Whatnot break-even calculator
Enter what the item cost you and see the lowest price that still leaves what you wanted.
US: a few states tax one or both fees at local rates. Canada: GST or HST and provincial taxes apply on fees for sales to buyers outside Canada. Australia: 10% GST, charged only to sellers not registered for GST. Leave empty if none applies to you.
8% of the sale price
2.9% of the sale price plus $0.30
Three prices to know
Keeps nothing
Keeps 10% of cost, $2.50
Keeps 30% of cost, $7.50
How Whatnot's fees set the floor price
A sale has to cover four things before it is worth making: the commission, the payment processing fee, the shipping you pay, and what the item cost you. Where tax is charged on the fees (VAT, GST or JCT, depending on where you sell from and whether you are registered), that rides on top of both fees and has to be covered too. Anything above all of it is what you keep, and the target is how much of it you want.
If the item came out of a box or a case rather than being bought on its own, the cost to enter here is its share of that lot's, which is worked out in how to split a lot's cost across Whatnot sales.
The two fees are charged on different numbers, and the rates depend on your region. In the US, Canada and Australia commission is 8% in most categories and 4% on coins and money, with processing at 2.9% plus $0.30. The UK and EU run 6.67% and 4%, with processing at 2.42% plus 25 pence or cents. Japan runs 8% and 4%, with processing at 2.9% plus 50 yen. Pick your region above and the solver uses the right schedule; the full walkthrough with a worked example is in the guide, Whatnot fees explained. Working forwards instead? The fee calculator shows what one sale pays out, and the profit calculator estimates what a whole show makes.
Solving that for the price gives one line: price = (cost + shipping + target + the fixed fee, taxed if tax applies) divided by (1 less the two fee rates, taxed likewise). The answer is then rounded up to the next whole cent, because a price rounded down misses the target by definition.
What this break-even price assumes
Buyer-paid shipping and buyer-paid tax are treated as zero here. Both of them only ever raise the payment processing base, never the commission base, so a real order with either one pays a few cents more in processing than this assumes.
The high-value commission cap is not applied here either: commission is charged on the whole price in this maths. For a qualifying single above your region's threshold the real fee is lower, so the true floor sits slightly below the answer.
Both choices lean the same conservative direction on purpose: the price this page gives you is a floor, and a real sale at that price lands at or above the target rather than under it.
What is a safe auction start price?
The same formula, run at three targets, is a better way to set a reserve than a single number. Break even keeps nothing and is the price below which the sale costs you money. Safe start keeps 10% of what the item cost you, and it is your safe auction start price: open the bidding there and a one-bid sale still clears your floor. Healthy keeps 30%.
A break-even price is not a target. It is a floor. Selling at it all night is a night of work for nothing, which is exactly the number most sellers never actually work out.
Fee rates verified 12 August 2026 against Whatnot's published schedule, and the tax-on-fees rules against Whatnot's taxes article as revised 18 July 2026; the regional schedules were captured 31 August 2026. Actual fees can differ with promotions, categories and taxes, so this is an estimate. Everything you type stays in this browser tab; there is no submit and nothing is stored.
BreakCount runs this arithmetic across your whole week instead of one item at a time, at one flat price. Import your Whatnot Weekly Order Report, add one cost per purchase lot, and every show ends with a real net profit.