Catawiki Fee Calculator — 12.5% + Fixed Fee & VAT (2026)
Catawiki advertises a flat "12.5%" seller fee, but the real number is 12.5% plus a tiered fixed amount plus VAT — and buyers add their own 9% + €3 on top, which shapes the prices they will bid. A seller on Reddit worked this out only after the hammer fell: "The lot sold just €2 above its reserve price which I had set at €280… After a bit of googling I found that they charge 12.5% commission to the seller as well as a 9% commission fee to the buyer." Enter your expected final bid and your VAT situation to see the exact fee and your take-home before you set a reserve price.
How the fee is calculated
Seller success fee = 12.5% × hammer price + a fixed amount by band: €0 for €1 lots, €1 from €2 to €149, €2 for €150–€299, €3 for €300–€499, €5 for €500–€999, €10 from €1,000 up. VAT (your country rate for private EU sellers; 0% under reverse charge for EU pros with a VAT ID; 21% Dutch for non-EU sellers) applies on the fee only. Example: a €200 lot for a private Dutch seller costs 12.5% = €25 + €2 fixed = €27, plus 21% VAT on the fee = €5.67 → €32.67 total, you keep €167.33. The buyer separately pays 9% × €200 + €3 = €21 in Buyer Protection.
Worked examples (2026 rates)
| Sale total | Fee | You keep | Effective rate |
|---|
| €50.00 | €7.25 | €42.75 | 14.5% |
| €100.00 | €13.50 | €86.50 | 13.5% |
| €200.00 | €27.00 | €173.00 | 13.5% |
| €500.00 | €67.50 | €432.50 | 13.5% |
| €1000.00 | €135.00 | €865.00 | 13.5% |
Every number above is computed by the same in-browser engine as the calculator, from the published 2026 fee schedule — nothing is hardcoded.
Why sellers are surprised by the real fee (the two-sided commission problem)
Catawiki's own marketing says 12.5%, and sellers who stop reading there get a shock at payout. The Reddit thread from a seller who set a €280 reserve is the canonical case: the lot sold for €282, and only then did the seller discover "they charge 12.5% commission to the seller as well as a 9% commission fee to the buyer" — a combined 21.5% of the hammer price leaving the transaction, plus a fixed amount and VAT on the seller side. The seller-side fee comes out of your payout; the buyer-side Buyer Protection fee (9% + €3) is paid on top by the bidder. That second fee matters to you even though you never pay it: bidders see the all-in cost, so a lot hammered at €282 actually costs the buyer €311.98. Sophisticated bidders factor that ceiling into their maximum bid, which quietly depresses hammer prices across the platform. When you compute your minimum acceptable reserve, run both sides through the calculator above: your take-home and the buyer's total.
The August 2026 fee-table change: what actually moved
Until 17 August 2026, Catawiki ran a seven-band fixed-fee table: €1–€24 paid pure 12.5%, €25–€74 added €0.75, €75–€149 added €1, and so on. The current table (Seller Terms valid from 15 September 2026, applying to objects submitted on or after 17 August 2026) collapsed the low bands: every lot from €2 to €149 now pays 12.5% + €1, with €1 lots exempt from the fixed part. For a €30 lot the change is small — the fixed component went from €0.75 to €1. For a €100 lot it's neutral. The bands above €150 are unchanged: €2 for €150–€299, €3 for €300–€499, €5 for €500–€999, €10 at €1,000 and up. If you are pricing from an old screenshot or a 2024 blog post, your numbers for sub-€150 lots are stale. This calculator uses the current post-August-2026 table and states the verification date in every result box.
