Ebook Fee Schedule & Payouts

This Ebook Fee Schedule & Payouts document sets out exactly what ChefSphere charges Authors on each sale, how third-party payment fees are handled, how earnings move through their lifecycle, and what trust-based limits apply. It is part of the Ebook Author Agreement and binds every Author from the moment they publish their first listing.

1. Author subscription tier determines the commission

ChefSphere's platform commission is a flat percentage of the gross sale amount and is determined by the Author's active ChefSphere subscription tier at the time of sale:

Author tier	Platform commission	Author share (before Stripe fees)
Free	30 %	70 %
Premium	25 %	75 %
Pro	15 %	85 %

The commission is based on the Author's subscription only, not on the account type (Individual vs. Business), and not on the buyer's subscription. If you upgrade your subscription, the new commission applies to sales settled after the upgrade takes effect on your account; previously settled sales stay on the tier that was active when they were captured.

2. Payment-processor fees are borne by the Author

On top of the platform commission, every sale carries a payment-processing fee of approximately 3.5 % of the gross sale amount (this is the blended rate we use internally to reconcile Stripe's per-transaction fee structure: roughly 2.9 % plus a fixed per-transaction component). This fee is deducted from the Author's share, not from the platform commission. The rationale is simple: the rail that settles the Author's payout is a service the Author consumes.

Example. A €10.00 ebook sold by a Premium Author:

• Gross: €10.00
• Platform commission (25 %): €2.50
• Author earnings before Stripe: €7.50
• Stripe processing fee (≈3.5 %): €0.35
• Author net payout: €7.15

Apple App Store and Google Play take their own commission (typically around 15–30 %) on purchases made through iOS or Android billing. When a sale comes through those rails the gross amount we receive from Apple or Google is already net of the store commission, and the tier percentages in section 1 apply to that net amount.

3. Currency

• The reference currency is EUR. Listings are stored in EUR and displayed in EUR for EU buyers.
• For buyers in other currencies, the ChefSphere or store payment provider performs the conversion at the rate that applies at the moment of payment. Fluctuations are absorbed by the payment provider, not by the Author.

4. Trust-based transaction limits

To protect buyers and the payment rail, every sale is checked against per-sale and per-day limits tied to the Author's trust level. The current structure is:

Trust level	Max per-sale	Max daily
Newcomer	€250	€1,000
Regular	€1,000	€5,000
Trusted / Expert	€10,000	€50,000

Adding a valid card on file to your author account unlocks additional headroom: +20 % on the per-sale cap and +50 % on the daily cap. The card on file exists to give the platform a path to offset chargeback losses; by opting in, you accept that ChefSphere may charge the card for amounts owed under the Ebook Chargeback Policy if your balances are insufficient.

Platform-wide safety nets

In addition to per-Author limits, the Marketplace enforces Author-independent daily ceilings:

• €100,000 total ebook sales platform-wide per day;
• €10,000 total refunds platform-wide per day;
• €500 total refunds per individual buyer per day.

These ceilings exist to contain damage from a hypothetical bug or coordinated abuse. They are not marketing caps and will not be removed silently; any change will be announced in line with section 10.

5. Earnings lifecycle

Author earnings move through four balances before they can be paid out to your bank account.

5.1 Pending balance

• On a successful sale, the Author share (gross × Author's percentage) enters the pending balance immediately.
• Stripe processing fees remain attached to the pending amount and are visible in your earnings ledger.

5.2 Hold period

• Pending earnings stay on hold for the hold period days configured on your account (typical range 7–30 days depending on trust level and payment method).
• The hold protects buyers against immediate fraud: it gives us time to detect chargebacks, refund requests, or clearly abusive patterns before money leaves the platform.

5.3 Reserve and available split

• After the hold period, a scheduled job (running every six hours) splits the held earnings into available and reserve:
  • the reserve is a configured percentage of the Author's pending earnings (typical range 5–20 %), held for approximately 30 additional days to absorb chargebacks and late refunds;
  • the remainder becomes available and can be withdrawn on your next Stripe payout cycle.

5.4 Withdrawals and Stripe payouts

• Withdrawals are paid through your Stripe Connect connected account. You control the payout schedule (daily, weekly, monthly) inside the Stripe dashboard.
• We do not hold funds outside the Author balances. Once Stripe triggers the payout, ChefSphere has no further role in the transfer.

5.5 Order of deductions

Refunds, chargebacks, and safety-driven adjustments are always deducted in this order: available → reserve → pending. If the combined balances are insufficient, the deficit is owed to ChefSphere and may be recovered as described in the Ebook Chargeback Policy.

6. Minimum payout and inactivity

• There is a minimum payout threshold per Stripe's rules in your country. Below that threshold, the available balance rolls forward until it clears the threshold.
• If an Author account is inactive (no sales, no logins) for 24 consecutive months and balances are below the minimum payout threshold, we may close the payout profile in line with local unclaimed-funds legislation. We will notify you before we do and give you a reasonable window to withdraw.

7. Invoices and statements

• Every sale produces a receipt for the buyer. Authors see a monthly earnings statement in the dashboard and can download per-sale receipts for their bookkeeping.
• For VAT-registered Authors in the EU we also generate a monthly statement that splits VAT-liable and out-of-scope sales; see the Ebook Tax Information.

8. Refunds, chargebacks and reversals

• Buyer-side refund. Where a refund is granted (statutory, voluntary, or as a result of a chargeback), the buyer receives back the full gross amount they were charged, including any VAT — there is no service fee withheld from a buyer refund. This is a ChefSphere policy and matches the consumer expectation under Directive 2011/83/EU.
• Author-side reversal. The Author share is reversed exactly as earned — no additional penalty, but also no reversal of Stripe's transaction fee unless Stripe itself refunds the fee for that transaction type (Stripe documents the fee-refund rules for each payment method).
• Platform commission. Our platform commission on the transaction is also reversed pro-rata so that a 100% buyer refund produces a net 0% platform revenue on that transaction.
• VAT handling. If VAT was collected and remitted (via Stripe Tax OSS), the VAT line is reversed by the same mechanism so the jurisdiction receives a matching credit note in the next OSS return. See the Ebook Tax Information.
• Chargebacks. Chargebacks additionally carry Stripe's chargeback fee (published by Stripe in your dashboard; typically €15–€20 per chargeback at the date of publication), which is charged to the Author's balance. See the Ebook Chargeback Policy for the full lifecycle.

9. Stripe as regulated financial partner

Stripe is the regulated financial-service provider for this Fee Schedule. By completing the onboarding in section 2 of the Ebook Author Agreement you enter into the Stripe Connected Account Agreement and the Stripe Services Agreement directly with Stripe. ChefSphere is a platform, not a bank or money-services business; we never take title to Author funds outside the technical split-payment flow.

10. Changes

We can change commission percentages, Stripe fee estimates, trust-level thresholds, hold periods, or reserve ranges for future sales. Any change takes effect no sooner than 30 days after we notify you in-app and by email. Sales already settled stay on the terms in force at the time of capture.

11. Contact

• Billing and payouts: [email protected]
• Tax matters: [email protected]
• Stripe account issues: your Stripe dashboard → Support