How to work out your real profit on eBay and Vinted
The number that matters in reselling is not what you sold for, it is what you kept. A lot of sellers are quietly making less than they think once fees and postage come off. Here is the simple way to work out your real profit.
General information, not tax advice. Check with HMRC or a qualified accountant before you act on it.
Start with your sales
Begin with the total your buyers paid you across the period you are looking at, including any postage they paid. This is your gross sales, or turnover. It is the top line, but it is not your profit.
Take off the platform fees
Next, subtract the fees the platform charged. On eBay that is the final value fee, the per-order fee and the regulatory fee, which together often come to more than you expect. On Vinted there are no seller fees, since the buyer pays those, so nothing comes off here.
Take off your postage and packaging
If you paid for postage labels, subtract those. Add in packaging too: boxes, bags, tape and labels. These feel small per order but stack up across a busy month.
Take off refunds and losses
If you refunded any buyers or lost a dispute, take those off as well. It is easy to forget the odd refund, but it is real money that left your account, so it belongs in the sum.
Finally, take off what your stock cost you
If you are trading, subtract what you paid for the items you sold. This is the step people most often skip, and it makes the biggest difference. What is left after all of this is your real profit.
A quick worked example
Say you sold £1,000 of items. eBay fees take around £140, your postage labels cost £90, you refunded one buyer £20, and the stock cost you £400. Your real profit is £1,000 minus £140 minus £90 minus £20 minus £400, which is £350. Less than half the headline figure, which is completely normal.
The easy way to do it
Doing this by hand across dozens of orders is tedious and easy to get wrong. FlipTally reads your eBay and Vinted figures, takes off the fees, postage and refunds automatically, and lets you add your stock costs, so your real profit is worked out to the penny. It also shows whether you are over the tax allowances. This is general information, not advice, so check anything important with HMRC or an accountant.
Frequently asked questions
Is my sale price my profit?
No. Your profit is what is left after platform fees, postage, packaging, any refunds and what the stock cost you. It is often much lower than the sale price.
Does Vinted take fees off my profit?
No seller fees on Vinted, since the buyer pays those. But if you are trading you still take off postage and what your stock cost to get your real profit.
What is the most commonly forgotten cost?
The cost of your stock. People subtract fees and postage but forget what they paid for the items, which is usually the biggest cost of all.
See where you actually stand
Get a rough answer in about a minute with the free calculator, or connect your eBay account to see your real profit and tax.
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This guide is general information, not tax advice, and reflects the UK rules for the current tax year. Always check with a qualified accountant before you file. FlipTally is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to eBay, Vinted, Depop or HMRC. Last updated 2026-08-03.