Short answer: there are two separate cuts, and most people confuse them. Every online sale pays a payment processing fee of roughly 1.5–2.9% plus a small fixed amount (usually 20–30p) to a card processor like Stripe or PayPal — that one is unavoidable. Some platforms then add a second, extra cut on top — a platform transaction fee of around 0.5–2% — purely for using their checkout. Marketplaces take the most, often 5–15%+. Dirora charges 0% in transaction fees; you pay the standard processing fee plus only a small platform fee on the lower tiers that falls to 0% as you grow.
That distinction is the whole game, and it's the thing pricing pages are quietest about. If you don't separate the two, you can't compare platforms honestly — one "2.9% platform" and another "2.9% platform" can cost wildly different amounts depending on whether that number includes a cut for the platform itself. Let's pull them apart.
The two cuts, clearly separated
When money moves from a customer's card into your bank account, it can pass through up to two tolls:
The payment processing fee (unavoidable). This goes to the company that actually moves the money — Stripe, PayPal, Adyen, or a similar processor. It covers card-network costs, fraud screening, and settlement. In the UK this is typically 1.4–2.9% plus 20–30p per transaction, depending on the card type and processor. Every legitimate online store pays some version of this. Nobody escapes it, including us.
The platform transaction fee (optional, and the one to watch). This is an extra percentage the e-commerce platform charges on top of processing, just for the privilege of selling through their checkout. It's often 0.5–2%. Crucially, some platforms waive it if you use their in-house payment product and charge it if you bring your own processor — which nudges you into their ecosystem. This fee is pure platform margin. It buys you nothing extra.
So when a seller says "my platform takes 2%," you have to ask: 2% to the processor, or 2% to the platform on top of the processor? Those are completely different bills. The first is the cost of accepting cards. The second is a cost some platforms invent.
Typical ranges by platform type
Cuts vary enormously depending on what kind of platform you're on. Here's an at-a-glance sense of the landscape (numbers are illustrative and change often, so always check current pricing):
Marketplaces (Etsy, Amazon, eBay) — the biggest cut by far. You're renting their audience, so you pay for it. Between listing fees, referral/transaction fees, payment processing, and increasingly compulsory ad or "offsite ads" charges, the effective take can land anywhere from roughly 6% to 15%+ of each order. Amazon referral fees alone are commonly 8–15% by category before fulfilment costs. It can be worth it for discovery, but you don't own the customer relationship. We weigh that trade-off in selling on Etsy vs your own website.
Hosted store platforms — it depends entirely on the plan. Some charge a monthly subscription and no extra transaction fee if you use their payments; others charge a transaction fee of 0.5–2% on every sale unless you switch to their in-house processor. On cheaper tiers that transaction fee is often highest, and it drops as you pay for more expensive plans. This is where the "hidden" cut usually lives.
Open-source / self-managed carts — no platform cut, but other costs. No one takes a percentage, but you carry hosting, security, updates, and developer time. The "0%" is real on paper and rarely free in practice.
Dirora — 0% transaction fee, full stop. We charge no transaction fees on any plan, and there's no separate app store charging monthly rent for features that should be built in. You pay your payment processor's standard rate, plus only a small platform fee on the lower tiers that falls as you grow — 1.5% on the free plan, 0.75% on Pro, 0.25% on Business and 0% on Enterprise. Our pricing page lays it out, and what's included shows the built-in feature set.
The pattern is simple: the more audience a platform lends you, the bigger the cut. Marketplaces lend the most and charge the most. Your own store lends you nothing — so nobody should be taking a percentage for the checkout itself.
A worked £ example: how an extra 2% compounds
Percentages sound trivial until you attach them to real revenue. Let's compare two identical stores. Both pay the same processor (1.5% + 20p). The only difference: Store B is on a platform that adds a 2% transaction fee on top.
Take a single £40 order:
Store A (0% transaction fee): processing is £0.60 + £0.20 = £0.80. Total deducted: £0.80.
Store B (2% transaction fee): same £0.80 processing, plus a £0.80 transaction fee (2% of £40). Total deducted: £1.60.
To be clear about our own billing: on transaction fees Dirora is Store A — we add 0% on top of processing on every plan. We do apply one small platform fee on the lower tiers, but it falls as you grow: 1.5% on the free plan, 0.75% on Pro, 0.25% on Business and 0% on Enterprise. Even at the entry tier that's below the 2% transaction fees some platforms layer on permanently — and unlike them, ours shrinks the more you sell.
On one order the gap is 80p — easy to shrug off. Now scale it. Say the store does £150,000 in sales over a year:
That extra 2% is £3,000 a year handed to the platform for nothing you couldn't get elsewhere.
At £500,000 in sales, it's £10,000 a year.
And it compounds against you precisely when it hurts most. If your net margin is 15%, a 2% cut off the top line isn't 2% of your profit — it's more than 13% of it. On the thin margins common in dropshipping and reselling, an extra 2% can be the difference between profit and loss, which is why we dig into it in our honest look at dropshipping in 2026.
