How Much Does Whatnot Take From a Sale?
Take a $100 item that sells with $8 buyer-paid shipping: Whatnot keeps ≈$11.43 — about 10.6% of the $108 the buyer pays — and ≈$96.57 lands with the seller. That cut is two fees stacked on two different amounts: an 8% Standard commission that runs on the item price alone, and payment processing of 2.9% + $0.30 that runs on the buyer's full total, shipping and any tax included. Below, the $108 basket is worked line by line, a smaller $39 basket shows where the flat 30¢ bites, and the 8% rate is put in context — briefly, because the tier ladder has its own page.
Whatnot take figures checked against the Whatnot Help article Whatnot seller fees (article updated ), cross-checked against the Feebrief fee data set (Whatnot entry, last updated ). United States, USD. Last updated .
Feebrief is not affiliated with Whatnot, and this page quotes no rate it cannot source. Commission tiers, processing terms and promotional discounts change; confirm against the linked help article and your own payout statement before you list.
A $100 item plus $8 shipping: Whatnot keeps ≈$11.43 of the $108
Start at the bottom line. The buyer pays $100.00 for the item and $8.00 for shipping — $108.00 across the counter, with $0 assumed for sales tax in this basket. Two deductions come out of it. Commission, at the Standard 8%, is charged on the item price only: 8% × $100.00 = $8.00. Payment processing is charged on everything the buyer paid: 2.9% × $108.00 = $3.13 (unrounded $3.132), plus the flat $0.30, ≈$3.43. Stack the lines and Whatnot's take is ≈$11.43 — an effective take of ≈10.6% of the buyer total — leaving ≈$96.57 for the seller.
| Line | How it's worked | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer pays | $100.00 item + $8.00 buyer-paid shipping | $108.00 |
| Commission (Standard 8%) | 8% × the $100.00 item price | −$8.00 |
| Payment processing | 2.9% × $108.00 + $0.30 | −$3.43 |
| Whatnot's take | $8.00 + $3.43 | $11.43 |
| Effective take | $11.43 ÷ $108.00 buyer total | ≈10.6% |
| Seller nets | $108.00 − $11.43 | ≈$96.57 |
One honesty note before anything else: $96.57 is fee math, not a deposit timestamp. It says what survives the take; when the money actually reaches your bank account follows Whatnot's payout schedule, and the statement may list the two deductions on separate lines.
Why commission skips the shipping money while processing counts it
The two deductions measure different things, which is why shipping appears in one and never in the other. Commission is the marketplace's cut for making the sale, so Whatnot charges it against the item's price — the gross merchandise value of what was won. Shipping charges and collected sales tax stay out of that calculation entirely. Processing is the cost of moving the money, so it follows the money: the buyer total, meaning item price plus buyer-paid shipping plus taxes. This is also why the take can't be quoted as one percentage — "8% + 2.9% + $0.30" only means something once you state which base each piece sits on.
| Deduction | Runs on | Never runs on | Out of $108 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commission (Standard) | Item price only ($100.00) | Buyer-paid shipping, sales tax | $8.00 |
| Payment processing | The full buyer total ($108.00) | Nothing — it sees every dollar the buyer pays | ≈$3.43 |
The processing side of that split — the rate, the base, and the fee isolated from commission — has a page of its own: Whatnot payment processing fee.
A smaller sale carries a slightly heavier take: $35 plus $4 ship
Drop to a $35 show with $4 buyer-paid shipping and the buyer total is $39.00. Commission: 8% × $35.00 = $2.80. Processing: 2.9% × $39.00 = $1.13 (unrounded $1.131) + $0.30 ≈ $1.43. Take ≈$4.23, net ≈$34.77 — an effective take of ≈10.8%, two tenths of a point heavier than the $108 basket on identical rates. The culprit is the flat $0.30: against a $39.00 total it weighs 0.77% of the basket, versus 0.28% against $108.00. The 8% never moves; the fixed piece of processing is what makes small shows cost slightly more per dollar.
