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Bar chart of eBay fees on a $10,000 example Pokemon card sale: $1,052.90 with no Store, $485.40 with a Basic Store, $390.30 on eBay Live

Selling Pokemon Cards on eBay: Fees, Authenticity Guarantee, Payouts and Risks

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Selling Pokemon cards on eBay without an eBay Store costs 13.25% of each card’s total sale up to $7,500, plus a $0.30 or $0.40 per-order fee, and eBay counts the shipping and sales tax the buyer pays as part of that total. Any single card that sells for $200 or more to a US buyer also detours through PSA for Authenticity Guarantee, which shields you from fake returns but adds a shipping leg, delays the payout and, if you take no returns, makes the sale final.

As of October 9, 2026: eBay’s fee pages list 13.25% up to $7,500 and 2.35% above that for Collectible Card Games, or 12.35% up to $2,500 with a Basic Store or higher. Authenticity Guarantee starts at $200, down from $250. eBay Live charges a 6% commission capped at $100 per item plus 2.9% and $0.30 for payment processing. The federal Form 1099-K threshold is back to more than $20,000 and more than 200 transactions in a year.

What selling Pokemon cards on eBay costs in fees

eBay’s Selling fees page, read October 9, 2026, files Pokemon singles under Toys & Hobbies > Collectible Card Games, which shares one rate with Sports Trading Cards and Non-Sport Trading Cards. With no Store, or with the entry-level Starter Store, the final value fee is 13.25% on the first $7,500 of each item and 2.35% on anything above $7,500. A per-order fee comes on top: $0.30 when the order is $10.00 or less, $0.40 when it is more. The table has no separate line for graded cards, so a PSA 10 and a raw card pay the same percentage.

The part sellers miss is what the percentage is charged on. eBay applies it to the whole amount the buyer pays, meaning the card price plus any handling, the shipping you collect and the sales tax. In exchange there is no separate payment-processing charge. eBay’s own example on the same page shows the effect: a trading card sold for $9,500 with free shipping becomes a $10,070 sale once 6% sales tax is added, and the fee is figured on the $10,070, at 13.25% of $7,500 plus 2.35% of $2,570 plus $0.40, for $1,054.55.

Card rates also sat out eBay’s last general increase. eBay raised final value fees in most categories by up to 0.35% from February 14, 2025, but its before-and-after table shows Collectible Card Games at 13.25% (and 2.35% over $7,500) in both columns. Smaller items: 250 free listings a month, then $0.35 each; a 1.65% international fee unless you use eBay International Shipping; Promoted Listings at an ad rate you set between 2% and 100%; and $20.00 for each payment dispute, such as a chargeback, that goes against you.

Store rates

A Basic, Premium, Anchor or Enterprise Store changes the card rate to 12.35% on the first $2,500 and 2.35% above $2,500. A Basic Store costs $27.95 a month on monthly renewal or $21.95 a month on a yearly plan, according to eBay’s Store selling fees page. Because the low 2.35% rate starts at $2,500 instead of $7,500, a Store pays off fastest for sellers of expensive slabs, as the examples below show.

eBay Live and case breaks

eBay Live, the livestream channel, has its own schedule: a 6% commission capped at $100 per item, plus a 2.9% payment-processing fee and $0.30 per order, all charged on the total including shipping and tax. That works out to 8.9% on the first $1,667 and 2.9% above it. Through December 31, 2026, Live orders of $10 or less pay a $0.10 per-order fee. Every case-break purchase counts as a Live sale even outside a stream, and eBay waives Promoted Listings general ad fees on items that sell through Live. eBay said Live GMV grew roughly eight times year over year in the second quarter of 2026.

Worked fee examples at $40, $500 and $10,000

These are our own worked examples, using eBay’s published rates as read on October 9, 2026, for a card that sells for $40, $500 or $10,000 with free shipping. They leave out the sales tax and any shipping you charge (eBay takes its percentage of both), Promoted Listings, insertion fees past the free 250, the Store subscription itself and the international fee.

Example sale price Fee, no Store Fee, Basic Store Fee if sold on eBay Live
$40 $5.70 $5.34 $3.86
$500 $66.65 $62.15 $44.80
$10,000 $1,052.90 $485.40 $390.30

On the $40 card the per-order fee lifts the real cost to 14.25% of the price, and a seller without a Store keeps $34.30. At $500 that seller keeps $433.35. The $10,000 row is where a Store earns its keep: the fee falls by $567.50, more than a full year of Basic Store at the monthly price ($335.40). eBay Live is the cheapest column at all three prices, and the gap grows with price because its commission stops at $100.

Authenticity Guarantee at $200: what changes for the seller

Authenticity Guarantee (AG) now covers single raw and graded cards at $200 and up. eBay announced the cut from $250 in a community post that was about two months old on October 9, 2026; its older Seller Center trading-cards page still showed $250 when we checked. A Pokemon card must be listed in Collectible Card Games > CCG Individual Cards. PSA, SGC, CGC (with its CSG affiliate) and BGS slabs are accepted; sets, lots, boxes and packs are not.

