Which Marketplace Is More Profitable? Trendyol, Hepsiburada, Amazon, n11 (2026)

Short answer: no single marketplace is “the most profitable” — profitability changes with your category, product price, desi (Turkey’s volumetric shipping unit) and the total deduction set on that platform. And most importantly: almost all of the “Trendyol X%, Hepsiburada Y%” tables you find online are misleading — because the platforms do not even calculate commission on the same base. In this article we first show why the raw-rate comparison collapses, then give you the only honest way to compare five platforms (Trendyol, Hepsiburada, Amazon, n11, Çiçeksepeti): dividing the VAT-inclusive total deduction by the sale price. No made-up exact rates; everywhere we do not give a rate the reason is the same — those values change by category and by your contract, and the only true source is your own seller panel.

Why lining up raw commission rates is misleading

The most common mistake sellers make is putting the two platforms’ announced commission percentages side by side and saying “this one is cheaper.” You need to see that this collapses for three separate reasons:

• The base differs. Trendyol calculates commission on the VAT-inclusive sale price; the result is already VAT-inclusive and no VAT is added on top. Hepsiburada, Amazon, n11 and Çiçeksepeti apply the rate to the VAT-exclusive base and add 20% VAT on top of the commission (total = base × rate × 1.20). Seeing the same percentage and assuming they are the same thing means mixing up two different calculations.
• The percentage in your head is incomplete. Do not glance at a “12% commission” and move on: once commission VAT is added, that 12% shows up on the invoice as 14.4% of the base. On the Trendyol side, 12% is directly 12% of the VAT-inclusive price. So “12 versus 12” is not always equal.
• Commission is not the whole deduction. In a world where the shipping bracket, fixed service/transaction fees and the 1% e-commerce withholding tax work differently per platform, the commission rate alone is only one line item of the total cost. Often the shipping tariff more than takes back a 2-point commission difference.

We explained the mechanics of the VAT model difference — and why Trendyol says “no VAT on top” — line by line in the is commission VAT-inclusive article. The critical point here: if the product’s VAT rate is not 20%, the two models diverge. On a 20%-VAT product the two calculations come out roughly even; but on a 10% or 1% VAT product, the model that always adds 20% VAT to commission (HB/Amazon/n11/Çiçeksepeti) weighs relatively heavier than the Trendyol model. That is why you have to do the comparison per category and with the real product price.

The correct method: VAT-inclusive total deduction / sale

The only honest unit for comparing apples to apples is the effective deduction rate: add up all the lira leaving your pocket from a sale (commission + shipping + service/transaction fees + 1% withholding) and divide by the VAT-inclusive sale price. The method:

1. Get your own exact rate from the panel. On Trendyol from the Agreement Information screen in the Seller Panel; on Hepsiburada Seller Center, Amazon Seller Central, n11 Seller Office and the Çiçeksepeti Seller Panel from your own contract/commission screen. Look at your own account, not an online table.
2. Convert commission to lira with the correct VAT treatment. On Trendyol: VAT-inclusive price × rate. On the others: (VAT-exclusive base × rate) × 1.20.
3. Add shipping. Enter the bracket fee for the product’s desi. Brackets are usually published exclusive of VAT; 20% VAT is added when deducted from your payout. This line varies significantly by carrier and platform model.
4. Add fixed/service fees. Include any transaction fee, service fee or platform-specific fixed items.
5. Add the 1% withholding. Deducted on sales through an intermediary platform; its base is the VAT-exclusive sale amount (Law No. 7524, since 2025) and it is offset against income/corporate tax. It works with the same logic on all five platforms, so it is usually neutral in the comparison but still takes its place in the absolute number.
6. Sum up and divide by the sale. The resulting percentage is the effective deduction rate on that platform. Compare platforms by exactly this single number — not by the announced commission percentage.

Example: same product, two different models

Consider a product sold at 500 TL (VAT-inclusive, 20% VAT), 2 desi. The VAT-exclusive base is 500 ÷ 1.20 = 416.67 TL. The rates below are illustrative — their purpose is to show the mechanics; put your own category’s real rate from the panel.

