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Marketplace fees compared: who pays what, and where it's hidden

The listed price and the price you pay are usually different numbers, and the gap between them is the part nobody puts in the headline.

This page lays out the structure. Rates change and each site has tiers and category exceptions, so treat the figures as the shape of the thing and check the current numbers yourself before you buy — links are at the bottom.

The two-sided model

Most established marketplaces in this category take a cut from both ends of the same transaction.

Eldorado.gg charges the buyer a commission of around 8% plus a fixed charge of about $0.30 on every transaction, and separately charges the seller — roughly 5% on currency and around 10% on accounts, items and boosting, with higher rates on categories they consider high-risk.

G2G takes a commission from the seller that varies by order value and seller rank, with published promotional rates of about 4.99% on top-ups and gift cards and about 9.99% on player-provided services. G2G's model embeds the fee in the seller-set listing price rather than adding a separate buyer line, so the listed price is closer to what you pay — but the fee is still in there, priced in by the seller.

Neither of these is a scandal. Running a marketplace costs money and someone has to pay for it. The thing worth noticing is where the buyer finds out.

Why the buyer fee is usually late

A buyer-side fee added at checkout has an obvious commercial logic: it makes every listing look cheaper in the search results, where the comparison actually happens. By the time the real total appears you've picked a seller, entered a quantity, and mentally committed. Almost nobody goes back.

The practical consequence for you: a listing that's 5% cheaper on the results page and adds 8% at the end is more expensive. Comparing unit prices across sites with different fee models tells you almost nothing.

What we do

Stashhaven charges the buyer nothing. No commission, no service fee, no processing fee, no fixed charge. The listed price is the price. There is no final screen where a number appears.

The seller pays a commission, and it starts at 8% and falls with their volume:

Seller's 30-day volume Commission
$0 – $499.99 8%
$500 – $1,999.99 6.5%
$2,000 – $4,999.99 5%
$5,000 – $9,999.99 4%
$10,000+ 3%

Two things follow that are worth being explicit about, because we'd rather you hear them from us.

First: a seller's fee is priced into their listing, here as anywhere. A seller paying 8% will tend to list higher than one paying 3%. We're not claiming the fee is invisible to you — we're claiming it's not charged to you twice, and not revealed to you late.

Second: this only matters if the listings are competitive. A zero buyer fee on a site with no sellers is a nice fact about an empty shop. We're new, and being new means the honest pitch is about how the transaction is structured, not about how much selection there is. Check the prices.

How to compare properly

  1. Pick the exact thing you want — same currency, same league or season, same quantity.
  2. Take it all the way to the final screen on each site. The number you compare is the one you'd actually be charged, after every fee.
  3. Then compare that total.

It takes about four minutes and it's the only comparison that means anything.

Sources

Figures as published in 2026. Fee schedules change; check the source before relying on a number.


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