Glossary
eBay seller glossary
Fee, seller-level and sourcing terms, one or two sentences each, with links to the related tool and guide where useful.
38 terms
A
- Amazon Business
- Amazon's business account. Prime's personal-use terms don't cover resale; use a Business account for commercial purchases and tax exemption.
- ASIN
- Amazon's 10-character identifier for every product (for example B0C7BKZ883). It appears in the product page URL; the safest way to identify an Amazon item.
- Tool: Profit Calculator
B
- Below Standard
- eBay's lowest seller level, given when defect, late shipment or case rates exceed the thresholds. Adds 6% to the final value fee and lowers ranking.
- Guide: How to become an eBay Top Rated Seller and get the 10% fee discount (2026)
- Best Offer
- An option that lets buyers offer less than the listed price. Set automatic accept and decline thresholds so you never go below break-even.
- Break-even price
- The sale price at which profit is exactly zero: after eBay fees and supply cost nothing is left either way. Selling below it is a loss.
- Tool: Break-even & Target Price Finder
C
- Card cashback
- The percentage your credit card returns on Amazon purchases (for example Prime Visa 5%). It lowers the supply cost; a separate field in the calculator.
- Tool: Profit Calculator
- Currency conversion fee
- 3% of the amount you receive when eBay converts a payment into another currency.
- Tool: eBay Fee Calculator
D
- Defect rate
- Seller-initiated cancellations and cases closed without seller resolution as a share of transactions. At most 0.5% for Top Rated; an out-of-stock cancellation is a defect.
- Guide: How to become an eBay Top Rated Seller and get the 10% fee discount (2026)
- Dispute fee
- The $20 eBay charges when a payment dispute the buyer opens through their bank is decided against the seller. Tracking and proof of delivery are the best defence.
E
- eBay category
- The product group a listing sits in. It sets the final value fee rate: most categories 13.6%, books and music 15.3%, electronics 9.35% with a store. A wrong category costs fees and visibility.
- Tool: eBay Fee Calculator
- eBay International Shipping (EIS)
- The program where you ship to eBay's US hub and eBay handles international transport and customs. When used, the international fee does not apply.
- eBay managed payments
- The system where eBay takes the buyer's payment and pays you after deducting fees. Payment processing is part of the final value fee; there is no separate PayPal fee.
F
- Final value fee (FVF)
- eBay's main fee when a sale happens: a percentage of the buyer's total (item + shipping + tax), 13.6% in most categories or 12.7% with a store, plus $0.30 or $0.40 per order. Payment processing is included.
- Tool: eBay Fee CalculatorGuide: eBay fees explained (2026): the beginner's guide
- Free listing allowance
- The number of listings you can post each month without an insertion fee: 250 without a store, Basic 1,000, Premium 10,000, Anchor 25,000, Enterprise 100,000. Every listing above it is charged.
- Tool: Store Plan Calculator
G
- GTC (Good 'Til Cancelled)
- The duration of fixed-price listings: they stay live until you end them and renew every 30 days. Each renewal uses the free allowance again; above it, an insertion fee is charged every month.
H
- Handling time
- The maximum time between the order and entering the tracking number; not the delivery time. Same day or 1 business day for Top Rated Plus.
- Guide: How to become an eBay Top Rated Seller and get the 10% fee discount (2026)
I
- INAD (Item Not As Described)
- A return request where the buyer says the item is not as described. Return shipping falls on the seller and it carries case risk; an accurate description is the best protection.
- Insertion fee
- The cost of listing. 250 fixed-price listings are free each month; above that $0.35 per listing (store plans give more allowance and lower fees). Charged even if the item never sells.
- Tool: Store Plan Calculator
- International fee
- An extra 1.65% on the total when the buyer's address is outside the US and eBay International Shipping is not used.
- Tool: eBay Fee Calculator
L
- Late shipment rate
- The share of orders not handed to the carrier (or without a tracking scan) within the handling time. At most 3% for Top Rated.
- Guide: How to become an eBay Top Rated Seller and get the 10% fee discount (2026)
- Listing
- The sales page you publish on eBay: title (up to 80 characters), photos, category, price, shipping and return policy. The free allowance is counted in listings.
