"Reverb charges a 5% selling fee" is true, but it's missing the two numbers that actually govern it at the edges: a $0.50 minimum that overrides the percentage on cheap items, and a $500 maximum that overrides it on expensive ones. Most summaries also quote the blended "8.19% + $0.49" total-fee figure without saying it only holds in between those two bounds.
Three numbers, not one, behind "5%"
Reverb's selling fee is 5% of the order total (item price + shipping), floored at $0.50 and capped at $500. On top of it, a separate payment processing fee applies: 3.19% + $0.49 for standard sellers, or 2.99% + $0.49 for Reverb Preferred Sellers. Combined, that's the "5% Selling Fee + 3.19% + $0.49 = 8.19% + $0.49 Total Fees" figure Reverb itself publishes — but only for order totals where the 5% selling fee lands between its floor and its ceiling.
The floor matters below $10
Below $10 in order total, 5% of the price is less than the $0.50 minimum, so the floor takes over. A $5 sale: the selling fee isn't 5% × $5 = $0.25 — it's $0.50, exactly double what the headline rate alone would suggest. Add the standard processing fee (3.19% × $5 + $0.49 = $0.65) and total fees come to $1.15 on a $5 sale, not the $0.90 the blended "8.19% + $0.49" figure would predict.
The ceiling applies to the order total, not just the item price
Reverb's own cap language pairs a $10,000 max sale amount with a $500 max fee — the same number, since 5% × $10,000 = $500 exactly. But the fee is assessed on the order total (item price plus shipping), so a listing priced under $10,000 can still hit the cap if shipping pushes the total over it. A $9,800 item with $300 shipping totals $10,100: uncapped, 5% would be $505 — but the $500 ceiling holds, saving the seller $5 they'd otherwise owe on the shipping overage alone.
Standard vs. Preferred Seller: where the 0.20-point gap lands
On that same $10,100 order, the selling fee is capped at $500 either way — the entire difference between tiers comes from the processing rate:
| Seller tier | Selling fee | Processing fee | Total fees | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard (3.19% + $0.49) | $500.00 | $322.68 | $822.68 | $9,277.32 (91.9%) |
| Preferred (2.99% + $0.49) | $500.00 | $302.48 | $802.48 | $9,297.52 (92.1%) |
$20.20 more payout for Preferred Sellers here — exactly the 0.20-percentage-point processing gap applied to the $10,100 order total, since the selling fee itself doesn't change between tiers.
What this doesn't cover
Scoped to US-based sellers. Reverb's own published terms also include a 1% cross-border fee for international bank mismatches and a 2.5% currency-conversion fee — both out of scope for a US-seller tool. Applicable sales tax is folded into Reverb's own processing-fee base per its published text, but — consistent with every calculator on this site — tax is treated as a pass-through and excluded here.