Enter the rates from your last Reverb payout and the eBay final-value fee you actually pay. The calculator shows cash at your list price, cash if you take the offer, and the Reverb offer that leaves the same cash as selling the same item on eBay. Walk the numbers on should I take this Reverb offer, then use "Copy counter-offer message" below to paste a reply naming the crossover price straight into your Reverb inbox. Declining it does not buy a guaranteed sale at list — it buys a chance of one — so price that bet on should I wait for a better Reverb offer. A bump is cash out of this sale — compare it to taking the offer on should I bump this Reverb listing. Marketplace fee sits on the item, so baking postage into the list costs extra — compare that to charging shipping, absorbing the label, or offering pickup on should I include shipping on Reverb and should I eat the shipping. Reverb Safe Shipping is a more expensive label, not a different checkout — compare it to your own label on should I buy Reverb Safe Shipping. A shop that will consign or buy the guitar today is a different sale — compare that on should I consign this Reverb listing. And when a buyer opens a case, the freight runs three legs and the piece comes back worth less — see the largest concession that still beats the return on should I take the return or refund part of it. See how this differs from Reverb's own Selling Fees page and Earnings breakdown on this calculator vs. Reverb's own tools, or from tracking these seven decisions in a spreadsheet on this calculator vs. a spreadsheet.
Sale and fee assumptions
If you take the offer
$208.15
estimated net on Reverb at the offer
At your list price on Reverb
Cash you leave versus list
Same sale on eBay at list
Reverb extra versus eBay at list
Offer that matches eBay list cash
Path
Fees
Net
Numbers stay in this browser. The shareable link puts them in the URL. This is arithmetic on your inputs, not Reverb's or eBay's live fee schedule. Payment processing defaults to Reverb's standard-seller rate (3.19% + $0.49, per Reverb's own Selling Fees page as of September 2026) — Preferred Sellers pay 2.99% + $0.49 instead, so overwrite the field if that is you. The marketplace fee cap defaults to $500 — Reverb's own published ceiling on the selling fee itself, for standard and Preferred sellers alike, so a $15,000 guitar owes $500 rather than the uncapped 5% ($750). It only changes the number above roughly $10,000 at a 5% rate; set it to 0 if your plan has no cap. Rates change; check Reverb's own Selling Fees page before trusting either default.
Offer versus list, Reverb versus eBay
Path
Sale price
Fees
Net cash
vs Reverb list
Marketplace and Reverb Gives apply to the item price. Payment processing applies to item plus shipping charged. eBay's final-value fee in this compare applies to item plus shipping, the usual marketplace shape — overwrite it from your own statement.
Offer ladder: what each lowball leaves you
Offer
% of list
Net cash
Given up vs list
vs eBay at list
Same fees as above at every step, so you can answer an offer without retyping the field. The lowest offer that still covers your costs is the floor; the marketplace fee cap (if any) is applied at each price.
Offer inbox: answer several offers at once
One offer per line: name, list price, offer, what you paid (the last is optional and defaults to the field above). No thousands commas. Fees come from the assumptions above.
Item
Offer
Net cash
eBay at list
Answer
Accept when the offer nets at least what eBay would at your list price, counter at the crossover price (rounded up, never above list) when it covers costs but leaves less, decline when it loses money.
Take the offer now, or wait for a better one?
Path
Chance
Sale price
Net cash
vs taking it now
Declining an offer does not buy a sale at list — it buys a chance of one, and otherwise the realistic alternative is usually another offer near (or below) the one already in hand. Type your own odds of eventually reaching list and what you expect to settle for if you don't; the two rows and the break-even chance above update.
Buyer-pays, include shipping, absorb the label, or pickup
Path
Buyer checkout
Fees
Net cash
vs buyer-pays
Including shipping folds postage into the item so marketplace fee rises. Absorbing the label keeps your typed list and leaves the postage on you — a cheaper checkout for the buyer and less cash for you. Local pickup uses your list with no shipping charged; add gas or parking as the meetup cost if pickup is not free. This is not a recommendation — it is the arithmetic on the rates you typed. Include-shipping example. Absorb-the-label example.
Your own label or Reverb Safe Shipping
Path
Label you pay
Expected claim
Expected net
vs own after claims
Safe Shipping does not change what the buyer pays. It only changes the label you buy and whether you eat a damaged or lost shipment. Expected keep subtracts (claim rate × cash you lose on an unprotected claim) from own-label profit. A $0 Safe Shipping quote is illustrated at your own label plus $15 so the table is never empty. This is not a recommendation to buy their label — it is the arithmetic on the rates you typed. Worked example.
List it yourself, consign at the shop, or take their cash
Path
Their price
You receive
Net after gear
vs Reverb list
Consignment is a percent of the shop's sale, not of your Reverb list. They ship and they collect, so this path does not pay Reverb marketplace, payment processing, a bump, or a label. Their cash offer is a buy today — you walk with that number minus what you paid for the gear. This is not a recommendation to consign or to take their cash — it is the arithmetic on the rates you typed. Worked example.