Catawiki vs eBay vs Vinted: where auction curation is worth 13-16%
On raw fee percentage Catawiki is the most expensive of the three for EU private sellers: roughly 15-17.5% all-in with VAT, against eBay UK's zero final value fee for private sellers in most categories and Vinted's 0% for everyone. The number that justifies it is audience quality. Catawiki's model is expert-curated auctions — every object is reviewed by a category specialist before it is accepted — which concentrates serious collectors of watches, art, coins, wine and archaeology in one place, and international bidders routinely push hammer prices above what the same object fetches in a domestic eBay listing. The honest decision rule: if your object needs authentication or provenance to reach its full price, Catawiki's 12.5% + fixed fee + VAT buys access to bidders who pay for trust; if it's a commodity that sells fine on open listings, eBay or Vinted keeps more of the price. Run your expected hammer price through this calculator and through the eBay and Vinted calculators — the gap in euros, not percentages, is the decision.
FAQ
What does Catawiki charge sellers in 2026?
A seller success fee of 12.5% of the hammer price plus a fixed amount by band (€1 under €150, €2 for €150–€299, €3 for €300–€499, €5 for €500–€999, €10 at €1,000+), excluding VAT. Submitting lots is free — you pay only when an object sells.
Does Catawiki charge VAT on top of the 12.5%?
Yes, on the fee itself. Private EU sellers pay their own country's VAT rate (21% in the Netherlands, 19% in Germany, 21% in Spain). Professional EU sellers with a VAT ID usually get the reverse-charge mechanism (0%). Non-EU sellers are charged the Dutch 21%.
What does the buyer pay on Catawiki?
A Buyer Protection fee of 9% of the final bid plus a fixed €3, added at checkout on top of the price and shipping. It never comes out of the seller's payout — but bidders see the total, so it caps what they are willing to bid.
Is the 12.5% fee charged on shipping too?
No. The seller success fee is calculated on the hammer price (what the winning bidder pays for the object), not on the shipping you charge.
What happens if the winning bidder doesn't pay?
Catawiki asks the buyer to pay within 3 days. If payment fails, the sale is cancelled and no seller success fee is charged for that lot — the fee only applies to completed sales.
Can I set a reserve price on Catawiki?
Yes, on most objects. If bidding stays below your secret reserve, the lot doesn't sell and you pay no success fee. Use this calculator to work out the minimum reserve that still leaves you the take-home you need after the 12.5% + fixed fee + VAT.
How do Catawiki fees compare to eBay?
Catawiki is 12.5% + €1–€10 + VAT on the fee (roughly 13–15% all-in for private EU sellers); eBay UK private sellers pay no final value fee at all in most categories but reach a far smaller specialist audience. Catawiki's trade-off: expert-curated auctions with international bidders for collectibles, art and luxury items.
When is the Catawiki seller success fee actually charged?
Only after a completed sale. Submitting objects to auction is free, and if your lot doesn't sell — bidding never reaches your reserve, or the winning bidder fails to pay within the 3-day window — no success fee is charged. The fee is deducted automatically from your payout before it reaches your bank account, so the amount you see in your Catawiki balance is already net. This is the pay-only-on-success model, the same philosophy as Bonanza's final value fee but with a tiered fixed component that Bonanza doesn't have.
How does the fixed amount change my effective rate?
The fixed fee makes cheap lots proportionally more expensive and expensive lots cheaper, on top of the flat 12.5%. A €50 lot pays €6.25 + €1 = €7.25 — a 14.5% effective rate. A €200 lot pays €25 + €2 = €27, or 13.5%. A €2,000 lot pays €250 + €10 = €260 — just 13%. Add 21% Dutch VAT on the fee (private seller) and those become 17.5%, 16.3% and 15.7%. The lesson: on Catawiki, higher-value objects get structurally better treatment, and reserve prices on cheap items need the biggest markup over your true minimum.
Does Catawiki charge anything else besides the success fee?
Not on the standard path: no listing fees, no submission fees, no monthly subscription, and no payment-processing surcharge — processing is bundled into the success fee. The costs that surprise sellers are indirect: return shipping when a buyer exercises the 14-day withdrawal right (for pro sellers), the penalty system for failing to ship on time, and VAT on the fee itself, which the headline 12.5% never mentions. If an object fails a provenance or authenticity audit, you also refund the purchase price and the audit costs.