The uncomfortable truth: a platform's transaction fee is charged on revenue, but it comes out of profit. That's why a 1–2% number that looks tiny on the pricing page can quietly become one of your largest fixed costs.
Why platforms structure fees this way
None of this is villainy — it's business models. It helps to understand the logic so you can price it in:
Marketplaces sell you demand. Their high take is the cost of borrowing an audience you didn't build. The fee is high because the value (traffic) can be genuinely high.
Transaction fees are a lever, not a cost. When a hosted platform waives its fee for using in-house payments, the fee's real job is to steer you toward their processor, where they earn on the spread. The "penalty" for bringing your own processor is the point.
App stores are a second, hidden cut. Many platforms keep the transaction fee modest but rely on a marketplace of paid add-ons — reviews, subscriptions, upsells — that quietly add £50–£200+ a month. It's not a percentage, but it's still the platform monetising your growth. Built-in features avoid this entirely.
When you're comparing options, add all of it up: monthly plan + transaction fee + required apps + payment processing. We built a side-by-side comparison for exactly this, because the headline price is almost never the real price.
How to actually compare what a platform takes
Before you commit, get plain answers to five questions:
Is there a transaction fee on top of payment processing? If yes, what percentage, and does it disappear if you use their payments?
What's the payment processing rate for your typical card mix, including the fixed pence per transaction?
Are essential features built in, or do they live in a paid app store? Add the realistic monthly app spend to your total.
Does the fee change by plan tier? Cheaper tiers often carry higher transaction fees — the "free" plan can be the most expensive per sale.
What does it cost at scale? Run your projected annual revenue through the percentages, not a single order. That's where the real number lives.
If you're already comparing us to the incumbent, is Shopify worth it in 2026 walks through the total-cost picture in detail, and if you're weighing whether a no-cost tier can carry you, is a free e-commerce plan enough is the companion read.
Where Dirora sits
We took the honest position: no transaction fees on any plan, no app store charging monthly rent for core features, and a genuinely usable free plan. You pay your payment processor's standard rate — the unavoidable cut everyone pays — plus only a small platform fee on the lower tiers that falls as you grow, from 1.5% on the free plan to 0% on Enterprise. And the more you sell, the smaller that cut gets.
That's a deliberate design choice, not a launch promotion. The revenue you earn from a sale should be yours, minus only the true cost of moving the money. Everything we could build into the platform, we did, so you're not assembling a store out of paid add-ons. If you want to see how it's set up, getting started with Dirora is the practical walkthrough, and the features overview shows what's included at no extra per-sale cost.
The verdict
So, what percentage do e-commerce platforms take? The honest answer is "it depends which cut you mean." Everyone pays roughly 1.5–2.9% + 20–30p to a payment processor — that's the cost of accepting cards. On top of that, marketplaces take a large slice (often 6–15%+) for lending you their audience, and some hosted platforms add a 0.5–2% transaction fee just for the checkout. That second, optional cut is the one worth hunting down before you sign up, because on real revenue it compounds into thousands. With Dirora, that number is zero — you keep your sales, and only pay the processing fee nobody can avoid.
Frequently asked questions
What percentage do e-commerce platforms take from sales?
It depends on the type. Every store pays a payment processing fee of roughly 1.5–2.9% plus 20–30p per order to a processor like Stripe or PayPal. On top of that, marketplaces such as Etsy and Amazon often take 6–15%+ for access to their audience, and some hosted platforms add a 0.5–2% transaction fee for using their checkout. Dirora adds 0% — you only pay standard processing.
What's the difference between a payment processing fee and a transaction fee?
A payment processing fee goes to the company that actually moves the money (Stripe, PayPal, etc.) and is unavoidable. A platform transaction fee is an extra percentage some e-commerce platforms charge on top, purely for selling through their checkout. The first is a real cost of accepting cards; the second is optional platform margin.
Does Dirora take a cut of my sales?
No. Dirora charges 0% transaction fees on every plan. You pay your payment processor's standard rate — the same unavoidable fee every online store pays — plus only a small platform fee on the lower tiers that falls as you grow: 1.5% on the free plan, 0.75% on Pro, 0.25% on Business and 0% on Enterprise.
Why do some platforms waive their transaction fee if you use their payments?
Because the fee is a steering lever, not just a cost. When a platform drops its transaction fee for using in-house payments, it earns on the payment processing instead. The extra charge for bringing your own processor exists to nudge you toward their ecosystem.
How much does an extra 2% transaction fee really cost?
More than it looks. On £150,000 of annual sales, a 2% platform fee is £3,000 a year; at £500,000 it's £10,000. Because it's charged on revenue but comes out of profit, a 2% cut can eat well over 10% of your net margin — which is why it's worth avoiding.