Enrollment is automatic, with no way to opt in or out. In practice:

  • You ship to PSA, not to the buyer. eBay pays for the inspection and for shipping from PSA to the buyer, but your label to PSA is your cost.
  • PSA inspects; it does not grade. A raw card is checked for authenticity and condition against your listing, and a slab gets a case-and-label check with no regrade. Inspection takes one to two business days after the card arrives, though eBay warns that some AG orders run 7 days or more late.
  • A card that fails comes back to you. If it is not authentic or does not match your title, photos, condition or description, PSA sends it back at no shipping cost to you and the buyer is refunded. eBay can hold the money for up to 31 days while that is resolved.
  • The payout waits for the inspection. Funds become available 24 hours after the card leaves PSA for the buyer.
  • No returns means final sale. If your listing takes no returns, an authenticated card cannot be sent back, and the Money Back Guarantee does not cover a final-sale AG purchase on a not-as-described claim. If you do take returns, the buyer ships the card to PSA, which re-inspects it before it comes back to you.
  • Feedback cover, no combined shipping. Once the card passes and ships, eBay says you are fully protected against negative or neutral feedback on that order. Each AG card becomes its own order.

PSA Grading at checkout adds one more path. On a raw card priced at $200.00 or more, sold within the US with at least two photos in the listing, the buyer can add PSA grading; once the card clears AG, the sale is final. If you are weighing whether to grade before listing at all, our grade-or-sell-raw fee checklist runs the break-even math.

PSA Vault, formerly the eBay vault

The eBay vault no longer belongs to eBay. In deals announced April 10, 2024, PSA agreed to buy the vault and eBay agreed to buy the Goldin auction house from Collectors, PSA’s parent company; both transactions closed May 16, 2024. eBay now describes the PSA Vault as “the official vault for eBay”.

eBay’s help page says selling a vaulted card on eBay now runs as a consignment through PSA, auctions first, with fixed-price sales described as a future offering, and it sends you to PSA for the rates. We could not load PSA’s consignment-rate page on October 9, 2026, so this article quotes no PSA fee. A buyer who keeps a vaulted purchase in the vault gets ownership instantly, and every card headed into the vault passes through AG first at no charge to either side. Our Alt Vault vs PSA Vault comparison covers what it costs to get cards in and out.

Payouts and new-seller holds

eBay starts payouts daily by default, and you can switch to weekly, biweekly or monthly. Sale proceeds typically show as available one to two days after the buyer’s payment is confirmed, and the bank transfer then takes another one to three business days. An express payout to a debit card or eligible bank account costs a flat $2.00 and usually lands within 30 minutes. eBay will not pay out to a savings account or to PayPal.

New sellers wait longer. A brand-new private seller typically gets the money 2 days after delivery confirmation when the card ships on an eBay label, 7 days after delivery when it ships on someone else’s label, and a full 31 days from payment when nothing is tracked. The holds lift once you have at least 10 completed sales worth $150 or more in total within five years and no more than two open requests, cases or defects in the past 12 months; after that, eBay says the money is usually available to you within 48 hours of the buyer paying. Separately, eBay may hold money from certain high-priced items for 31 days, without publishing what counts as high-priced.

Money Back Guarantee, returns and the three-day card window

eBay’s Money Back Guarantee lets a buyer get a refund when an item never arrives, arrives damaged or faulty, or does not match the listing. A no-returns policy does not block that last claim: a buyer can still send back a card that was not as described, and the seller pays the return shipping.

Trading cards get one concession. When you offer no returns, a buyer has 3 calendar days from the estimated or actual delivery date to request a not-as-described return; if you do offer returns, your own return window applies instead. Cards that went through AG with no returns offered are final sale, as above.

Two habits limit the exposure. On any order with a total cost of $750 or more, counting shipping and tax, eBay requires you to buy signature confirmation to be protected against an item-not-received report or a payment dispute. And dated front and back photos give you a baseline if a buyer says a different card or slab arrived; our guide to front and back scans when selling slabs covers what to capture. If eBay steps in on a return or an item-not-received case and it closes with a refund to the buyer, eBay issues no fee credit on that sale.

Form 1099-K: the threshold is back above $20,000

In news release IR-2025-107, dated October 23, 2025, the IRS said the One, Big, Beautiful Bill retroactively reinstated the threshold that applied before the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. A payment platform such as eBay is required to file a 1099-K for a seller only when gross payments exceed $20,000 and the number of transactions exceeds 200. eBay’s tax page says the July 2025 law permanently restored that level. Neither page names the first tax year the retroactive change covers.

