Payments & Fees
The Hidden Cost of Percentage Fees on Ordering Platforms
Ordering platform transaction fees look small on a quote but grow with every big custom order. How to model percentage fees against flat monthly pricing.
Ordering platform transaction fees are the percentage some software vendors take from every sale that runs through their checkout, on top of what your card processor already charges. On a business with large average orders, that percentage often costs more than the subscription itself. Here is how to find it, model it and compare it fairly.
Where ordering platform transaction fees hide
Percentage fees rarely sit on the main pricing line. They tend to show up in one of these places:
- A platform fee on card payments. The vendor takes a slice of each payment collected through its checkout.
- A penalty for using your own processor. The software is cheaper if you use its default processor and charges a percentage if you bring another one.
- A revenue share instead of a subscription. You pay the higher of a monthly minimum or a percentage of gross sales.
- App-level fees. A product-option or design app on an ecommerce store adds its own transaction fee on top of the store's.
None of these are hidden in the legal sense. They are in the pricing pages and terms. They are hidden in the practical sense: nobody reruns the math when order volume doubles.
What the market looked like in September 2026
These are public figures as of September 2026. Check each source before you decide, since pricing pages change.
| Platform | Percentage component | Source |
|---|---|---|
| TimberCloud | 1% of card payments, capped at $500/mo | timbercloud.com/pricing |
| Allmoxy | Stripe is the default; using another processor costs 1% of gross sales | Allmoxy help article |
| ClosetPro (homeowner version) | Higher of $1,000/mo or 3% of gross sales | ClosetPro pricing PDF |
| Zakeke (Shopify app) | 1.5 to 1.9% transaction fee plus a monthly plan | Shopify App Store listing |
Each of these structures has a logic. A cap limits the damage at high volume. A processor penalty pushes you toward a default that may suit you anyway. A revenue share lowers the upfront risk for a small shop. The point is to know which one you are signing.
Run the numbers on your own volume
A percentage that sounds trivial on a $400 order looks different on a $14,000 kitchen. Here is an illustrative month. The figures are an example, not data from any real business.
Say you process $60,000 a month in card payments across homeowner and dealer orders.
| Fee structure | Monthly cost on $60,000 | Yearly |
|---|---|---|
| 0.5% platform fee | $300 | $3,600 |
| 1% platform fee | $600 | $7,200 |
| 1% capped at $500/mo | $500 | $6,000 |
| 3% revenue share | $1,800 | $21,600 |
| Flat fee, 0% of sales | $0 | $0 |
That table leaves out the subscription and your processor's own fees, which apply in every case. It isolates the part that scales with your success.
Now double the volume to $120,000 a month. Uncapped percentages double too. A cap stops at its ceiling. A flat subscription stays flat. That is the core question: do you want your software bill tied to your revenue or to the work the software does?
Questions to ask before you sign
Bring this list to every demo:
- Does the vendor take any percentage of sales, payments or invoices, including dealer invoices on net terms?
- Is there a cap, and is it monthly or yearly?
- Does the fee apply to deposits, final balances or both?
- Does using your own payment processor change the price?
- Are refunds netted out, or do you pay the fee on money you returned?
- Do add-ons (dealer portal, extra users, setup) carry their own fees?
- If you leave, can you export your orders and customers without a charge?
Questions 3 and 5 matter more than they look. Custom manufacturers often take a deposit and a balance, so a fee on both halves counts twice against the same job. See deposits vs. pay in full for how that split usually works.
Percentage fees and where your money lands
Fees and payout routing are linked. When a platform processes payments through its own merchant account and pays you out later, it is easy to deduct a percentage before the money reaches you. When payments go to your own processor account, the vendor has to bill you separately for anything it takes, which makes the cost visible.
There is also a control question. If disputes, refunds and payouts run through the vendor's account, you depend on its support queue when a customer charges back a $9,000 order. We cover that in why payouts should land in your own Stripe account.
When a percentage model can make sense
Percentage pricing is not automatically wrong. It can suit you if:
- You are early, volume is low and a revenue share costs less than a subscription would.
- The cap is low enough that you hit it quickly and then pay a predictable amount.
- The vendor provides services that scale with sales, such as done-for-you order processing.
Model your current volume and your volume two years out. If the percentage line overtakes the subscription line in that window, price that in. Our guide to choosing cabinet ordering software has a fuller checklist.
How Inlay handles this
- Inlay takes 0% of sales. You pay a flat monthly plan (Workshop $149, Showroom $299, Multi-brand $599).
- Payments run through your own Stripe account via Stripe Connect, so Stripe's own processing fees apply and nothing else is deducted.
- Payouts, refunds and disputes stay between you and Stripe.
- Dealer invoices on Net 15, 30 or 60 are issued through your Stripe account with no Inlay percentage on them.
Book a 20-minute demo and bring your monthly volume so we can model it with you.