Comparison
Auction Now vs eBay auctions: keep the format, keep the margin
eBay charges a final value fee of roughly 13.6% (13.25% in some collectible categories) plus $0.40 per order on auction sales and owns the buyer relationship; Auction Now runs the same timed-auction format on your own Shopify store for a 5% success fee plus Shopify's processing.
Pick Auction Now if…
- You have a Shopify store and want auctions next to your regular products.
- You're tired of paying 13%+ on sales to customers you already brought.
- You want soft close instead of last-second sniping.
- You want the buyer's email and a repeat relationship.
Pick eBay if…
- You need eBay's buyer traffic and have no audience of your own.
- You sell one-off items occasionally and don't want to run a store.
- Your category depends on eBay's authentication or catalog features.
Pricing
Auction Now
- Free to install, no monthly plan
- 5% success fee on the final bid, charged only when the winner pays
- Unlimited auctions, unlimited bidder emails
- No fee on unsold or unpaid auctions, shipping, or tax
eBay
- Final value fee: 13.6% on most categories, up to $7,500 per item
- 13.25% on some categories such as trading cards and coins
- $0.30–$0.40 per order
- 250 free listings a month, then insertion fees
- Optional listing upgrade fees
eBay's final value fee includes payment processing. On Shopify, processing is charged separately by your payment provider.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Auction Now | eBay |
|---|---|---|
| Where the auction runs | Your Shopify product page | ebay.com |
| Who owns the buyer | You | eBay |
| Auction ending | Soft close (anti-snipe) | Hard close at a fixed time |
| Proxy (max) bidding | Yes | Yes |
| Combined shipping | Automatic | Manual combined invoice |
| Branded bidder emails | From your store | From eBay |
| Discovery | Your traffic | eBay search |
| Fee on unsold auction | None | Insertion fee if over free allowance |
eBay invented online auctions and still has the biggest pool of auction buyers. What it doesn't do is let you own the relationship or the margin. If you're already sending your customers to eBay listings, you're paying a marketplace fee for buyers you found.
Fees on a $100 auction sale
| eBay (most categories) | Shopify + Auction Now | |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplace / app fee | $13.60 (13.6%) | $5.00 (5%) |
| Per-order fee | $0.40 | — |
| Payment processing | Included | $3.20 (Shopify Payments, Basic, US) |
| Total | $14.00 | $8.20 |
Soft close vs sniping
eBay auctions end at a fixed second, which is why sniping tools exist. Auction Now extends the auction by 30 seconds whenever a bid lands in the last five minutes, so the item goes to the bidder who values it most, not the one with the fastest script. See What is soft close bidding.
Where you'll miss eBay
Traffic. eBay brings buyers you've never met. A store auction only reaches the people you bring. If your audience is small, use eBay for discovery and move repeat buyers to your store where the same auction costs you less and builds your list.
Free to install. No monthly fee — a 5% success fee only when an auction sells.
Install on ShopifySources (checked 2026-09-19): eBay selling fees, Shopify pricing. Competitor pricing and features change; if something here is out of date, email us and we'll fix it.