Standard 8% in one paragraph — the ladder lives elsewhere
The 8% used throughout this page is the Standard tier: Whatnot's default commission for sellers in Fashion, Other Collectibles, Other, Sports and Trading Cards who haven't unlocked anything lower — Coins sellers start at 4% instead. Your trailing 4-week GMV can unlock a better rate for the following period; the full tier ladder, vertical by vertical, is on Whatnot seller fees explained, and it is deliberately not recapped here. Two dated footnotes: the Premier Shop perk that discounted commission by 10% ended in tiered markets, and account-managed sellers negotiate custom rates advertised "as low as 3%" — those schedules are not public, so no page can honestly quote them for your account, and this one won't.
Numbers this page hasn't worked: the live estimator
Both baskets above were worked by hand from published rates, and they stay fixed no matter what you sell. If your basket includes collected sales tax, a heftier shipping charge, or a Coins-tier item at 4%, a live version of this arithmetic sits one click away: the Whatnot fee calculator. How Feebrief sources and re-checks these rates is documented on the methodology page.
Sellers' questions about the Whatnot take
Does Whatnot take a cut of the shipping money?
Through commission, no — the 8% runs on the item price alone, so an $8 shipping charge adds $0.00 to commission. Through processing, technically yes: the 2.9% slice rides the buyer total, shipping included, so about 23¢ of an $8 shipping charge goes to processing (≈12¢ on a $4 charge). In short, shipping money is never commission, but it is never quite fee-free either.
How much does Whatnot take on a $100 sale?
It depends on what surrounds the $100. With no shipping and no tax, the take is $11.20 — $8.00 commission plus $2.90 + $0.30 processing — leaving $88.80, an effective take of 11.2%. Add $8 buyer-paid shipping and the buyer total becomes $108: the take is ≈$11.43, the net ≈$96.57, and the effective rate actually drops to ≈10.6%, because the shipping dollars carry only the 2.9% piece, not the 8%. Both answers assume the Standard tier.
Is 8% the only Whatnot commission rate?
No. 8% is the Standard tier, the default for most verticals; Coins sellers start at 4%. Trailing 4-week GMV unlocks lower rates for the next period — the full ladder is on Whatnot seller fees explained. The Premier Shop 10% commission discount ended in tiered markets, and account-managed rates advertised "as low as 3%" are negotiated privately and not publicly scheduled.
Does the buyer's sales tax change the take?
It leaves commission untouched — the item price is the only commission base — but it widens processing, because the buyer total includes taxes collected: every $8 of added tax costs the seller about 23¢ more in the 2.9% slice. The worked baskets on this page assume $0 tax; a taxed basket is exactly what the live Whatnot fee calculator runs. For ways to shrink the commission side rather than predict it, see how to lower Whatnot commission.
Where to go next
- Whatnot fee calculator — the live version of this math for any basket.
- Whatnot seller fees explained — the full commission ladder and how the 4-week tiers move.
- Whatnot payment processing fee — the 2.9% + $0.30 line examined on its own.
- How to lower Whatnot commission — tier tactics, kept off this page.
- Resale marketplace fees compared — the hub for every platform Feebrief tracks.
Where these numbers come from
Every rate on this page traces to Whatnot's own help article Whatnot seller fees, last updated and fetched , cross-checked against Feebrief's Whatnot record in fees.json (checked , re-checked ). The two baskets, the $100-flat FAQ figure and the effective-take percentages are arithmetic derived from those rates, re-run before publishing. The re-checking cadence is documented on the methodology page.
Disclaimer
Feebrief is an independent fee reference. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or acting for Whatnot, and this page is not an official calculator of the platform. The figures describe published US rates in USD as of the dates shown; Whatnot can change tiers, processing terms and promotions without notice, and the authority on any real payout is the statement Whatnot issues with it. Nothing here is financial, tax or legal advice. For how this site is funded, read the disclosure.