75% commission is nuts!
We thought long and hard about where to set our commission level for Shoply.com.
We provide a much needed and valuable product, wrapped in great service and support. We decided our free plan would have a 6% commission level. Anyone can open a socially integrated shop on shoply, use our marketing tools, customise the design to their hearts content and make use of our centralised and syndicated marketplace which drives their shop traffic and sales and pay us absolutely nothing – other than a 6% commission on the back-end for sales made.
We set the commission level semi-strategically in that we’re positioning ourselves as a low-end disruptive innovation in terms of price, simplicity and convenience. We feel the 6% is cheap for the service we provide.
With that in mind, I was quite shocked to see that one of my favourite blog networks envato – charge a whopping 75% commission for people selling digital items through their various marketplaces. Granted the rates decrease based on exclusivity and volume to a low of 50% – but still 50% !! – that’s nuts.
Curious thing is their sites are bursting with sellers and seem to be doing a ton of business.
Would love to know your thoughts on how their sellers stomach paying such a huge commission and whether we may have set our rates too low in comparison?


