German online marketplaces compared: what sellers keep after fees

You already sell in your own store or on one marketplace and are thinking about adding another channel? Then the first question is usually where the fees are lowest. The honest answer: for a single order, the large marketplaces in Germany are often only cents apart. The difference comes from monthly costs, returns and advertising.

As of 25 September 2026. The rates come from our fee guides per channel, which list the official sources with check dates.

Online marketplaces in Germany compared: fees at a glance

The table shows how each channel structures its commission, which fixed costs apply per month and what to watch out for. Rates per category with examples are in the respective guide.

bol.com charges a fixed and a variable commission per item type according to its Partner Platform, based on the selling price including VAT. The tables there are a guide value; your seller account shows the amount actually booked. More on the bol.com profit analytics page. What bol.com requires from sellers outside the Netherlands and Belgium is covered in Selling on bol.com. Temu charges no registration fee according to its Seller Center but does not publish commission rates. You only see which deductions apply in your statements. Both channels are therefore left out of the worked example. What else Temu requires from sellers, for example on shipping and deadlines, is covered in our guide Selling on Temu.

Worked example: the same garden item on five channels

To keep the figures comparable, the same assumptions apply everywhere:

• A garden item for €59.50 including 19% VAT, without separate shipping. Net revenue is €50.00.
• Purchase price €20.00 and your own shipping with packaging €4.00, both net. You ship yourself everywhere, so on Amazon without FBA.
• No advertising, no return. You reclaim the VAT on the fees as input tax.
• Categories: OTTO Garden 15%, Amazon Lawn & Garden 15%, Kaufland Garden 14%, eBay Garden & Patio 13% plus €0.45 per order, Shopify Basic with card payment via Shopify Payments.

Contribution margin here means: €50.00 net revenue minus fee, purchase price and shipping. Between the most expensive and the cheapest marketplace, this item shows a difference of 74 cents. At 100 orders a month that is €74, less than the difference between the base fees. In other categories the order changes; for DIY items, for example, all four marketplaces charge 13%.

Your own store comes out ahead per order. The difference of €6.64 to €7.38 is what you can spend per order in the store on advertising and payment methods such as PayPal before a marketplace without advertising leaves more. How to calculate the contribution margin yourself is explained in the glossary.

Monthly costs: when the base fee makes the difference

Fixed costs apply whether you sell or not. With few orders they weigh heavily: at 20 orders a month, the €99.90 OTTO base fee equals about €5.00 per order, the €39 Amazon plan about €1.95. At 200 orders it is €0.50 and €0.20. eBay has no mandatory plan, but without a store every fixed-price listing costs €0.35.

This conversion is only a guide for the decision. The base fee does not belong in the contribution margin per item because it is not tied to any single sale. It belongs in the result of the month, together with software, storage and staff.

Returns: which fees come back

With high return rates, the return mechanics often matter more than the commission rate:

• OTTO refunds the originally charged commission for returned items, according to its onboarding guide.
• Kaufland says it charges commission only on actual sales, not on returns or cancellations.
• Amazon credits the referral fee minus a refund administration fee of 20%, capped at €5.00. The FBA fulfilment fee is not credited.
• eBay credits fees depending on the reason and the refund route, including the fixed per-order amount.
• Shopify Payments keeps the payment fee on a refund.

Everywhere, return shipping, handling and any loss in value of the goods stay with you. How to calculate the return rate and compare it per channel is explained in the glossary.

Advertising: the biggest difference between channels

You can book ads on every marketplace; in your own store you hardly get visitors without advertising. Ad costs vary more by channel and item than any commission. So do not only compare them per campaign but relative to the channel's total revenue, via TACOS. How OTTO and Amazon compare on advertising, shipping and returns in detail is covered in our comparison of OTTO and Amazon.

Is another marketplace worth it? Five questions before you start

1. Which rate applies to your range? Look at the category, not the average. Tiers and minimum fees change the picture for cheap and very expensive items.
2. How does the channel treat shipping? OTTO, Kaufland, Amazon and eBay charge commission on the shipping your customer pays as well.
3. Does the base fee pay off? Estimate cautiously how many orders you can realistically reach in the first six months.
4. What is your return rate in this category? Return shipping and loss in value often cost more than the commission.
5. How do you connect the channel? Listings, stock and orders run through your integration or ERP. Plan the effort for it.

Requirements, registration, payout and the calculation of when the base fee is covered are set out per marketplace in our guides Selling on OTTO, Selling on Kaufland, Selling on Temu and Selling on bol.com.

Analyse every channel by its own rules

If you sell on several channels, the portals only show revenue and payouts, each with its own logic. profitkonsole's profit analytics calculates every channel by its own fees and shows the same metrics everywhere: contribution margin per item, margin and return rate, under one login. After the start you see in black and white whether the new channel pays its way.