For a UK business seller, eBay is the cheaper and more predictable platform on fees and Chrono24 is the bigger and more specialist audience. eBay UK charges a business seller in Watches, Parts & Accessories 12.9% of the first £750 and 3% of the rest, plus 40p per order and a 0.35% regulatory fee, all ex VAT - about 4.8% on a £5,000 watch. Chrono24 charges a dealer a fixed monthly package from €199 for 25 listings to €2,199 for 1,000, plus a per-sale commission it does not publish. For a private seller the picture flips: Chrono24 takes a flat 6.5% and eBay UK takes nothing, with the buyer paying a protection fee instead. Which nets more depends on the watch, the volume and how many listings you carry.

Every fee below was read from the platform's own page on 19 August 2026 unless stated.

The two fee structures side by side

eBay UK - business seller eBay UK - private seller Chrono24 - dealer Chrono24 - private seller
Listing fee Free allowance by shop tier; 30p per extra listing without a shop 300 free listings a month Monthly package: €199 (25) to €2,199 (1,000 listings) Free
Commission on sale 12.9% up to £750 per item, 3% above; + 40p per order; + 0.35% regulatory fee None; buyer pays a Buyer Protection fee (10p + 7% to £20, 4% £20-£300, 2% £300-£4,000, nothing above £4,000) built into the price Dynamic per sale by condition, price and brand; not published 6.5%, retained from the escrow payout
Fee charged on Item price plus postage - Sale price Sale price
International sale +1.05% to +2% by destination Fees apply for overseas delivery US buyers pay a 7.5% surcharge on top of your price Same
VAT on fees Fees ex VAT; 20% added, reclaimable if registered - B2B supply from Germany; reverse-charge question -
Money held by eBay managed payments eBay Chrono24 escrow (Trusted Checkout) Chrono24 escrow
Authentication Authenticity Guarantee on Wristwatches at £1,500+, free to seller, via Stoll & Co Same Dealer vetted; Chrono24 Certified on some listings Listing checked before publication; proof of ownership photos
Buyer return Per your returns policy; business sellers must offer statutory rights Per policy 14-day money-back guarantee 14-day money-back guarantee
Currency GBP GBP EUR packages; sale currency as listed EUR or as listed

What does eBay actually charge a UK watch dealer?

The figures come from eBay UK's fees for business sellers, last updated 4 August 2026. The final value fee for Watches, Parts & Accessories (category 260324) is 12.9% of the portion of the total sale up to £750, calculated per item, and 3% of the portion above £750. The per-order fee is 30p for orders of £10 or less and 40p above £10 - the 40p figure came in on 12 February 2026 per eBay's rate card change notice. A regulatory operating fee of 0.35% applies to the total. All three are calculated on the total amount of the sale, which includes postage, and all are exclusive of VAT.

If the buyer's delivery address is outside the UK, an international fee is added: 1.05% for the Eurozone and Northern Europe, 1.8% for the US and Canada, 2% elsewhere. Sellers rated Below Standard pay an extra six percentage points; Top-rated Sellers get 10% off the variable part on Premium Service listings.

A shop subscription is optional. Basic is £27 a month for 250 free fixed-price listings, Featured £77 for 1,500, Anchor £437 for unlimited. Without a shop, extra fixed-price listings are 30p each. For a dealer carrying under 250 pieces, Basic is the sensible tier.

Note the Jewellery & Watches parent category (281) carries a higher 14.9% to £1,000 and 4% above; if you list in two categories eBay charges the higher of the two. List watches in Watches, Parts & Accessories.

What does Chrono24 actually charge?

Two parts. The published part is the Professional package table on Chrono24's price structure page: €199 a month for up to 25 listings, €369 for 50, €499 for 75, €629 for 100, €829 for 150, €1,069 for 250, €1,299 for 350, €1,549 for 500, €1,899 for 700, €2,199 for 1,000, more by arrangement. The package moves up automatically if your average active listings exceed the limit by more than 10% for two consecutive months, and down if you fall below for two months.

The unpublished part is the commission. Since October 2024 it has been "dynamically calculated for each sale based on condition, price, and brand", visible only in the revenue calculator inside the dealer's Market Portal. We do not repeat third-party percentages; our Chrono24 cost article explains why. A 2024 WatchPro report described commissions "routinely over 10%"; treat that as one dealer's experience, not a rate card.

Private sellers are simpler: listing is free and Chrono24 retains 6.5% from the escrow payout on sale.

