As per Doron
Spaceship moving to 10% commission had some folks losing their minds, but can we talk for a second about what it actually costs to move a domain?
We run Efty Pay at 5%. I’ll be the first to tell you: at 5%, the math is absolute dogshit.
If you think running a marketplace is just slapping a BIN button on a page and calling it a day, you’re high.
Behind that button is a Gilfoyle-level engineer fighting off botnets and spammers 24/7 because your portfolios, which point to our DNS, are handling millions of requests a minute. Uptime isn't free!
Then there’s the EU compliance fun. AML, KYC, lawyers that cost more than a one-word .com just to make sure we don't get shut down by regulators. Our competitors outside the EU don't deal with half this stress. It’s expensive to be "the safe option."
The real kicker? The risk.
At Efty Pay, we pay sellers within 1 business day. You only have to push the domain to us. You're taking your family out for steak and fries, while we’re left holding the buyer's hand for three weeks, explaining what a nameserver is.
If that buyer hits us with a chargeback or a dispute a month later? Efty is on the hook. The seller already has their cash. We carry that risk so you don't have to.
And don’t even get me started on credit card and PSP fees. They eat 3-4% instantly. If we didn't have the optional "Express" fee for buyers (which they can skip via Wire and many local payment options, such as iDEAL in the Netherlands), we’d basically be a charity!!
An important reason we can operate at 5% right now is that our Efty Investor subscriptions subsidize Efty Pay's innovation. We’re literally using our SaaS revenues to keep your transaction at an industry-low commission.
It’s a play for market share, sure. We want you to experience how freaking fast we are. But let’s be real: 5% is not a "forever" number if we want to deploy the talent to continue building the future and break down more barriers.
Look at Dan dot com. Everyone loved the 9% fee. But if they’d charged 15%, they might’ve had the war chest to stay independent instead of getting swallowed by a monopoly. Now everyone is upset they’re gone.
If you want the underdogs to win, you have to support a fair commission.
We’re 100% founder-owned. No debt. No VC or PE overlords. We’re in a great spot, but I want to honest about the economics.
Quality costs money. Speed cost money. Risk costs money. Moving money costs money!
5% is a steal.