A comparison of Trendyol, Hepsiburada, N11 and Amazon commission rates, the hidden service fees, and the real margin formula including returns and advertising — with two worked examples.
Marketplace profit is not calculated by looking at the commission rate. VAT on top of the commission, fixed per-order service fees, shipping tiers, the cost of returns and advertising all come out first — and the figure that remains surprises most sellers. This article compares current commission rates across platforms, builds the real margin formula, and works through two concrete examples.
"Commission is 18%, I sell at a 30% markup, so 12% is left." That is the most expensive sentence in marketplace selling. In reality, 20% VAT is added on top of that 18% commission, a fixed fee is deducted per order, shipping comes out as a separate line, and returns charge all of it a second time.
Commission is not the only deduction
- Category commission — a percentage of the sale price, varying by category.
- VAT on commission — 20% on top of the commission amount. So 18% commission is effectively 21.6%.
- Fixed per-order fee — roughly 8 TL + VAT transaction fee on Hepsiburada; on N11, a 1% + VAT marketing service fee and a 0.67% + VAT marketplace service fee.
- Shipping — tiered or desi-based. The heaviest line on low-priced items.
- Cost of returns — shipping is paid twice on a returned item; if the item comes back damaged, it is written off entirely.
- Advertising — if you use on-platform ads, your ACoS comes straight out of margin.
The first three are certain on every order, the fourth is disproportionate at low price points, and the fifth has to be averaged in. A seller who puts only the first into the margin calculation does not know what they actually earn.
Commission rates by platform
Category breakdowns are named differently on each platform, so rates are given as bands. They vary by sub-category, sales volume and any negotiated agreement:
| Category | Trendyol | Hepsiburada | N11 | Amazon TR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electronics | 5–12% | 6–10% | 5–18% | 7–10% |
| Fashion / clothing | 15–30% | 18–20% | 18–20% | 15% |
| Home & living | 10–20% | 14–19% | 11–20% | 11–15% |
| Cosmetics | 20–30% | 15–17% | — | — |
| Mother & baby | — | 11–16% | 12–20% | — |
| Books & stationery | 12–15% | 10–15% | — | 10% |
| Footwear & bags | 21.5–22.5% | 19.49% | — | — |
| Gold & jewellery | 9% (unworked) | 4–6% | — | — |
The important message here is not which platform is "cheap". Within the same category the top and bottom of a band can differ by a factor of two — so the right question is not "which marketplace" but "what is my rate in my sub-category". Any comparison made without checking your own panel is misleading.
Platform-specific extras
- Hepsiburada — roughly 8 TL + VAT transaction fee on every successful sale, on top of commission. On a low-priced item this alone can end the margin: on an 80 TL product it is a 12% additional load.
- N11 — a 1% + VAT marketing service fee and a 0.67% + VAT marketplace service fee on top of category commission. The listed rate is not the real rate; add roughly 2%.
- Amazon — commission is calculated on the total sale amount. If you use FBA, storage and fulfilment fees come on top of the commission.
- Trendyol — sellers registered under the women-entrepreneur status can receive commission discounts of up to 50%. For the operational levers on the store side, see our Trendyol store management guide.
The real margin formula
Net profit = Sale price − (Commission × 1.20) − Fixed service fee − Shipping − Cost of goods − (Return rate × cost per return) − (Sale price × ACoS)
The last two terms are missing from most calculations, which is exactly why the number people call profit is not real.
Example 1 — Trendyol, a 600 TL item
A 20% commission category, cost of goods 300 TL:
| Sale price (VAT incl.) | 600.00 TL |
| Commission deduction (commission + VAT) | −120.00 TL |
| Shipping | −77.54 TL |
| Cost of goods | −300.00 TL |
| Net profit | 102.46 TL (17%) |
|---|
Now add two realistic lines: a 10% return rate and 8% ACoS.
| Net profit above | 102.46 TL |
| Return allowance (10% × ~77 TL double shipping) | −15.50 TL |
| Advertising (8% ACoS × 600 TL) | −48.00 TL |
| Real net profit | 38.96 TL (6.5%) |
|---|
A margin believed to be 17% is really 6.5%. On this product, switching ads off or halving the return rate is more effective than raising the price by 10%. We calculate which ROAS breaks even at this margin in our advertising article.
Example 2 — Hepsiburada, a 2,000 TL item
Home & living category, 18% commission:
| Sale price | 2,000.00 TL |
| Gross commission (18%) | −360.00 TL |
| VAT on commission (20%) | −72.00 TL |
| Transaction fee (8 TL + VAT) | −9.60 TL |
| Net payout | 1,558.40 TL |
|---|
So the listed 18% commission, with the fixed fee, is effectively 22.1%. If your cost of goods is 1,400 TL, your profit is 158 TL — and shipping and returns have not been deducted yet.
Returns: the most underestimated line
Return rates run between 5% and 15% in most categories and considerably higher in fashion. Every return creates three costs: outbound shipping, return shipping, and making the item sellable again (repackaging, cleaning, sometimes a total write-off).
A simple rule: subtract roughly as many points from your gross margin as your return rate. A fashion seller running a 12% return rate should be deciding on an 18% margin, not a 30% one.
Building a margin table by category
This does not need to be done product by product; category or price band is enough. At month end, pull these five columns:
- Category / price band
- Total revenue and order count
- Total commission + fixed fee deductions (from the panel report)
- Total shipping cost and number of returns
- Advertising spend
Most sellers building this table for the first time notice two things: their best-selling product is among their least profitable, and the low price band (under 150 TL) loses money in most categories.
Pricing backwards from margin
"Cost plus 40%" does not work on a marketplace, because deductions are calculated on the sale price. The correct direction is the reverse: set the target margin and derive the price from it.
As a rough approach, add up your effective deduction rate (commission × 1.20 + service fees + estimated advertising), add the target net margin, and divide the cost of goods by the inverse of that total. For a seller with 22% effective deductions and a 15% target margin, the price is roughly 1.59× the cost of goods — before shipping.
Common mistakes
- Not adding VAT to commission. An 18% rate is really 21.6%.
- Ignoring fixed fees. Hepsiburada's 8 TL is a 12% additional load on an 80 TL item; it turns the low price band into a loss on its own.
- Treating advertising as a marketing budget rather than a margin deduction. Marketplace advertising is a cost of sale.
- Managing with a single "average margin". The margin gap between categories and price bands is wider than the gap between platforms.
- Choosing a platform on commission rate alone. A low-commission marketplace with no demand is more expensive than a high-commission one that sells. If you will sell on more than one channel, set up stock and price synchronisation from the start.
Conclusion
Marketplace profitability is an accounting question more than a pricing one. The moment every deduction line is in the table, which products to scale and which to delist becomes obvious on its own.
At Commerslab we rebuild this table monthly for the marketplace stores we manage, collecting commission and shipping data automatically through our integrations. See our marketplace management service or get in touch for your own margin table.
The commission rates, shipping tiers and score thresholds in this article are compiled from the marketplaces' publicly published current tariffs; they vary by sub-category, sales volume and negotiated agreements, and may be updated by the marketplace. Verify the values in your own seller panel before making pricing decisions.
