Quick answer
Choose Etsy for handmade items, your own designs, vintage pieces and digital downloads, and eBay for reselling new branded, used or collectible goods. Etsy usually charges lower fees per sale. Both accept an Estonian private limited company (OÜ) as a business seller, even one owned by an e-resident. On either platform, the company passes verification, receives payouts into its own bank account and usually handles VAT on physical goods itself.
Many people start selling on Etsy or eBay in their own name and move the trade into an OÜ once sales become regular. Our e-commerce guide covers selling online through an Estonian company more broadly, including on Amazon.
Which Marketplace Fits What You Sell
The product usually decides the platform before the fees do, because Etsy limits what can be listed and eBay mostly does not.
Under Etsy’s Creativity Standards, every item must be made, designed, handpicked or sourced by the seller, and vintage items must be at least 20 years old. Reselling mass-produced goods and drop shipping are not allowed, with an exception for craft and party supplies.
eBay accepts almost any legal item, new or used, whether you made it or bought it for resale, and lets you sell at a fixed price or by auction. Drop shipping is allowed on eBay only when you work with a wholesale supplier, not when you buy from another retailer after the sale.
| What you sell | Better fit |
|---|---|
| Handmade items or products of your own design | Etsy |
| Digital downloads, such as patterns or printables | Etsy |
| Vintage items at least 20 years old | Etsy or eBay |
| New branded goods bought for resale | eBay |
| Used, refurbished or collectible items | eBay |
Before You Open a Seller Account
Register the company first, because Etsy and eBay both ask for its registry code and registration documents during verification. You can set up an OÜ online with e-Residency or through a notary without it, and then open a bank or payment account in its name.
If you already sell in your own name, agree with your accountant from which date sales belong to the company. Ask the marketplace’s support whether your existing account can be moved to it, since a new shop starts without reviews.
As a business seller, the company must follow EU consumer rules, such as the 14-day right to cancel most online orders. EU product safety rules also require listings of physical goods to name the manufacturer and, for goods made outside the EU, a responsible person in the EU.
Germany, France and several other EU countries require sellers who ship packaged goods to consumers there to register and pay for packaging recycling, and France extends similar rules to textiles, toys, furniture and other goods. Both marketplaces ask for these registration numbers, known as EPR numbers. A company that imports stock from outside the EU needs an EORI number for customs.
Selling on Etsy Through an Estonian OÜ
Etsy Payments, the platform’s own payment system, is available to shops in Estonia, so no separate payment provider is needed.
Etsy Business Account and Verification
When you set up the shop, choose business as the seller type and enter the company’s legal name and its eight-digit registry code.
Etsy verifies both the company and the person who runs the shop. For an Estonian company, it accepts the memorandum of association, an extract from the Commercial Register or a registration document from the Estonian Tax and Customs Board. The last two must be less than three months old. You also give your personal details, and Etsy may ask for an identity document showing your name in Latin characters. Under Etsy’s rules, everyone who owns at least 25% of the company must be listed as a beneficial owner.
Etsy Fees and Payouts
Etsy charges $0.20 per listing, which stays live for four months, and a 6.5% transaction fee on the item price plus shipping. If payouts go to an account in Estonia, payment processing adds 4% plus €0.30 per order.
Listing in a currency other than that of your payout account adds a 2.5% currency conversion fee, and Etsy charges some new sellers a one-time setup fee. Orders from Offsite Ads, Etsy’s adverts on other websites, cost a further 15%. A shop can opt out until its sales over the past 12 months reach $10,000, after which the ads become compulsory and the fee drops to 12%.
Etsy pays the balance, minus fees, into the company’s own bank account, and that account’s country becomes the shop’s country on Etsy. A company account with a foreign IBAN, which many payment institutions issue, would therefore register the shop outside Estonia.
Selling on eBay Through an Estonian OÜ
eBay has no Estonian site, so an Estonian company lists on another country’s site, such as eBay.de, and pays that site’s fees.
eBay Business Account and Verification
Register as a business seller or upgrade a private account to a business one. Under the EU Digital Services Act, business sellers trading with EU buyers must be verified before their first listing. eBay checks the company’s registration, directors, beneficial owners and bank account, and shows the business details to EU buyers on its listings.
eBay Fees and Payouts
On eBay.de, business sellers pay a final value fee, eBay’s commission, of 12–14% of the order total in most categories, unless their service status is below average. Some categories cost less, such as electronics and many used items. Each order also costs €0.35, or €0.45 if it is over €10, and payment processing is included.