Three more points from eBay and the IRS. Some states set lower thresholds, and eBay lists them as “Arkansas, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia”. The gross amount eBay reports leaves out sales tax and canceled orders but does not subtract fees or refunds. And eBay must withhold 24% of gross payments from any seller who fails to provide a valid W-9. The IRS is clear that the income is taxable whether or not a form arrives.

eBay’s free price research tools

eBay gives sellers three free ways to price a card, each looking back a different distance. A regular sold-listings search covers only the last 90 days. Product research in Seller Hub, formerly Terapeak, searches any period across the last 3 years and shows the actual price when a Best Offer was accepted; any seller with Seller Hub access can use it, and eBay lists no charge for it. The eBay Price Guide, the card scanner in the app, is free with no usage limits, works in the US only and covers Pokémon in English and Japanese. It draws on up to two years of eBay sales, adds PSA and CGC pop reports plus Card Ladder’s index for context, and eBay says its data refreshes every 24 hours.

Card Ladder belongs to Collectors, PSA’s parent, and is a price-tracking tool, not a marketplace; our Card Ladder review covers its cost and data. For vintage cards, the 1999 Base Set price pages on this site chart prices drawn from verified sold listings on eBay, TCGPlayer, Goldin, and Fanatics Collect. If you are deciding between eBay and a vault-based marketplace, see Alt vs eBay for selling Pokemon cards and how Alt, Card Ladder and eBay compare as a whole.

Reasons to sell Pokemon cards on eBay, and reasons not to

Reasons a seller might choose eBay

  • Reach. eBay reported 136 million Active Buyers in its second-quarter 2026 results, counting everyone who paid for a transaction on its marketplaces in the previous 12 months. That is a company-wide figure, not a count of card buyers.
  • Raw cards and slabs alike, listed from home with no vault intake step.
  • Fake-return protection from $200. AG sends every eligible sale, and every return you allow, through PSA first.
  • Cheaper lanes. eBay Live caps its commission at $100 per item, and a Basic Store drops the rate to 2.35% above $2,500.
  • Daily payouts and free data, including 3 years of Product research.

Reasons to skip eBay

  • The fee base is bigger than the price, since shipping and sales tax are in it, and the per-order fee bites hardest on cheap cards.
  • Not-as-described risk outlives a no-returns policy on cards outside AG, though the trading-card window is 3 calendar days.
  • Slow money for new sellers: up to 31 days on untracked items until you reach 10 sales and $150.
  • AG adds a leg: you pay to ship to PSA, and some AG orders run 7 days or more late.
  • Vault sales now run through PSA, and eBay’s help page still lists fixed-price sales from the vault as a future offering.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does eBay take when you sell a Pokemon card?

Without a Store, eBay’s fee page (read October 9, 2026) lists 13.25% of the total sale up to $7,500 and 2.35% above that, plus $0.30 per order of $10.00 or less or $0.40 above. The total includes shipping and sales tax. In our $500 worked example, before tax and shipping, the fee is $66.65.

Do I have to send my Pokemon card to PSA when it sells on eBay?

Yes, if it is a single raw or graded card that sells for $200 or more to a US buyer and is listed in the Collectible Card Games individual-cards category. Authenticity Guarantee is automatic with no opt-out. You pay to ship the card to PSA, and eBay pays for the inspection and the shipping on to the buyer.

Can a buyer return a Pokemon card if my listing says no returns?

Only on a not-as-described claim, and for trading cards with no return policy the buyer must ask within 3 calendar days of delivery. A card that went through Authenticity Guarantee on a no-returns listing is final sale.

How long does eBay hold money from card sales?

Once new-seller holds no longer apply, payouts run daily by default. A new private seller typically waits 2 days after delivery on an eBay label, 7 days on a third-party label or 31 days without tracking, until reaching 10 sales totalling $150. Authenticity Guarantee sales pay out 24 hours after the card leaves PSA.

Will eBay send me a 1099-K for selling Pokemon cards?

Federally, only if your payments exceed $20,000 and you have more than 200 transactions in the year, according to the IRS and eBay. Ten jurisdictions, including Massachusetts and Virginia, use lower thresholds, and the income is taxable either way.

Is an eBay Store worth it for selling Pokemon cards?

It depends on your prices. A Basic Store costs $27.95 a month, or $21.95 a month on a yearly plan, and cuts the card rate to 12.35% up to $2,500 and 2.35% above. In our $10,000 example the fee falls from $1,052.90 to $485.40; on a $40 card it saves $0.36.

What happened to the eBay vault?

PSA bought it. The deal was announced April 10, 2024 and closed May 16, 2024. Selling a vaulted card on eBay now runs as a consignment through PSA, at rates PSA sets.

Sources

Fees, features and policies are quoted from each company’s own pages on the date shown and change often, so check the platform’s current terms before you list or subscribe. This article is collector information, not investment, tax or legal advice. Pokémon is a trademark of Nintendo, Creatures Inc. and GAME FREAK inc. Pokemon Pricing is not affiliated with Alt, Card Ladder, Collectors (PSA) or eBay, and earns nothing from any of them.

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