eBay Live London Card Show: 8.42% plus £0.30 per order for trading cards

eBay Live is broadcasting from the London Card Show over 30 October to 1 November 2026, with Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh! and football card breaks scheduled across the weekend, according to a ChannelX report published on 30 October 2026¹. eBay's published fee terms for eBay Live charge 8.42% plus £0.30 per order on categories other than Coins, Bullion and Sneakers², which matters for break sellers and is set out below.

What happened and who announced it

On 30 October 2026, ChannelX reported that eBay Live would broadcast from the London Card Show over the weekend of 30 October to 1 November 2026, bringing 'rare Pokémon card openings, Yu-Gi-Oh! collectables and live football card breaks' to UK collectors¹.

The schedule named in the report includes:

• Friday 30 October: Midas Breaks running a dedicated football collectables stream¹.
• Saturday 31 October: Topdeck-Treasures opening Evolving Skies Pokémon packs, and North West Breaks running a live case break¹.
• Sunday 1 November: MGC Live hosting a case break and mystery box reveal, blackmillcollectables opening Sword & Shield: Lost Origin packs, and rarecandy.collectibles breaking Sun & Moon: Unbroken Bonds¹.

Viewers can watch reveals, chat with sellers and bid on collectables from home through the eBay app¹.

The report does not give fee, payout or audience figures. The sources we reviewed contain no separate eBay announcement about the broadcasts.

Who is affected

• UK collectors who bid on or buy sealed product and breaks through the eBay app during the broadcasts¹.
• Specialist breakers and card sellers streaming on eBay Live, including the Midas Breaks, Topdeck-Treasures, North West Breaks, MGC Live, blackmillcollectables and rarecandy.collectibles streams named in the report¹.
• Private sellers, who may assume their standard terms carry over. eBay's private-seller page says UK private sellers get 300 free listings a month and pay fees only for optional upgrades or overseas delivery⁴. The same page says fees are different for eBay Live⁴.

What changes for sellers, and when

eBay publishes a separate fee schedule for eBay Live sales, distinct from its standard selling fees².

• For all categories other than Coins, Bullion and Sneakers, the commission is 6% of the total sale amount, capped at £100 per item².
• The payment processing fee is 2.42% of the total sale amount plus £0.30 per order, so the combined rate is 8.42% plus £0.30 per order².
• The commission is calculated on the final sale price, including shipping and taxes collected from the buyer².
• All fees on the page are exclusive of applicable taxes².
• Each purchase made during a live event is a separate order with its own £0.30 per-order fee².
• All case break purchases or commitments to purchase count as eBay Live transactions, even when made outside a live event².
• There is currently no insertion fee for eBay Live listings, and eBay does not charge ad fees for listings promoted under a general strategy that sell via eBay Live².
• Until 31 December 2026, the page lists a £0.10 per-order fee on orders of £10 or less under Promotion².

Trading cards are not among the named exceptions, so on our reading they fall under the 'all other categories' rate.

For business sellers, eBay says the seller currency conversion charge will increase from 1 December 2026 when eBay converts funds for an item listed or sold on another eBay site³. The sources we reviewed do not state the new rate.

We checked these pages on 30 October 2026. Rules can change, so confirm them on eBay's 'eBay Live selling fees' help page before you go live.

Does the fee cover a break seller's costs?

Not in the sense of covering a seller's whole cost base. eBay says the commission covers 'eBay's platform services, including stream support and selling tools, applications and features etc.'². The processing fee covers 'payment handling, transaction processing, per order fee and related services'². The fee page does not mention show stand hire, equipment, travel or the cost of the product being broken, so we treat those as outside the fee.

The figures below are our illustrative arithmetic, not eBay figures. They use the published 6% commission and 2.42% plus £0.30 processing rates² and exclude product, packaging, postage costs beyond the amount charged to the buyer, and show costs.

The commission is capped at £100 per item². The page says the 8.42% combined rate applies to the first £1,667 of a sale, with 2.42% applied above that point, plus the £0.30 per-order fee².

What sellers should do now

Start by confirming your account type and the fee schedule you are paying under. A private-seller account does not switch off the eBay Live terms, because eBay says its fees differ for eBay Live⁴. Then cost each break before going live.

• Read the current eBay Live fee page and note that the fees shown are exclusive of tax².
• Model each break per buyer. Each purchase is a separate order with its own £0.30 fee, so a break split across several buyers pays the £0.30 several times². Include postage and any taxes in the sale total, because the commission is calculated on them².
• Check case break commitments. Commitments made outside a live event can still count as eBay Live transactions².
• Note the currency conversion change if you list or sell on another eBay site, which eBay says increases from 1 December 2026³.
• Keep a record of show costs such as stand fees, travel and equipment, so you can set net takings against them.

For how eBay's fee rules shape what sellers keep overall, see eBay's fee rules, not its Q3 take rate, set what sellers keep.

What is not yet known

• Audience. The sources give no viewer numbers or expected audience size for the broadcasts¹.
• Sales volumes. No expected sales figures are published for any seller or for the show¹.
• Costs for sellers. No stand, streaming or equipment costs for participating sellers appear in the sources we reviewed¹.
• Private sellers. The private-seller page says fees differ for eBay Live⁴, but the sources do not state the eBay Live fees a private seller pays.
• The £0.10 per-order item. The sources do not say whether it will be extended beyond 31 December 2026².
• The new currency conversion rate. The sources confirm the increase from 1 December 2026 but not the new rate³.

Bottom line for the card trade

On published terms, and on our reading that trading cards fall under the all-other-categories rate, cards sold on eBay Live carry 8.42% plus £0.30 per order, before product and show costs². Whether that is worth it depends on audience and volume, and the announcement discloses neither¹.

We recommend treating the London Card Show streams as a test. Build a costing sheet for each break, count the per-order fee on every buyer, and record show costs from the start. That shows whether net takings cover the outlay, rather than assuming a return from the broadcast alone.