eBay alternatives for sellers: where else to sell, and when your own shop pays off

Mel lists 15 to 25 vintage pieces a week, mostly in the evenings after her full-time job.

She sells from Manchester on Depop, Etsy and eBay. Some weeks eBay sells her best pieces. Other weeks nothing moves, and every buyer she does get belongs to the platform, not to her. (Mel is a composite of the sellers I talk to, not a real client.)

So she’s asking: where else should I be selling?

The best eBay alternative depends on what you sell and where you live. Clothing sellers have plenty of options. Adding a channel can make more sense than leaving, and once you have regular buyers, your own shop is where repeat sales pay off.

Here are the alternatives by category and by country, what each costs, and how to test one without losing your eBay sales.

Why sellers look beyond eBay

These are the reasons sellers give:

• Fees, especially for business sellers and in the US, where eBay takes a percentage of the whole sale, shipping included.
• Rule changes and account limits that arrive with little warning.
• Slow sales in some categories, while others get buried in search.
• Buyers you can’t contact again. A buyer who loved your last piece can’t hear about your next one unless they happen to search for it.

To be fair to eBay, it still does a lot well. Auctions are great for rare pieces, it reaches buyers worldwide, and it brings search traffic to one-off items that would be hard to sell elsewhere.

It has also cut fees for some sellers. Private sellers in the UK pay no final value fee (eBay’s cut of each sale) on most sales, and casual sellers in Australia pay none on domestic sales up to A$25,000 in the past 12 months.

In the UK, buyers pay a protection fee instead (a small charge for refund cover). The Australian rule is on eBay Australia’s selling fees page.

So don’t quit. Test.

The best eBay alternatives for clothing and vintage

Fashion has plenty of dedicated marketplaces. These are the ones worth knowing:

• Depop. Young, style-led buyers who browse like a social feed. No selling fee in the UK or the US, just payment processing, and Depop dropped its selling fee in Australia in July 2026.
• Vinted. No seller fees at all: buyers pay a protection fee. Big in the UK and Europe, open in Australia since mid-2026, and expanding in the US.
• Poshmark. US and Canada only. It takes 20% of sales from US$15 (C$20 in Canada), and a flat US$2.95 (C$3.95) below that.
• Etsy. Good for genuine vintage, which Etsy defines as at least 20 years old.
• Vestiaire Collective. For designer pieces: about 20% on items from US$75 once processing is added, and a flat fee below that, so it suits higher-priced pieces.

Mel lists her higher-priced pieces on Etsy, everyday knitwear and denim on Depop and Vinted, and keeps eBay for rare sportswear that does well at auction.

The best eBay alternatives for collectibles

Collectors buy where specialists sell. A few places work better than a general marketplace:

• Whatnot. Live auctions for collectibles, trading cards, sneakers and vintage. Around 8% commission plus processing in the US, Canada and Australia, and about the same in the UK once VAT is added.
• Ruby Lane. Antiques and vintage, with a US$45 monthly fee and 9.9% of each sale, less on very expensive pieces.
• Discogs. The marketplace for records, taking 9% of each sale, shipping included.
• Etsy vintage. For decorative and household vintage, as long as it’s 20 years or older.

The best eBay alternatives for general and local selling

For everyday secondhand goods, broad marketplaces and local classifieds do the job:

• Facebook Marketplace. Free for local pickup. Shipped orders pay a selling fee (10% in the US).
• Mercari (US). A 10% selling fee, and buyers pay a protection fee.
• Amazon. For new, branded goods rather than secondhand.
• Bonanza (US). A low base fee, with optional ad tiers that cost more.
• Local classifieds. Gumtree in Australia and the UK, Trade Me in New Zealand, Kijiji in Canada.

Local selling is free in money but not in time. Meeting buyers, no-shows and haggling all come out of your evening.

eBay alternatives by country

The right list changes with where you sell from. These are the main options in each market.

Fees: what you keep on each

Headline percentages don’t tell the whole story. More marketplaces now charge the buyer instead of the seller, and some charge sellers for payment processing on top.

The cheapest marketplace isn’t always the one where you keep the most. A free listing that never sells costs you the time it took to photograph and list it.

Or add your own shop

Your own shop isn’t another marketplace. It’s where buyers who already like what you sell can come back to you directly.

What it adds:

• Buyers you can email again about your next drop.
• No marketplace fee on each sale, just payment processing.
• Your own rules for returns, holds and shipping.

What it costs: a setup, monthly hosting, and the work of bringing people to it. A shop doesn’t bring its own traffic the way a marketplace does.

That’s why the two work well together. List on marketplaces to find new buyers, and send repeat buyers to your shop.

Check each marketplace’s rules on parcel inserts first. Etsy, for example, doesn’t let you add buyers to a mailing list without their consent, so let them sign up themselves.

Keep one stock list, so a piece sold on Depop comes off your shop and eBay straight away. Selling the same jacket twice is a quick way to lose a buyer’s trust.

When it isn’t for you yet: if you list a few pieces a month or you’re still working out what sells, add one marketplace first. A shop starts to pay off once you have regulars who’d buy from you again. To check when it would pay off for you, try the store cost calculator.

How to test a new channel without losing eBay sales

Run it as a test, not a move. These three steps give you a fair comparison in about two months.

1. Pick one or two alternatives

Use the tables above. Choose based on what you sell and where your buyers are, not on which marketplace has the lowest headline fee.

2. Cross-list a small batch

Cross-listing means listing the same pieces on more than one marketplace. Start with around 20 pieces that sell well on eBay, so you’re comparing like with like. Keep one stock list, and take each piece down everywhere the moment it sells.

3. Compare what you keep after 30 to 60 days

For each channel, work out what you kept per sale after fees and postage, how long each sale took, and any returns.

Then shift your weight to the winner. For Mel, the test ended with eBay for rare pieces and auctions, and Depop or Vinted for everyday stock.

So, where should you sell besides eBay?

Here’s the short version:

• Clothing and vintage: Depop and Vinted, Poshmark in the US and Canada, Etsy for genuine vintage.
• Collectibles: Whatnot and specialist sites like Discogs and Ruby Lane.
• Local and general: Facebook Marketplace and your local classifieds.
• Repeat buyers: your own shop.

If your regulars are ready to order from you directly, I set up shops that import your marketplace listings, so you’re not starting from scratch. See what’s included in a store setup.

FAQ

Quick answers for sellers weighing up eBay alternatives.

What is the best alternative to eBay for selling clothes?

Depop or Vinted for secondhand and vintage, and Poshmark in the US and Canada. Etsy works well for genuine vintage at least 20 years old.

Is there a cheaper alternative to eBay for sellers?

Several charge sellers less or nothing per sale, including Vinted and Depop in the UK and US. Check payment processing and buyer fees too, and remember that eBay is now free on most sales for private sellers in the UK, and on domestic sales for casual sellers in Australia.

Should I leave eBay completely?

Not straight away. Test another channel first, and move more of your stock once it proves itself.

Can I sell on eBay and my own website at the same time?

Yes. Keep one stock list so each piece comes off everywhere when it sells.

Which eBay alternatives work in Australia and New Zealand?

In Australia: Depop, Vinted, Etsy, Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace. In New Zealand: Trade Me, which no longer charges casual sellers a success fee, plus Facebook Marketplace and Etsy.