Tools Fee Schedule

This Fee Schedule is an addendum to the Tools Marketplace Terms, the Seller Agreement, and the Platform Terms of Service. It describes every fee ChefSphere charges on the Tools Marketplace and every quantitative limit the platform enforces. All amounts are in EUR unless stated otherwise.

1. Where the fees apply — and where they do not

ChefSphere operates a split architecture:

• Worldwide-shipped sales are processed through Stripe. All fees, reserves, holds, and limits below apply. Platform fee is 15 %. The Shipping Policy, the Return & Refund Policy, and the Chargeback Policy all apply.
• In-person sales and rentals are settled in cash between the parties. ChefSphere is a pure information-society intermediary for those transactions; no platform fee is collected, no Stripe processing is involved, no reserve or hold is kept, no Label Wallet is used, no chargeback defence is available. Trust-and-safety rules, content moderation, and listing removal still apply.

Everything below refers to worldwide-shipped sales unless the section explicitly says otherwise.

2. The 15 % platform fee

The platform fee is 15 % of the post-discount sale price (item price × quantity + shipping − any applied discount). The fee is collected by ChefSphere at the moment Stripe captures the payment; the remaining 85 % is transferred to the Seller's Stripe Express account, subject to the reserve and hold rules in section 4.

• What the 15 % covers. Stripe's payment-processing fees are absorbed into the 15 %; Sellers are not billed separately for card-network fees. The 15 % also funds platform-side fraud protection, Shippo integration, in-app messaging, chargeback defence, and customer support.
• Discounts and promotions. When ChefSphere, a Seller, or a campaign applies a discount at checkout, the 15 % is calculated on the price after discount.
• Refunds and chargebacks. When a worldwide transaction is fully refunded, the actual application-fee refund returned by Stripe is credited back to the order's accounting. Platform does not keep the 15 % of a fully refunded transaction. For chargebacks, see the Chargeback Policy.

3. Listing fees (worldwide listings)

3.1 Photo fees

Each tool listing may include up to 3 cover photos for free.

• Each extra cover photo beyond 3: €0.25.
• Each extra variant photo beyond 1 free photo per variant: €0.15.

3.2 Variant fees

Each listing may include up to 3 variants for free. Each extra variant beyond 3 is billed at €0.50 per variant.

3.3 When listing fees are invoiced

Listing fees are calculated when the sale is finalised, not when the listing is published. A listing with extra photos or variants that never sells incurs no fee. Listing fees are deducted from the Seller's 85 % net of that sale alongside the platform fee.

Listing fees apply only to listings made through the paid Stripe-processed path (worldwide). Listings used exclusively for in-person or rent-only flows do not accrue platform fees because no settlement occurs through ChefSphere.

4. Earnings lifecycle — pending, hold, reserve, available

Every successful worldwide sale flows through four balances on the Seller's earnings ledger:

1. Pending. Funds accrue immediately on capture and stay in pending while the order moves through shipping.
2. Hold period. Once the order is delivered, funds enter the hold period dictated by the Seller's trust level (section 5). During the hold, funds cannot be withdrawn.
3. Reserve. When the hold expires, funds split: the reserve percentage (section 5) stays reserved as collateral for refunds, returns, and chargebacks; the remainder moves to available.
4. Available. The Seller may withdraw the available balance at any time, subject to the payout rules in section 6.

Refunds, chargebacks, and adjustments are drawn in this order: available → reserve → pending → card on file → negative balance. A negative balance of €500 or more pauses new sales automatically until the debt is cleared.

5. Trust levels — reserves, hold periods, transaction caps

Every Full Seller carries a trust level recalculated daily and on each payout. The level sets the reserve percentage, the hold period, and the per-order and daily transaction caps. Card on file unlocks higher per-order and daily caps at the three lower levels.

5.1 Reserve and hold

Trust level	Reserve %	Hold period	Typical eligibility
UNTRUSTED	20 %	14 days	Flagged accounts or Sellers with integrity issues
NEWCOMER	15 %	14 days	Sellers with account age < 90 days OR cumulative sales < €5,000
REGULAR	10 %	7 days	Sellers ≥ 90 days and ≥ €5,000 sales, dispute rate < 1 %
TRUSTED	5 %	2 days	Sellers ≥ 180 days, ≥ €10,000 sales and ≥ 500 orders, dispute rate < 0.5 %
EXPERT	3 %	0 days (instant-payout eligible)	Sellers ≥ 365 days, ≥ €50,000 sales, dispute rate < 0.3 %

5.2 Per-order caps

Trust level	No card on file	With card on file
UNTRUSTED	€100	€150
NEWCOMER	€250	€1,000
REGULAR	€1,000	€2,000
TRUSTED	€5,000	€5,000
EXPERT	€10,000	€10,000

5.3 Daily sales caps

Trust level	No card on file	With card on file
UNTRUSTED	€250	€500
NEWCOMER	€1,000	€3,000
REGULAR	€5,000	€10,000
TRUSTED	€20,000	€20,000
EXPERT	€50,000	€50,000

Trust levels can move up and down based on recent behaviour. Integrity events (chargebacks, missed dispatches, content-policy breaches) can demote a Seller and extend the hold period.