Pay for a bump, or take the offer
Path
Sale price
Fees
Net cash
vs offer, no bump
A bump is a fixed cash out of this sale. Paying one and still taking the same offer always leaves less by exactly the bump. It only pays if it gets you to list or to a higher offer that covers the bump after percentage fees. A $0 bump is illustrated at $3 so the table is not the same sale twice — overwrite it from your listing. This is not a recommendation to buy a bump. Worked example.
Take the return, or refund part of it and let them keep it
Path
Cash back to buyer
Fees credited
Item back?
Where you end up
vs the return
A returned guitar is not a returned phone case. The freight runs three legs — out, back, and out again on the relist — the piece is one of one, so the cash you recover is whatever the relist fetches, and the card processor generally keeps its cut even when Reverb credits the selling fee. The 61% default is the selling fee's share of total fees on the worked example; read your own payout statement and overwrite it. Set the relist price to $0 for a piece that comes back unsellable. This is not a recommendation to refuse a return, and nothing here changes what Reverb's policies or your local law require of you. Worked example.
Common questions
Why doesn’t this know Reverb’s current fees?
On purpose. Every rate here is an input rather than a stored fee schedule, so the result is
something you can check line by line against your own Reverb payout statement instead of a claim
about what Reverb charges this month. Marketplace rates change, sellers land on different plans,
and a stored table that has drifted is worse than no table — it looks authoritative and is
quietly wrong. Type what your statement says and the arithmetic is yours.
Why is the marketplace fee on the item price but the payment fee on the total?
Because that is the usual shape: the marketplace cut (and Reverb Gives, if you have it on)
applies to what the item sold for, while card processing applies to everything the buyer paid,
shipping included. It matters more than it sounds. On the worked example — $800 plus $75
shipping — processing is charged on all $875, so shipping you charge is not fee-free
revenue. If your own statement folds shipping into the marketplace line instead, raise the
marketplace rate or put the difference in the other-cost field.
Does an $80 discount cost me $80?
No, and that is the useful part of the offer comparison. Dropping the worked example from $800
to $720 takes profit from $281.60 to $208.15 — $73.45, not $80 — because the
marketplace and processing fees fall with the price too. It cuts both ways: a low offer still
costs you most of the discount, so the tool shows what is left rather than whether the offer
“feels” fair.
Does the marketplace fee really stop growing on an expensive item?
Yes — Reverb caps its own selling fee at $500 per sale, for standard and Preferred sellers
alike, per Reverb’s own Selling Fees and Preferred Seller help pages. A $15,000 guitar owes
$500, not the uncapped 5% of $750. Below roughly $10,000 at a 5% rate the cap never binds and this
changes nothing; above it, every comparison on this page — offer vs list, vs eBay, vs a shop
— uses the capped number. Reverb Gives and payment processing are not capped, only the
marketplace line. If your plan has no cap, set the field to 0.
Am I better off on Reverb or eBay?
On the same sale it depends almost entirely on the fee rates you type. With the worked example’s
defaults Reverb’s fees come to $68.40 against eBay’s $119.40 at a 13.6% final value
rate, so Reverb keeps about $51 more of the same $875. Put your actual rates in before you trust
the direction — the point of the comparison is that a category rate and a promoted-listing
rate can flip it.
Is Reverb Safe Shipping worth the extra label cost?
That is an expected-value question, not a preference, and the tool answers it that way. The
worked example pays $15 more for the protected label against a $450 claim exposure, so the
break-even is a 3.33% loss rate: below that, self-insuring wins on average; above it, the
protected label does. At the default 2% the expected claim is $9 and own-label comes out $6
ahead. Two honest caveats the arithmetic cannot carry: your real loss rate on vintage or fragile
pieces may be well above your average, and expected value says nothing about whether you could
absorb one $450 hit this month.
How should I think about a return?
As three legs of freight, not one. The piece ships out, comes back, and ships out again on the
relist; it is one of one, so what you recover is whatever the relist actually fetches; and the
card processor generally keeps its cut even where the selling fee is credited. That last part is
the 61% default — the selling fee’s share of total fees on the worked example, which
you should overwrite from your own payout statement. Set the relist price to $0 for something
that comes back unsellable. None of this is advice to refuse a return, and it does not change what
Reverb’s policies or your local law require of you.
Is my data uploaded anywhere?
No account and no network requests — the calculator runs entirely in your browser. The
shareable link carries your numbers in the URL itself rather than sending them to a server, so
whoever you send it to sees the same scenario without anything being stored. The optional usage
counter records only which features were used and the day, never your prices, costs, or
margins.
Should I take this offer or wait for a better one?
That depends on a probability this tool cannot know for you: how often gear like yours, at your
asking price, actually reaches list. On the worked example — $720 offer, $800 list, and a
fallback of $680 if list is not reached — taking the offer now leaves $208.15 for certain.
Waiting only pays in expectation once your real chance of reaching list clears 33.33%; below that,
the certain $208.15 beats the probability-weighted average of a $281.60 list sale and a $171.43
fallback. Type your own odds and fallback price on the calculator — this is the arithmetic of
a bet, not a claim about how often you personally will win it.