Worked example: a £5,000 watch

Same watch, same price, UK buyer.

eBay UK business eBay UK private Chrono24 dealer Chrono24 private
Variable fee 12.9% x £750 = £96.75; 3% x £4,250 = £127.50 Nil Not published 6.5% = £325
Fixed per sale £0.40 Nil Nil Nil
Regulatory 0.35% = £17.50 Nil Nil Nil
Total fee £242.15 ex VAT (£290.58 with VAT, reclaimable if registered) £0 (buyer paid 10p + 7% of £20 + 4% of £280 + 2% of £3,700 = £86.70 on top, inside the displayed price) Unknown commission plus a share of the monthly package £325
Fee as % of price 4.8% 0% - 6.5%

Now add the package. A dealer on the €629 tier selling five watches a month through Chrono24 is carrying about €126 of package per sale before commission, roughly £108 at recent rates. Selling two a month, it is €315 a sale. The package makes Chrono24 cheap per sale for a high-velocity dealer and expensive for a slow one, and the automatic tier adjustment means dead listings cost real money. eBay's cost is almost entirely per sale; an unsold listing costs nothing or 30p.

Who is buying on each?

Chrono24 claims over nine million visitors a month and translates listings into 22 languages. Its buyer is international, brand-literate and price-comparing across thousands of listings of the same reference; a UK dealer's buyer is usually abroad, which means export paperwork, a foreign return leg and, for the US, a 7.5% buyer surcharge that Chrono24 added in 2020. eBay UK's buyer is domestic, broader, and less specialist; more buyers at £1,500 to £5,000, fewer at £25,000. For a dealer with UK stock and UK service records, eBay is the shorter journey to cash.

Which one protects the seller?

eBay. Watches in the Wristwatches category sold for £1,500 or more go through Authenticity Guarantee: you post to Stoll & Co in the UK, they inspect against your listing and attach a security tag, eBay pays for the inspection and next-day delivery to the buyer, and any return comes back through the same authenticator, who checks the tag and condition before refunding. If the watch is lost or damaged in the authenticator's hands, eBay covers it. Below £1,500 you are on eBay's ordinary buyer and seller protection, which means the "not as described" return risk sits with you.

Chrono24. Every sale runs through Trusted Checkout: the buyer pays into Chrono24's escrow account, you ship, and the buyer has 14 days after delivery to inspect and return for a full refund; the money is released to you after that window (Chrono24's about page describes the mechanism). There is no third-party physical authentication step on a standard dealer sale - your authenticity is your warranty - though Chrono24 Certified adds one on selected listings. The return right is generous to the buyer and it is the cost of the international audience.

Both platforms hold your money: eBay until payout, Chrono24 until the return window closes. Neither gives you the buyer's card details, so chargebacks are theirs to manage, not yours.

What does it mean for the margin scheme?

A platform fee is a cost of sale. Under the VAT margin scheme it is not deducted from the taxable margin - the margin is selling price minus purchase price, and VAT is one sixth of that. So a £5,000 sale of a watch bought for £4,000 carries £166.67 of VAT whether you paid eBay £242 or Chrono24 €629 for the month. The fee is a P&L cost and its own VAT is a separate question: eBay's is UK VAT, reclaimable if you are registered; Chrono24's is a supply from a German company and goes through the reverse charge. Record both per piece, not in a lump, or you will not know what either channel really returns.

So which should a UK dealer use?

Both, by piece. Use eBay for modern, mainstream references under about £8,000 where the UK audience is deep and the 4-5% fee beats anything else short of the trade, and especially for anything over £1,500 where Authenticity Guarantee takes the return risk off you. Use Chrono24 for the pieces an international collector pays up for, keep the listing count tight to the tier you are actually using, and price the US surcharge in. Delist slow stock from Chrono24 before it pushes you into the next package. If you want to see the other options, including Watchfinder's marketplace, Catawiki and the auction houses, they are in Chrono24 alternatives for UK dealers.

What we could not verify

  • Chrono24's dealer commission. Dynamic and unpublished. Your Market Portal revenue calculator is the only source.
  • Whether the September 2024 Chrono24 package table is still current. It is still the version on Chrono24's dealer update site; no revision found.
  • eBay's payout timing for watches. Not on the fee page; depends on your account.
  • Chrono24 Certified coverage. Which listings carry it and on what terms was not verifiable from a public page.

Sources

This is general information, not financial or tax advice, and it is not a quotation. Both platforms change fees without much notice. Verify every figure against the current fee page and your own dealer agreement before you price a watch on it, and take the VAT treatment of fees and margin to your accountant.

Milleso records the channel fee against the piece at the point of sale, so each watch shows what it actually returned after eBay, Chrono24 or the trade, and it pauses the other channel's listing the moment one of them sells.