Reverb takes a cut of the gear sale. Here’s the keep.

This is a used-gear checkout — the Strat, the overdrive, the amp that needs a freight box — not a closet SKU and not a consignment bag. Reverb’s US help prints two lines on every sold listing: a 5% selling fee on the total sale including shipping, then a payment-processing cut. The US Reverb Payments default we found is 3.19% + $0.49 on the full order including tax. You type both rates. Keep = sale − commission you type − processing you type. Listing the pedal is free. The 5% only fires when it sells. That stack is not Etsy’s $0.20 listing + 6.5% + 3% + $0.25 (handmade shop, Offsite Ads on some orders), and not Whatnot’s 8% on the hammer with shipping excluded.

Keep card (sale − commission you type − processing you type)

Two fees. The guitar is not a listing ticket.

Closet apps train you to memorize one blended percent. Reverb Help does not. The selling-fee article’s quick answer is two bullets: the 5% selling fee, and payment processing. Bump, labels, and cross-border are named as extras — only the 1% cross-border line is numbered.

There is a 5% selling fee for every item sold on Reverb. There are no fees for creating a new listing or removing a listing if it has not sold. This fee is assessed off of the total sale amount (including shipping).
— What fees will I pay for selling on Reverb?, fetched 28 Aug 2026, HTTP 200

That “including shipping” parenthetical is the gear-specific trap. A $500 used guitar with $40 you billed for a box is a $540 sale for the 5%. Five percent of $540 is $27.00, not 5% of $500 ($25.00). The extra $2.00 is postage sitting inside the commission base. “Free shipping” baked into a fatter sticker still pays 5% on the whole checkout — you did not dodge the fee, you moved the dollars. Whatnot’s commission excludes shipping; Reverb’s 5% does not. Do not paste that hammer rule onto a pedalboard.

Posting is free. Relisting an unsold cab is free. The 5% is a sold-item tax, not a shop rent. That is the opposite of Etsy’s $0.20 listing fee whether it sells or not. A craft shop and a used-gear shop are different machines. This page will not mill a vs-clone of them.

USD floor $0.50, cap $500 — the cable vs the vintage piece

Under the same selling-fee heading, Help prints a currency table. For USD:

Official follow-on: if the sale exceeds that maximum sale amount, the maximum fee charged stays the same. A $12,000 vintage amp is not a 5% × $12,000 = $600 story. The selling fee stops at $500. A $9 cable is not a 5% × $9 = $0.45 story. The selling fee floors at $0.50. Other listing currencies not in that four-row table use the USD equivalent — Help says so; we will not invent FX. This card’s clamp is the USD row. CAD / EUR / GBP dollars are in the table above if that is your listing currency.

That cap is not Whatnot’s $1,500 high-value cliff (0% commission on the slice above $1,500 in named categories). Reverb does not print a 0% tail. It prints a $500 ceiling on the 5%. Different cliff, different marketplace, used gear not trading cards.

Worked USD rows (planning, empty tax)

Help does not publish a keep example. The 5%, the $0.50 / $500 USD clamps, and the US 3.19% + $0.49 are official. The subtraction is ours. Empty tax. Postage you charged is inside the 5% and inside processing. Default source for the 5% and clamps: What fees will I pay for selling on Reverb?. Default source for 3.19% + $0.49: Availability and processing fees for Reverb Payments.

Same $500 sticker, $40 of billed postage vs empty ship: keep $495.28 vs $458.56. The $40 is money that passed through checkout; it is not a gift. If actual postage cost you $40, that $40 is COGS, not a Reverb line — paste it in the COGS field. Help does not publish a carrier grid. We will not invent $12.80 for a pedal.

Processing is a second line, and it includes tax

Payment processing fees are deducted directly from your earnings amount. These fees are taken from the item’s total sale price, including its shipping fees and any applicable sales tax.
— Availability and processing fees for Reverb Payments, fetched 28 Aug 2026, HTTP 200

The selling-fee article says the same shape another way: for both Reverb Payments and PayPal orders, processing is calculated on the full order amount (including the tax amount). That is why this card’s tax field hits processing and not the 5% unless you type tax into the item.

Default on this card is the USA standard row. Preferred is a type-in: change 3.19 to 2.99. Help does not say you are Preferred; we will not assume the badge. New sellers in listed countries: Reverb Payments is the only available payment option, per that article.

PayPal is the fork we will not fake. Selling-fee Help: PayPal charges its own processing fee, separate from Reverb, and that fee cannot be viewed on your Reverb Earnings page. International PayPal is “up to 4.4%.” That is a ceiling, not a US domestic default. If the buyer paid PayPal, type the percent from the PayPal activity, not 3.19, unless 3.19 is what actually hit.

Cross-border 1%, FX 2.5% — typed extras, not invented blends

International transactions may incur an additional 1% cross-border processing fee if transacting bank accounts sit in different countries. EEA internal moves are treated as domestic. Currency conversion: if you list in a different currency than you receive the Reverb Payments payout, Help assesses 2.5% on the subtotal of the payout after regular payment processing fees. Neither sentence is a US-domestic default. Type 1 or 2.5 in the extra-% box when that sentence describes your order. Leave it empty for a same-country USD payout.

Bump fees are named in the quick answer and never numbered in the HTML we fetched. Shipping labels bought on Reverb are billed to your statement — no dollar table on these two articles. VAT / GST / HST “may” sit on the fees depending on business status and location, with no percent printed. Empty extra = $0. Paste a receipt. Do not let a blog fill those holes.

When the cut comes out

For PayPal payouts on orders placed on or after 13 May 2026, Help says the fees are deducted directly from the payout. If they cannot be, they land on the month-end statement. Additional shipping labels are always billed to the statement. Check the Earnings page for the withheld lines. This worksheet is not that page.

What this is not

• Not a 50-state sales-tax engine. Empty tax = $0 extra.
• Not Etsy Fee Basics — no $0.20 listing, no 6.5%, no Offsite Ads 12/15%.
• Not Whatnot seller fees — Reverb’s 5% includes shipping; Whatnot’s 8% hammer does not.
• Not an eBay category final-value table. Used gear can sell there; the fee machine is different: eBay fees explained.
• Not a Vinted-vs-X mill and not a bag-house consignment clone.

Sources (fetched 28 Aug 2026)

• What fees will I pay for selling on Reverb? — live fetch HTTP 200. 5% including shipping; USD $0.50 min / $500 max / $10,000 max sale; processing exists on every order including tax; 1% cross-border; PayPal “up to 4.4%” international; 2.5% FX after processing; payout deduction on/after 13 May 2026. Help HTML did not print a last-updated datetime.
• Availability and processing fees for Reverb Payments — live fetch HTTP 200. USA 3.19% + $0.49 (Preferred 2.99% + $0.49); processing base includes shipping and applicable sales tax; 1% extra cross-border (EEA internal = domestic). Help HTML did not print a last-updated datetime.

Gaps we will not paper over: Bump %; shipping-label dollars; US PayPal domestic processing %; VAT-on-fee %; whether sales tax sits inside the 5% (Help names tax on processing, not on the 5%); Preferred eligibility; in-app cells that are not on Help; a 50-state tax table.

FAQ

Open the profit calculator Seller-fee hub Etsy fees explained realratecalc.com

Seller-fee hub · Handmade shop stack (listing + 6.5% + processing, not a guitar 5%): Etsy seller fees explained · Live-show hammer (8% excluding shipping): Whatnot seller fees explained · Category final-value if the same amp is on eBay: eBay seller fees explained · realratecalc.com