Sliding Scale Commission
Written by Christopher Krassnig - Founder - Kairos Exchange and ZenoX Media.
Published
- Checks in every memo8
- Automatic on day one3 of 8
- Read by handad spend and processor payouts
- Tracked ecom salesEUR 200M+ZenoX ad-management figures, not Kairos deal volume - Kairos hasn't closed a deal yet.
Sliding Scale Commission is a success-fee structure where the rate falls as the sale price rises. A small deal pays a higher percentage than a large one, on the exact same venue. Motion Invest publishes exactly this shape. Its scale runs from 20 percent on deals under 20,000 dollars down to 5 percent on deals past 500,000 dollars.
Why the Rate Slides
A percentage rate assumes the marketplace's own costs scale with the sale price, and on a small deal they usually do not: reviewing a listing and running the paperwork takes roughly the same effort at 15,000 dollars as it does at 1.5 million. A sliding scale prices that reality in, charging more low down to cover fixed costs and easing off once the percentage alone is enough. Kairos's full-service lane moves the same direction for a related reason: 12% on the first EUR 500,000 of a sale, 9% on the rest, which lowers the marginal rate on the portion of a larger deal without changing the base rate deal by deal. On a small deal, a steep top rate can still cost more than a flat-fee venue charges outright - worth checking end to end, not just at the headline number.
Not to Be Confused With
- Success Fee
- a success fee is one flat rate at every price; a sliding scale commission is a whole schedule of rates that changes with the sale price.