Without a shop subscription, the insertion fee is €0.35 per fixed-price listing and €0.50 per auction; subscriptions from €39.95 a month include free listings. Sales to buyers outside the euro area and Sweden can add an international fee.
eBay pays the balance, minus fees, into a bank account held in the EU, Norway or Liechtenstein. The name on that account must match the eBay account, so it has to be the company’s own.
Etsy vs eBay: Fees and Verification Compared
When your products suit both marketplaces, the choice comes down mostly to fees and verification.
| Etsy | eBay | |
|---|---|---|
| Main fees per sale | 6.5% plus payment processing of 4% + €0.30 | 12–14% plus €0.35 or €0.45 per order on eBay.de, processing included |
| Sale fees on a €50 order, shipping included | About €5.55 | About €6.45–€7.45 on eBay.de |
| Business verification | A company document, your personal details and owners with 25% or more | Registration, directors, beneficial owners and bank account |
Fees change
The Etsy and eBay fees in this article were taken from the platforms’ help pages in November 2026. Check them in your seller account before you set prices.
VAT on Etsy and eBay Sales
An Estonian company selling on Etsy or eBay deals with VAT in two places: its own sales and the marketplace’s fees.
VAT on Your Sales
Under EU rules, a marketplace collects VAT for the seller only on certain sales, mainly imports worth up to €150 per consignment and goods sold by businesses outside the EU. An Estonian company selling goods that are already in the EU therefore handles VAT itself. VAT registration becomes mandatory once its taxable turnover from all sales channels passes €40,000 in a calendar year.
| Buyer | VAT on the sale |
|---|---|
| Any buyer in Estonia | Estonian VAT, if the company is VAT-registered |
| Business in another EU country with a VAT number | 0% VAT, if the company is VAT-registered and can prove the goods left Estonia |
| Consumer in another EU country | Up to €10,000 of such sales in a calendar year: Estonian VAT, if the company is registered. Above that: the buyer’s country’s VAT, usually declared in Estonia through the EU One-Stop Shop (OSS) |
| Buyer outside the EU | No Estonian VAT, if the company can prove the goods left the EU |
The table assumes the goods ship from Estonia. If they ship from another EU country, such as the one where you live, VAT there may be due from the first sale.
Digital downloads on Etsy are different: Etsy itself charges and pays VAT on digital items sold to EU buyers, so you do not add VAT to those prices.
VAT on Marketplace Fees
Etsy and eBay charge VAT on their fees to EU sellers that have not given them a valid VAT number. Once the company’s Estonian VAT number is in the account, the platforms stop adding VAT. The company then declares that VAT itself in its Estonian return under the reverse charge and normally deducts the same amount, so it costs nothing extra.
Without a VAT number, the company may still have to register as a taxable person with limited liability from the day it receives certain services from abroad, including electronically supplied ones. It then pays Estonian VAT on those services but cannot deduct it. Ask your accountant whether the marketplace’s fees fall under this rule.
Keeping the Books for Etsy and eBay Sales
Your accountant will need each marketplace’s monthly sales and payout reports, its fee invoices and the bank statements. Under the EU’s DAC7 rules, Etsy and eBay report their EU sellers’ sales to tax authorities, apart from very small sellers of goods. The data then reaches the Estonian Tax and Customs Board, so it should match the company’s accounts.
Marketplace payouts belong to the company, not to you. Take money out through a salary, a board member fee or dividends, since a transfer straight to a personal card may be taxed as a hidden profit distribution. If you live abroad, check how your home country taxes the company and the money you take out, as our guide to running an Estonian company from abroad explains.
How Eesti Firma Helps Etsy and eBay Sellers
Through our e-commerce company service, we register the company, provide its legal address, prepare the company documents marketplaces ask for during verification and help set up its seller account on Etsy or eBay. Our accounting team can then apply for the VAT number, register the company for OSS, keep its books and file its returns, marketplace sales and fees included.
Tell us what you sell and where your buyers are, and we will suggest how best to set up the company.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Etsy and eBay both accept an Estonian OÜ as a business seller, even if its owner lives abroad. For identity checks, use your passport or national ID card, since the e-Residency card has no photo and serves only as a digital ID.
Not to open an Etsy or eBay seller account. Registration becomes mandatory once taxable turnover passes €40,000 in a calendar year and, in practice, once sales to consumers in other EU countries pass €10,000, since only VAT-registered companies can use the One-Stop Shop. The marketplace fees may require a limited VAT registration even earlier. The company can also register voluntarily, but the Estonian Tax and Customs Board may refuse a company with no economic link to Estonia.
Usually Etsy. On a €50 order including shipping, Etsy’s transaction and processing fees come to about €5.55, while eBay.de charges about €6.45–€7.45 in most categories. An order from Etsy’s Offsite Ads costs a further 12–15%, which makes that sale more expensive than on eBay.
