What does selling on bol cost?

Do you pay to be on bol?

Not just to be there. According to bol, listing your products is free, and you only pay once you sell something. What you pay then comes in a few layers: commission on every sale, costs for shipping or storage, returns, and ads if you use them.

These costs arrive at different moments and are not grouped per order. That is why it pays to take them apart properly once.

How much commission does bol charge?

The commission has two parts: a fixed amount per item and a percentage of the selling price. Both depend on the type of item, and sometimes on the selling price as well. Bol calculates them on the selling price including VAT. If your business is based in the Netherlands, you also pay VAT on the commission.

Bol publishes the rates per category as an estimate. The exact amount for your item is shown in your seller account, and since September 2026 there is also a page under Finance that shows how your commission is built up per order. Some items temporarily get a lower commission if your price is at or below a set price point. Current rates: Commission on bol's partner platform.

What does Logistics via bol cost?

With Logistics via bol (LVB) you pay a rate per item sold that depends on its size: weight and dimensions. According to bol this covers picking and packing, shipping, customer service and handling returns. Commission, VAT and surcharges come on top.

You also pay storage costs per item per month for as long as it sits in the warehouse. In November and December a higher storage rate applies, and stock that stays longer than 180 days gets a surcharge. Some items, such as fragile products or products with a best-before date, carry an extra surcharge. Having stock returned to you or destroyed also costs money per item. If a customer orders several items at once, you pay shipping only once for most sizes. Current rates: Terms and rates for Logistics via bol.

What does shipping yourself cost?

If you ship yourself, you pay your own carrier, or you use Shipping via bol (Verzenden via bol). With Shipping via bol the rate depends on how many shipments you send per year, the type of parcel (letterbox parcel or regular parcel) and the destination. Dropping off or having parcels collected is charged separately. Rates: Terms and rates for Shipping via bol.

Count your own costs as well: packaging, storage and the time it takes to pack. They are not on bol's statement, but they do belong to the order.

Who pays for returns?

Bol customers can return items for free within 30 days. The costs of that are yours. Without LVB you choose between bol's return label, for which you buy return labels at a reduced rate, or your own return service through which the customer can also send items back free of charge. With LVB, returns go to bol's returns centre and handling is included in the LVB rate.

If you accept a return, bol refunds the customer. You then receive no payout and pay no commission on that sale. What you do lose: shipping both ways, your time, and the value of a product that can no longer be sold. More: Return options on bol's partner platform.

What does advertising on bol cost?

On its partner platform, bol offers sellers Sponsored Products: ads that put your items higher in the search results. You pay per click. You set your own maximum bid per click, and a budget per campaign, per day and per month. An ad is only shown if your item holds the buy box. More: Sponsored Products.

Count ad spend per product, not just per campaign. A product that leaves little after commission, shipping and returns quickly turns into a loss once you advertise it. Your break-even ROAS shows where that line is.

What does a product leave you?

Start from the selling price excluding VAT and subtract everything that belongs to each unit sold.

Example, with made-up round numbers: you sell an item for €50 excluding VAT. Cost of goods is €20, commission €7, LVB costs €6, and returns cost €2 per unit sold on average. That leaves €15: your profit after order costs, 30% of revenue. If you spend €5 per sale on Sponsored Products, €10 remains as profit after marketing.

The actual commission and LVB costs for your item are shown in your seller account. Calculate this per product, and put it next to the same product in your own shop. Then you see per product which channel leaves you the most.

What does Ecommy do here?

Ecommy pulls bol's commission, LVB costs and returns per product, links them to the orders and calculates per product what is left after order costs and after marketing. That puts bol next to your own shop and other marketplaces, with the same definition of profit. You see it in your dashboards, and you can ask your own AI about it.