eBay UK vs Etsy UK: Where Should You Sell?

For UK sellers deciding where to list a product, eBay and Etsy solve different problems and charge for the privilege in different ways. Neither platform is universally "better" - the right choice depends heavily on what you're selling and how you're sourcing it.

Fees: eBay UK vs Etsy UK

eBay UK charges a final value fee of roughly 12.8% of the sale price plus a flat £0.30 per order, and your first 1,000 listings each month are free. Etsy UK's fee structure is more fragmented: a listing fee of £0.16-0.20 per item, a 6.5% transaction fee, and payment processing of around 4% plus £0.20 per order - which together typically works out to somewhere around 10-11% of the sale price, depending on the order value.

On a £30 product, that works out to roughly £4.14 in eBay fees versus around £3.52 on Etsy - meaning Etsy tends to be slightly cheaper on small and mid-priced items, while eBay's flat per-order fee makes it relatively more efficient on higher-value items where the percentage-based Etsy fees add up faster.

What Sells Best Where

eBay UK's strength is its sheer breadth of buyer intent: it's the default place UK shoppers go when they already know what they want, which makes it a strong fit for electronics, collectibles, used goods, and high-volume, repeatable sales where you're competing largely on price and shipping speed.

Etsy UK works differently - buyers arrive browsing rather than searching for a specific SKU, and the platform's algorithm and audience both favour handmade goods, vintage items, customisable products, and digital downloads. If your sourcing allows for even light personalisation or a distinct visual style, Etsy rewards that in a way eBay generally doesn't.

Etsy's Offsite Ads Fee

One cost that catches new Etsy sellers off guard is Offsite Ads. Etsy automatically advertises some listings across the web and on social platforms, and if a sale results from one of those ads, Etsy charges an additional 12-15% fee on top of its standard fees. Shops under a certain revenue threshold can opt out, but larger shops are enrolled automatically - so it's worth checking your settings and factoring this into your margin calculations before assuming Etsy's fees are always the cheaper option.

So, Which Platform Should You Choose?

In practice, the decision usually comes down to the product rather than a blanket preference for one platform. Commodity items that buyers search for by name tend to do better on eBay; anything with a handmade, vintage, or personalised angle tends to do better on Etsy. Running the same product on both isn't unusual either, since it costs nothing extra in listing fees to test both audiences and see where demand and competition actually sit.

That's also where having visibility into both marketplaces at once helps. UK Viral Radar tracks eBay and Etsy listings side by side alongside broader trend signals, so instead of guessing, you can see which platform currently has less competition for a given product before deciding where to put your listing effort.