We ran a card selling fees comparison on one $100 sale. eBay leaves a non-store seller $86.35 before postage. Fanatics Collect Buy Now leaves $94 at its 6% tier or $88 at 12%. COMC leaves $95 in store credit, or about $85.50 in cash, and its upfront intake fee comes off on top of that.
The "fee" that platforms advertise is rarely the number that reaches your bank account. eBay also takes its fee from shipping and sales tax. COMC charges when your card comes in, again when it sells, and a third time when you cash out. Fanatics Collect's rate depends on how your price compares with a market-value figure, and its zero-fee option pays you in FanCash, which is not cash. Here is how each one handles the same $100 card.
How we ran the numbers
Assumptions: a $100 sale price, a US-based seller, an eBay account without a store subscription, and a cash payout unless we say otherwise. We did not estimate postage or supply costs because they depend on how you ship. Fee schedules change, so every figure below is credited to its source with the source's date. Check the current terms before you list.
eBay: 13.25% plus $0.40, charged on the whole order
According to eBay's Selling fees help page, the final value fee for Sports Trading Cards, Non-Sport Trading Cards and Collectible Card Games is 13.25% of the sale up to $7,500 per item, and 2.35% on any portion above $7,500. There is also a per-order fee: $0.30 on orders of $10.00 or less, and $0.40 on orders over $10.00.
With free shipping and no sales tax, a $100 card costs you $13.25 plus $0.40, or $13.65. You keep $86.35, and postage and supplies still come out of that.
What catches many sellers is that eBay applies the fee to the order total, not only the card price. The help page says the total amount of the sale includes "the item price, any handling charges, any shipping costs collected from the buyer...sales tax, and any other applicable fees." Here is an example. You charge $5 for shipping, and we assume an 8% sales tax on $105 for illustration, which adds $8.40. The fee is then calculated on $113.40: 13.25% comes to $15.03, and with the $0.40 order fee the total is $15.43. You receive $105 minus $15.43, or $89.57, and you still pay the postage. Charging the buyer for shipping recovers some of your cost, but eBay takes its percentage from that shipping charge as well.
The same help page lists other charges that can apply:
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A 1.65% international fee when the delivery address or the buyer's registered address is outside the US, unless you use eBay International Shipping.
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$20.00 for each payment dispute that is decided against you.
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An extra 6% on final value fees in the following calendar month for sellers rated Below Standard.
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Up to 250 zero-insertion-fee listings a month, then $0.35 per listing in most categories.
Getting paid: eBay's Getting paid page lists no fee for standard payouts. Proceeds usually become available 1-2 days after the buyer pays, and the bank transfer takes another 1-3 business days. Express payouts cost a flat $2.00 and usually arrive within 30 minutes. If you need the money today, that $2.00 comes out of your $86.35.
The $1,000+ discount does not apply here
eBay ran a 50% final value fee discount for cards that sold for $1,000.00 or more. It ran from March 3 to May 4, 2025, and sellers had to opt in. It has ended, and a $100 card would not have qualified anyway.
Fanatics Collect Buy Now: 6% or 12%, depending on your price
Fanatics Collect's Sell page advertises "Seller fees as low as 6%." Its own fee pages were not available for our research, so the range comes from trade reporting. Mantel, via Yahoo Sports (Mike Metzler, July 31, 2026), describes a standard seller transaction fee of 6% to 12%. ORB Trading Cards (April 16, 2026) reports that the 6% Buy Now fee applies to listings priced at or below 120% of the card's market value.
On a $100 sale, the 6% tier leaves $94 in your Fanatics Collect account balance. At the top of Mantel's reported range, 12%, you would keep $88. The Sell page says sellers are "typically paid within 48 hours after the sale closes and payment is received," and that the money goes to your account balance, where you can withdraw it or use it toward future purchases.
The lever you control is your price. If ORB's description is accurate, a Buy Now price at or below 120% of market value is the difference between the $94 and $88 outcomes. That $6 matters more than most small differences between platforms.
FanCash: no fee, but not cash
Mantel reports that sellers who choose Fanatics Collect's FanCash Payouts "prior to listing receive 100% of the final sale price, with standard commission and processing fees waived." The program is "currently restricted to U.S.-based sellers," and "Standard vault storage and fulfillment fees still apply." On our card, that means $100 in FanCash.
According to Mantel, FanCash can be spent across Fanatics properties, including Fanatics Collect, Fanatics.com, Topps products, Fanatics Live breaks, memorabilia and event tickets. You cannot deposit it in a bank. It is worth the full $100 only if you were already going to spend that much on Fanatics or Topps. If you would not have spent it there, the $94 cash outcome is the better deal.
Fanatics Collect CEO Nick Bell told Mantel: "Any sane person or CFO would tell you that eradicating fees is probably not good for the bottom line. But from our point of view, if we focus on building long-term relationships and improving the collector experience, then the business will follow." In other words, the company expects to recover the waived fee when you spend the FanCash in its stores. Mantel describes typical seller fees across the industry as "hovering around 13%."
