eBay taxes in Germany: how much do you really pay?

There is no "eBay tax rate". How much tax you pay on eBay sales depends on what you sell and whether you act as a business. If you sell used things from your own household, you usually pay nothing. If you trade commercially, you pay income tax on the profit, VAT unless you are a small business, and possibly trade tax. The report eBay makes to the tax authorities from 30 sales or 2,000 euros is not a tax, it is a report.

Last updated: October 27, 2026

In brief

Selling privately: profit from selling used items of daily use is not taxable. For other items the one-year period between purchase and sale counts; profit below 1,000 euros a year stays tax-free (section 23 EStG).
Selling commercially: income tax on the profit (income minus expenses). The basic allowance is 12,348 euros from 2026 for your whole taxable income (section 32a EStG).
VAT: in Germany 19% or 7% on taxable sales (section 12 UStG), unless you are a small business (up to 25,000 euros in the previous year and up to 100,000 euros in the current year, up to 25,000 euros in your first year, section 19 UStG). For EU distance sales to private buyers above 10,000 euros the destination country's rate applies (section 3c UStG).
Trade tax: natural persons get an allowance of 24,500 euros on trading income (section 11 GewStG).
30 sales or 2,000 euros: if you reach 30 sales or 2,000 euros of consideration in a year, eBay reports your data. This is not a tax.

Do I pay tax if I sell privately on eBay?

Usually not. eBay itself writes that if you sell privately you generally pay no tax, and as long as you make no profit none arises. The law works like this:

Items of daily use: sales are excluded from the private-sale tax rule (section 23 (1) sentence 1 no. 2 sentence 2 EStG).
Other items: profits are taxable if not more than one year lies between purchase and sale (section 23 (1) sentence 1 no. 2 EStG). Profit is the sale price minus acquisition costs and income-related expenses (section 23 (3) EStG).
Exemption limit: if the total profit from such sales in the calendar year is less than 1,000 euros, it stays tax-free (section 23 (3) sentence 5 EStG). If you reach 1,000 euros, the whole profit is taxable.

An example with invented numbers: you buy trading cards in February for 300 euros and sell them in October of the same year for 700 euros. The profit of 400 euros is below 1,000 euros, so tax-free. With 1,200 euros of profit in the same year the whole amount would be taxable. Had you owned the cards for more than a year, no tax would arise.

Where the line to a business lies is explained in eBay taxes: when do they start.

What do I pay if I sell commercially on eBay?

The law defines a business: an independent, sustained activity undertaken with the intention of making a profit and presenting itself as participation in general economic activity (section 15 (2) EStG). Then you pay up to three taxes.

Income tax

It hits your profit, not your turnover. Without a bookkeeping duty you can take as profit the surplus of business income over business expenses (section 4 (3) EStG, the income-surplus statement or EÜR). On your whole taxable income of a year, not only the eBay profit, no income tax arises up to 12,348 euros (basic allowance from assessment year 2026, section 32a (1) EStG). Above that the tariff rises. Which rate you pay depends on your other income.

VAT

If you are not a small business, the tax is 19% of the tax base or, for certain goods, 7% (section 12 UStG). A sale for 119 euros gross contains 19 euros VAT on 100 euros net at 19%. You pay this through the advance VAT return, minus input VAT. If you sell to private buyers in other EU countries and these distance sales (together with certain services to private customers elsewhere in the EU) were above 10,000 euros in the previous year or go above it in the current year, the destination country's rate applies to them (section 3c (1) and (4) UStG). You can file these sales through the OSS return: EU OSS threshold of 10,000 euros.

As a small business your sales are VAT-exempt if total turnover did not exceed 25,000 euros in the previous year and does not exceed 100,000 euros in the current year (section 19 (1) UStG). If you only start this year, the 25,000-euro limit alone applies in your first year (section 19.1 (3) UStAE). More in Small-business rule 2026: the limits.

Trade tax

For natural persons trading income is reduced by an allowance of 24,500 euros, at most by the rounded-down trading income (section 11 (1) sentence 3 no. 1 GewStG). If your trading income is below that, the tax base amount is zero. Details: Trade tax for eBay sellers.