Trust levels apply only to worldwide Stripe-processed volume. Cash-settled in-person and rental activity does not count toward the eligibility thresholds because those payments never flow through ChefSphere.

6. Payouts

• Minimum payout. €50 net balance required to request a payout.
• Daily payout cap. €500 per Seller per day.
• New-Seller payout cap. Accounts < 90 days old are capped at €300 per payout during the launch phase.
• Maximum payout request. €10,000 per request.
• Cooldown. At least 24 hours between payout requests.
• First payouts. The first 3 payouts per Seller require manual review.
• Instant payout. Available at the EXPERT tier; fee is 1.5 % of the requested amount; €200 per request cap during the launch phase; may be disabled platform-wide with notice.

7. Platform-wide safety ceilings (launch phase, worldwide only)

These ceilings protect the platform from compromise or runaway bugs. They are platform-wide, not per-Seller, and they act on the Stripe-processed flow only:

• Daily platform sales ceiling: €10,000.
• Daily platform payouts ceiling: €5,000.
• Per-buyer daily refund ceiling: €1,000.
• Checkout cart caps: €3,000 total, 10 items, 5 units of any single product.
• Manual-review threshold: single order ≥ €1,500 → held for human review.
• Manual-refund threshold: refund ≥ €500 → human review.
• High-value order threshold: order ≥ €500 → signature on delivery + buyer verification required.

Ceilings may be adjusted upwards with 30 days' notice once launch-phase data confirms the platform can safely raise them.

8. Shipping & label wallet (worldwide only)

For worldwide-shipped orders, Sellers fund a pre-paid Label Wallet that ChefSphere debits when it issues carrier labels through Shippo:

• Minimum top-up: €20. Maximum top-up per transaction: €1,000. Daily top-up limit per Seller: €2,500.
• Minimum hold per label: €15 (domestic / France), €25 (Europe), €50 (rest of world).
• Low-balance warning at €30.

The wallet does not apply to in-person or rent-only listings because no platform-issued label is required.

9. In-person sales and rentals — zero platform fee

ChefSphere charges no platform fee on an in-person sale or on a rental. The Seller keeps 100 % of the cash paid by the Buyer/Renter; the deposit on a rental is handed back in cash minus any documented damage deduction. Listing fees (photos, variants) also do not apply to in-person-only or rent-only listings, because the fees exist only on the Stripe-processed path. Trust & Safety moderation, content rules, and listing removal still apply.

10. Rental cash deposit (informational)

The refundable cash deposit for a rental is calculated as:

• 10 % of the tool's replacement cost where set, or
• 20 % of the rental price otherwise.

The deposit is paid in cash to the Owner at pickup and returned in cash at return, subject to the damage-assessment rules in the Rental Terms. ChefSphere does not collect, hold, escrow, or guarantee the deposit.

11. Taxes

All worldwide-path amounts are quoted net of VAT for Sellers and including VAT for consumer Buyers in jurisdictions where ChefSphere is required to collect it. Sellers remain responsible for their own income tax. DAC7 annual reporting applies in the EU to sellers whose earnings flow through the platform — see the Tax Information.

12. Changes — P2B notice periods (Reg. (EU) 2019/1150)

Fees and ceilings are reviewed regularly. Changes take effect on the following statutory notice schedule, which is drafted to meet Art. 3(2) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 ("P2B"):

• Increases to fees, reductions of limits, changes to reserve/hold mechanics, or any other change that is prejudicial to Sellers. Takes effect no sooner than 30 days after the Seller has received the change on a durable medium (in-app banner plus email), which is longer than the 15-day statutory minimum in Art. 3(2) P2B and is consistent with the notice obligations in the Seller Agreement.
• Changes the Seller cannot reasonably implement within 30 days. On request, the Seller may invoke the Art. 3(2)(b) P2B right to terminate the commercial relationship before the change takes effect; no exit fee is charged.
• Security, fraud, malicious-content, or safety-driven changes. Can take effect sooner than 30 days where Art. 3(4) P2B permits a shorter notice period; the Seller is notified at the same time of the change and of the statutory basis.
• Reductions to fees, increases to limits, or other changes favourable to Sellers. Can take effect immediately without the 30-day notice period, in line with Art. 3(4) P2B.

13. Contact

• Billing questions, payouts, reserves (worldwide): [email protected]
• Seller support: [email protected]
• Legal notices: [email protected]