OnBuy vs eBay: Which UK Marketplace Suits Your Stock?
eBay suits almost every UK seller. OnBuy suits businesses with barcoded stock. Here is how fees, dispatch and payouts compare.
7 days for £1, then from £9/month.
- eBay suits almost any UK seller, private or business, new stock or used. OnBuy is built for sellers of catalogued, barcoded products.
- UK private sellers pay no final value fee on eBay outside motors. Business sellers pay category-based fees.
- OnBuy charges an application fee, a monthly subscription and a category-based sales fee. There is no listing fee.
- OnBuy holds sellers to a dispatch window you set, capped at 10 days, and fixes when you can withdraw your money.
- Run both if you sell branded stock with barcodes. FLUF ends the OnBuy listing when eBay sells it. An OnBuy sale takes one click in FLUF.
Which seller each one is for
If you clear out your wardrobe, sell a few items a month, or deal in one-off second-hand finds, eBay is the answer and OnBuy is not worth a look. You pay OnBuy to apply and then every month before you make a sale, and its catalogue is built around products that already exist, with a barcode, in more than one copy.
If you are a UK business with repeat stock, such as electronics accessories, homeware, toys, tools or health and beauty lines, both are real options. eBay brings the bigger audience. OnBuy is a second general marketplace where you compete against fewer sellers, and it costs a fixed amount each month to be there.
How the two marketplaces work
eBay is a listing marketplace. You write a listing for your item, set a fixed price or run an auction, and buyers find it in search. Each seller’s listing stands on its own, so ten sellers of the same kettle means ten kettle listings.
OnBuy is a catalogue marketplace. There is one product page per product, and sellers place their offer against it. Your price, your delivery time and your seller rating decide whether buyers pick you. That works well for a branded product with a barcode. It works badly for a used jacket, because there is no shared product page for it to join.
| eBay (UK) | OnBuy | |
|---|---|---|
| Who can sell | Private and business sellers | Sellers whose application OnBuy accepts |
| Listing model | Your own listing per item | Your offer on a shared product page |
| Best stock | Anything, including used one-offs | New, branded products in quantity |
| Up-front cost | None for private sellers | Application, then a subscription each month |
| Cost when it sells | Nothing for private sellers outside motors; category fees for business sellers | A sales fee set by category, on price plus delivery |
What each one costs
eBay. eBay’s fee page says UK-based private sellers pay no final value fee and no regulatory operating fee when an item sells, outside the motors categories. Private sellers get 300 free listings a month, or 400 with an eBay Shop subscription. Business sellers pay a separate schedule of fees by category, and those are the numbers to compare with OnBuy if you trade as a business.
OnBuy. OnBuy’s seller terms list the charges. You pay a non-refundable application fee when you apply. After that there is a monthly subscription on a rolling contract with no minimum term, and a sales fee on each order, worked out as a percentage of the listing price plus delivery, at a rate set by the product’s category. There is no fee to list. If you refund a customer, OnBuy returns the sales fee but keeps a refund administration fee of 20% of it, at least 25p and at most £5 per line.
Two optional extras sit on top. Boost is paid promotion that OnBuy runs to lift a listing’s visibility, and OnBuy Ads is a separate advertising product. Both are charged under the terms only if you choose them. One charge is not optional: list a product OnBuy prohibits and you owe an operational cost recovery fee of 7.5% a month of the takings on that listing, so read the prohibited products list before you import a whole catalogue.
The subscription changes the maths. On eBay a quiet month costs a business seller little. On OnBuy the subscription is due whether you sell or not, so the channel needs steady sales to pay for itself. Check OnBuy’s current package prices and category fees before you apply, because the terms allow OnBuy to change them with notice.
Dispatch, payouts and performance
Under OnBuy’s terms, you choose a handling time of up to 10 days and a delivery timeframe of between 1 and 30 days, and orders must go out within your handling time. Orders marked priority must leave the same day if they arrive before the cut-off you set. Sales to EU addresses go through OnBuy’s EU marketplace and are paid into your OnBuy account in euros. You can ask to withdraw the money from a sale no later than 7 days after the end of the delivery timeframe, and OnBuy starts the payout by the end of the next business day. OnBuy rates sellers on performance, and those ratings can affect how you are treated on the marketplace.
eBay sets its own dispatch time per listing and publishes seller performance standards. Late dispatch and “item not as described” cases count against you on both. The difference is in the listing: on eBay a detailed description of a used item protects you, while on OnBuy the product page is shared and your condition field has to match it.
eBay, OnBuy, or both
Stay with eBay alone if you sell as a private seller, sell used or unique items, or sell too few items a month to cover a subscription.
Consider OnBuy alone only if eBay does not suit your stock or your pricing, and you are a business with a catalogue of barcoded products. Most sellers will not be in that position.
Run both if you are a UK business selling new, branded stock in quantity. The same product can sit on both, priced for each marketplace’s fees, and the risk is selling your last unit twice.
Running both with FLUF Connect
| eBay | OnBuy | |
|---|---|---|
| How you connect | Sign in from FLUF | Your OnBuy seller account details |
| Who can connect | Sellers in any eBay country | UK sellers only |
| FLUF sees a sale here | Yes | No, you mark it sold in FLUF |
| FLUF ends the listing here when the item sells elsewhere | Yes | Yes |
| Relisting and offer management | Yes, on the plans above Starter | No |
When an item sells on eBay, FLUF ends it on OnBuy for you. When an item sells on OnBuy, mark it sold in FLUF and FLUF ends the eBay listing. Do that as part of dispatching the order, and a last unit cannot sell twice.
How much it costs
Crosslisting and inventory sync are on every plan. Start with 7 days for £1, then from £9/month, then plans from £9/month.
| Plan | Monthly | Crosslisted products |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | £9/month | Unlimited |
| Seller | £29/month | Unlimited |
| Pro | £99/month | Unlimited |
| Super Seller | Custom pricing — tell us what you need | Unlimited |
Sources
Sources checked September 2026.
Related guides
Frequently Asked Questions
For a UK private seller, no: eBay takes nothing from private sellers when an item sells, outside motors, while OnBuy charges to apply, every month, and per order. For a business, compare OnBuy's category fee plus subscription with eBay's business fees for the same category.
OnBuy is built around shared product pages, so it suits products that exist in quantity with a barcode. One-off used items with no product page to join are a better fit for eBay.
No. The charges in OnBuy's seller terms are the application, the monthly subscription and a percentage of each order. Putting a product up costs nothing.
You choose a handling time of up to 10 days, and orders must go out within it. Priority orders have a same-day cut-off.
Your money becomes available to withdraw within 7 days of the end of the delivery timeframe you picked, and OnBuy sends it by the end of the following business day.
Yes. With FLUF Connect, an eBay sale ends the OnBuy listing automatically. When a unit sells on OnBuy, mark it sold in FLUF and FLUF ends the eBay listing.
No. FLUF connects OnBuy for UK sellers only. eBay connects in every eBay country.