An example for a small commercial seller

Invented numbers: in 2026 you sell goods for 18,000 euros. Goods bought, eBay fees and shipping together cost 11,000 euros. Your profit is 7,000 euros.

VAT: if you were under 25,000 euros in 2025 and stay under 100,000 euros in 2026, you are a small business: no VAT. If you only started in 2026, the 25,000-euro limit applies; with 18,000 euros you are below it too.
Income tax: the profit of 7,000 euros is below the basic allowance of 12,348 euros. With no other income, no income tax arises. If you have other income, for example as an employee, the profit is added to it and taxed at your personal rate.
Trade tax: trading income below 24,500 euros leaves you without trade tax.

What about eBay's report to the tax authorities?

As a platform operator, eBay must report information about sellers under the Platform Tax Transparency Act (PStTG) to the Federal Central Tax Office by January 31 of the following year (section 13 (1) PStTG), which passes it on to the competent state tax authorities (section 22 (1) PStTG). Only a seller who sold goods through the same platform in fewer than 30 cases in the year and received less than 2,000 euros of consideration in total is exempt (section 4 (5) sentence 1 no. 4 PStTG). So you are reported from 30 sales or from 2,000 euros of consideration in a year. Consideration is what is paid or credited to you, minus fees, commissions or taxes withheld by the platform operator (section 5 (2) PStTG).

Important: the report is not a tax and not a classification as a trader. eBay itself writes that there is no new tax on private sales and that the report does not mean you must pay tax. More: DAC7 reporting for platform sellers.

Common mistakes

Confusing the reporting limit with the trade limit. The 30 sales and 2,000 euros are a reporting limit for platforms, not the point where you become a trader.
Confusing turnover with profit. Income tax hits profit after your expenses.
Applying the basic allowance only to the eBay profit. It applies to your whole taxable income.
Showing VAT on invoices as a small business. If you show it anyway, you owe the amount shown (section 14c (2) UStG).
Reading the 1,000-euro limit as an allowance. It is an exemption limit: from 1,000 euros of profit everything is taxable.

How VAT GPT helps

VAT GPT is the tax software for Amazon and eBay sellers in Germany: your OSS return first, then VAT, EÜR, trade tax and income tax, calculated and filed in one place. If you sell commercially on eBay:

You upload your eBay CSV report and your invoices; the AI reads amounts, countries and tax rates.
VAT GPT splits the VAT for Germany and the EU and prepares the advance return and OSS return. You check and confirm.
You also prepare the EÜR, trade tax return and income tax return in VAT GPT and send them with VAT GPT Pro through ELSTER.

Step by step: eBay seller taxes step by step. Get to know VAT GPT or create an account.

What VAT GPT does not do

VAT GPT is not tax advice. Whether your eBay activity is private or commercial is judged by the tax office on the circumstances.
VAT GPT does not compute a universal "eBay tax rate": the tax depends on your individual case.

Frequently asked questions

How high is the tax on eBay sales? There is no fixed rate. Privately usually zero; commercially income tax on the profit, VAT (in Germany 19% or 7%, except small businesses) and possibly trade tax.

Do I pay tax from 2,000 euros of eBay turnover? No. From 30 sales or from 2,000 euros of consideration a year, eBay reports your data to the tax administration (section 4 (5) PStTG). You pay tax only if profit or sales are taxable.

Do I pay tax if I sell my private used things at a loss? No. eBay writes: as long as you make no profit when selling, no tax arises. Sales of items of daily use are also expressly excluded (section 23 (1) sentence 1 no. 2 sentence 2 EStG). If you sell commercially and are not a small business, however, VAT arises on every taxable sale, even at a loss (section 12 (1) UStG).

How high is the basic allowance in 2026? 12,348 euros (section 32a (1) EStG), for your whole taxable income.

When do I pay trade tax? As a natural person, when your trading income exceeds the allowance of 24,500 euros (section 11 GewStG).