M
- Markup
- How far the sale price sits above cost: buying at $15 and selling at $25 is a 67% markup, yet the margin after fees is about 30%. They are not the same number.
P
- Per-order fee
- The fixed part of the final value fee: $0.30 when the total is $10 or less, $0.40 above. It inflates the effective rate a lot on cheap items.
- Tool: eBay Fee Calculator
- Profit margin
- Net profit divided by the revenue you receive (item price + buyer shipping). $9.18 profit on a $30 sale = 30.6% margin. Not to be confused with markup.
- Tool: Profit Calculator
- Promoted Listings
- eBay's ad program that boosts a listing. In the general model you pay only when the item sells, at the rate you chose (for example 3%); the 'ad rate' field in the calculator.
- Tool: eBay Fee Calculator
R
- Repricing
- Recomputing the eBay price with the fee model and target margin when the supply price changes. Impossible by hand across hundreds of listings; the core job of automation.
- Resale certificate (tax exemption)
- A document that lets you skip sales tax on items bought for resale; issued by your state, uploaded to Amazon Business. Lowers supply cost by 6–10%.
- Return policy
- The return window and terms stated on the listing. 30 days or more is a Top Rated Plus requirement; return shipping and the Amazon return are a cost, modelled with the 'return rate' in the calculator.
- Tool: Profit Calculator
- ROI (return on investment)
- Net profit divided by the total cost out of your pocket. $9.18 profit on a $16.05 cost = 57% ROI. It shows how hard your money works; higher than the margin on the same sale.
- Tool: Profit Calculator
S
- Sales tax
- A US consumption tax that varies by state. eBay collects it from the buyer and remits it; it never reaches you but enters the final value fee base. You pay it on Amazon too, unless exempt.
- Tool: eBay Fee Calculator
- SKU
- Your own product code (stock keeping unit). For items sourced from Amazon, using the ASIN as the SKU often makes matching easier.
- Stock sync
- Ending the eBay listing when the supplier runs out and reopening it when stock returns. Since an out-of-stock cancellation counts as a defect, it is a precondition for Top Rated.
- Store plan
- eBay's monthly subscription: Starter, Basic, Premium, Anchor, Enterprise. It gives more free listings, a lower final value fee from Basic upward, and store tools.
- Tool: Store Plan CalculatorGuide: Which eBay store plan? Starter, Basic, Premium, Anchor, Enterprise (2026)
T
- Target margin and target price
- Target margin is the profit percentage you want from a sale (default 15%); target price is the lowest sale price that reaches it. Because fees change with price, it is solved numerically.
- Tool: Break-even & Target Price Finder
- Top Rated Plus
- The badge and 10% discount on the percentage part of the final value fee for a Top Rated seller's listings that offer same-day or 1-business-day handling and 30-day returns.
- Tool: eBay Fee CalculatorGuide: How to become an eBay Top Rated Seller and get the 10% fee discount (2026)
- Top Rated Seller (TRS)
- eBay's top seller level: at least 100 transactions and $1,000 in 12 months, defect rate at most 0.5%, late shipments at most 3%, on-time tracking at least 95%. Evaluated on the 20th of each month.
- Guide: How to become an eBay Top Rated Seller and get the 10% fee discount (2026)
- Tracking number
- The number the carrier assigns to a shipment and eBay validates. Uploading it within handling time is a Top Rated metric; a number that can't be validated doesn't count as on time.
- Guide: How to become an eBay Top Rated Seller and get the 10% fee discount (2026)
V
- VeRO
- eBay's Verified Rights Owner program: brand owners can have listings they consider infringing removed. Repeated removals lead to account restrictions; don't list brands that forbid resale.
Turn the math into automation
Sellerviva moves products from Amazon to eBay, keeps price and stock updated with this exact fee model, and protects your profit.
- Type an ASIN and pull the supply price from the Amazon pool
- Shipping and other costs pre-filled from your eligibility profile
- Price and stock updated automatically with this fee model