Bonanza Increases Fees, Introduces New Protection Policies & Tweaks Referral Program In Major Update

Bonanza marketplace is upping fees for sellers as it brings in new protection policies and increased advertising to drive traffic to the site.

Sellers received the following email about the updates today:

We’re excited to share some important updates that will help bring more shoppers to your booth and build greater trust between you and your buyers.

Smarter Ad Technology = More Traffic to Your Listings
We’re upgrading the way your products are promoted! Until now, advertising was managed at the marketplace level. But starting soon, we’re moving to a more advanced, booth-specific ad system. This change means more targeted traffic to your listings, giving your products better visibility with the right buyers.

We believe this shift is essential for helping independent sellers like you—and Bonanza as a platform—grow together in the fast-moving world of ecommerce.

Introducing Buyer & Seller Protection
We’re also rolling out a new protection program to help build trust with first-time buyers. At Bonanza, we want shopping to be a joy, not a risk. This program will give both sellers and buyers peace of mind, making it easier for customers to feel confident purchasing from your booth.

If you use Bonanza Payments and Bonanza Shipping, your orders will automatically qualify for Seller Protection. That means less worry about chargebacks and more focus on making sales

The email outlined the fee change going into effect on May 1, 2025 as follows:

Final Value Fee

• Final Value Fee will increase to a minimum of 11%. No action is needed on your part—this update will be applied automatically.
• For orders over $4,000 a 1.5% flat fee applies to the portion above $4,000
• If you drive a sale through your own referral link (or via your refferal website), you'll earn 100% of your final value fee back as Bonanza Ads credit.
• You can see practical examples and comparisons with other marketplaces on our Bonanza Pricing help page.

Note that previously, the Bonanza referral program allowed sellers to sell commission-free - now that program is being turned into a way to earn credits which can only be used toward Bonanza Ads.

Sellers with more than 50 active items will also be paying a per item listing fee starting May 1, capped at a maximum of $20 per month.

Listing Fee for Larger Booths

• If you have more than 50 active listings, a listing fee of $0.03 per item/month will apply to the listings above that count
• The maximum you can be charged is $20/month. If you hit the $20 listing fee cap in a given month, you'll receive a $5 Bonanza Ads credit—our way of saying thanks for keeping your booth thriving!

Sellers can view the full details on Bonanza's Pricing policy page.

It's good to see Bonanza putting a greater emphasis on buyer and seller protection after concerning security issues were brought to light by recent account hijacking attempts.

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Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

But users may consider that something Bonanza should have already been doing as a cost of doing business and may not be thrilled about that being used as a reason for increasing fees.

That may be particularly true since much of the damage done to trust in the platform in the last few years has been self inflicted as Bonanza pursued controversial shipping fees and then met seller feedback of those changes with heavy-handed moderation rather than good faith dialogue.

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Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

Bonanza finally reversed course on the controversial fee a year later, but much brand damage had already been done.

What do you think of these change to Bonanza's fee structure? Will you continue selling on the site after May 1 when they go into effect? Let us know in the comments below!