Note: in this example the announced rate is the same on both (15%) and, because the product is 20%-VAT, the commission came out exactly even. The difference came from the service fee. In real life the announced rates change from platform to platform and category to category — that is where the real decision is made. And if your product is 10% or 1% VAT, the model that additionally adds 20% VAT to commission comes out a few points more expensive than the Trendyol model. Instead of producing this table by hand for every product, you can put all five platforms side by side within minutes with the marketplace profit comparison tool.

Non-commission factors: the decision is often made here

If two platforms’ effective commissions are close to each other — and once the VAT model is separated out, they often are — the items that decide are hidden outside commission:

• Shipping tariff and desi. On a light, small product shipping is a small percentage of the sale price; on a heavy/bulky product it can be the largest line of the deduction. If one platform’s commission is 2 points higher while its shipping tariff is lower, that platform may come out profitable overall.
• Category fit and traffic. Trendyol is Turkey’s highest-traffic marketplace; speed and volume are there. But high traffic means high competition — price pressure and advertising cost eat into profit. Hepsiburada has a strong habit in electronics/technology; Amazon internationally and in certain niches; n11 with its own category balance; Çiçeksepeti dominant in flowers, gifts and special-occasion categories. The “most profitable” platform is often the one where your product’s audience is.
• Payout term and cash flow. Even if profit is equal on paper, when you actually hold the money changes your stock-replenishment power. Terms vary by platform and contract; verify your own term from the panel.
• Return burden. Return rate and return cost change by category; in a high-return category, a “low-commission” platform loads the real cost back with return shipping and the product that leaves your hands.

Decision framework: which platform is more profitable for you?

Do not try to answer “which marketplace is more profitable” on its own; run it through these four steps:

1. Where is your audience? Sales volume forms on whichever platform your product’s buyer is concentrated. A profitability comparison is only meaningful between platforms with enough sales.
2. Produce the effective deduction rate. For the candidate platforms, do the VAT-inclusive total deduction / sale calculation with the method above. Look at this number, not the announced rate.
3. Fold in the shipping and return profile. Add your product’s desi and the category’s return rate — the ranking may change between a light/low-return product and a heavy/high-return one.
4. Single platform or portfolio? Usually the right answer is not “pick one” but “master the most suitable one first, then move to the second.” We explained when it makes sense to launch on a second platform in the multi-marketplace sales strategy article; and you can find the seller’s-eye comparison of the two big players in the Trendyol or Hepsiburada article.

Common mistakes

• Treating the announced commission as the net cost. Forgetting that 20% VAT is added on top of commission on platforms other than Trendyol breaks the whole comparison.
• Neglecting shipping. Calculating commission to the last decimal and passing over shipping “roughly” means ignoring the most expensive item.
• Not accounting for the product VAT rate. Skipping that the two models diverge on a 10% or 1% VAT product leads you to think the wrong platform is “cheap.”
• Forgetting withholding. Even if neutral in the comparison, it directly reduces your absolute profit; be sure to include it.

Conclusion

Which marketplace is more profitable is not a fixed fact but a calculation tied to your category and your product. The only way to decide correctly is to compare apples to apples by ratioing the VAT-inclusive total deduction to the sale price — not the announced percentages — because the platforms do not even calculate commission on the same base. Instead of doing this calculation by hand for five platforms, with the marketplace profit comparison tool you can put the same product side by side across Trendyol, Hepsiburada, Amazon, n11 and Çiçeksepeti and see the effective deduction. If you want to work out the withholding side separately, the e-commerce withholding tax tool does the job.

Verimle does this discipline end to end today on the Trendyol side: Profit X-Ray calculates each order’s real profit after deductions are subtracted, payout reconciliation compares the expected amount with what was actually deducted, detects unexplained deductions and prepares a dispute draft. Whatever platform you sell on, the one thing that does not change is this: without knowing the deductions line by line, you cannot know your real profit on any marketplace.

One final caveat: do not take any of the rates above as fixed. Every marketplace’s commission, service fee and shipping bracket table changes frequently, and it also differs by your contract — so a single rate comparison is not enough to decide; what decides is the net amount left in your pocket on each platform. So verify the exact figures specific to you only from your own seller panel: Trendyol Seller Panel, Hepsiburada Seller Center, n11 Seller Office and Amazon Seller Central. Enter your own rates from these official panels into the marketplace profit comparison tool and put the five platforms side by side by the net amount remaining. This guide was reviewed on July 18, 2026.