Vault costs
According to the Fanatics Collect Vault page, storage is free for any card, ticket or slab valued at $50 or more. Items under $50 incur a $3 fee. Items submitted to auction or sold within 30 days are stored free regardless of value, and anything bought on the platform is always free to vault. Taking an item out of the vault (fulfillment) costs 1%, or 3% if you remove it within 90 days. A $100 card sold from the vault costs nothing to store. If you buy a card, change your mind and have it shipped to you within three months, the 3% fulfillment fee applies.
COMC: pay to send cards in, 5% when they sell, 10% to cash out
COMC's official fee pages were not available for our research, so these figures come from secondary sources that agree with each other. The GRADEx guide to COMC (Sept 9, 2025) lists "a 5% selling fee when your card is sold" and "a 10% cash-out fee for withdrawing your credit to a bank account." Puck Junk (Nov 16, 2018) covered the change behind this structure: starting January 1, 2019, COMC replaced a 20% cash-out fee with a 10% one and added a 5% transaction fee. Its example was that a $100 sale leaves $95 in COMC credit.
A $100 sale therefore leaves $95 in COMC credit. Cashing all of it out at 10% leaves $85.50.
COMC also charges a per-card intake fee when you send cards in, and sources give different amounts, so we credit each figure to its source. GRADEx lists $0.65 per card for Standard service and $1.00 for Select. ORB lists the Elite tier at $2.00 per raw card, $2.50 per graded card and $5.00 per odd-sized card, with 2-week processing. With the $0.65 Standard fee, the cash outcome is about $84.85. A graded card sent in at the $2.50 Elite rate comes to about $83.00.
COMC credit is worth the most to sellers who spend it on COMC. If you buy singles there regularly, the $95 in credit is the highest non-FanCash number in this comparison. If you need rent money, it is the lowest.
COMC also launched a new selling service, "Direct 2 eBay," announced on the COMC blog on July 20, 2026. We have not included it in the comparison.
Side by side: one $100 card
| Platform | How fees are charged | What the seller keeps | When it comes out ahead | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | eBay (non-store, free shipping, no tax) | 13.25% + $0.40 on the full order total | $86.35 cash, before postage and supplies | You want the biggest pool of buyers and a direct bank payout | | Fanatics Collect Buy Now, 6% tier | 6% at or below 120% of market value (per ORB) | $94 in account balance | You can price at or below the market-value line | | Fanatics Collect Buy Now, 12% | Top of Mantel's reported 6%-12% range | $88 in account balance | Rarely; reprice if you can | | Fanatics Collect FanCash | Seller fee waived; vault and fulfillment fees still apply | $100 in FanCash (not cash) | You were going to spend it on Fanatics or Topps anyway | | COMC (credit) | Intake fee upfront + 5% on sale | $95 in COMC credit, minus intake | You buy on COMC | | COMC (cash) | Intake + 5% on sale + 10% to cash out | About $85.50, minus intake ($0.65 to $2.50 per card, depending on source and tier) | You are moving many low-value cards and value the convenience |
A note on the eBay vault
Value Added Resource reported in March 2024 (updated April 7, 2024) that seller fees, including final value fees, were waived for items stored in the eBay vault, and that buyers paid a 3% buyer's premium starting April 1, 2024. At that time, direct submissions were for cards worth $250 or more, at $1 per card. That is 2024 reporting. A $100 card was below the direct-submission minimum then, so treat the vault as background here rather than an option for this sale.
What to do this week
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If you need cash from one card, compare Fanatics Collect's 6% tier ($94) with eBay's $86.35 minus your actual postage. Pricing at or below the market-value line decides whether you get the 6% rate.
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If you are putting the proceeds back into cards, FanCash ($100) or COMC credit ($95 minus intake) beats both cash outcomes, but only if you will spend it on that platform.
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If you sell on eBay, remember the 13.25% applies to the shipping you charge and to sales tax. Check your real net on a sold listing, not only the item price.
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If you are deciding whether to grade before selling, the card grading break-even calculator compares your net proceeds selling raw and selling graded, using costs you enter, including the platform fees above. It does not predict grades, current prices or returns.
Related reading
Sources
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eBay: Save 50% on final value fees when you sell singles $1,000+ (2025 promotion)
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ORB Trading Cards: Card Consignment Fees Compared (April 16, 2026)
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Value Added Resource: eBay Vault Buyer's Premium, Submission Fees Set To Kick In April 1, 2024
Note: This article contains AI-assisted content and has been reviewed in our editorial workflow.
DISCLAIMER: PureGrail articles are for informational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing on this site constitutes financial, investment, or legal advice. Collectibles are speculative assets and values can decrease significantly. Always conduct your own research before buying or selling. Past price performance does not indicate future results.