are structured and points at the bodies that publish the rules, with the date each page was read. Anyone whose circumstances are not obvious should ask somebody licensed to advise, and should assume any figure quoted here may have changed since it was recorded.
Working Out What You Actually Net
Comparing routes with every deduction counted.
Sales Tax When You Sell Second-hand
Who collects it, and why it is usually not the seller.
Reporting Money From Selling Things
Getting a form and owing tax are not the same question.
Next in sequence: handling and shipping.