Fee schedules & update process

All fee values live in one file: packages/scout-domain/src/fees/schedule.ts. Nothing else hard-codes a fee.

Two schedules

Pulltrader — authoritative

Mirrors Pulltrader's authoritative internal fee configuration. Pulltrader has two fees and no per-item listing fee:

1. Seller fee (commission) — applies to marketplace and Fulfilled by Pulltrader only. Determined by plan: Free and Operations start at level 1 (91%); Business and Managed start at level 5 (95%). Revenue can raise a seller to levels 2/3/4 (92%/93%/94%). Storefront, Checkout and POS have no separate seller commission, but card transactions still cost 3.25% + $0.40 per transaction. The seller keeps the full item price only when the buyer covers that charge.
2. Platform fee — 3.25% + $0.40, always charged on card sales (marketplace, FBP, storefront, POS card) on the settled order total (item + shipping + tax). By default the buyer pays it at checkout; the seller can choose to cover it. Cash POS has no fees at all.

Other authoritative rules used by the engine:

• External (synced eBay consignment) flat rate: 85% (not currently exposed as a comparison method).
• Binz fixed pricing for qualifying low item prices on marketplace/FBP.

⚠️ Do not change Pulltrader values here without first changing Pulltrader's authoritative fee configuration. These are a mirror, not the source.

eBay — estimated

A directional estimate of eBay's published trading-card selling fees, applied to the total sale amount (item + shipping), calculated per item:

• Individual (no Store subscription): 13.25% up to $7,500 per item, then 2.35% on the portion above.
• eBay Store subscriber (ebay_store_subscription: true): 12.35% up to $2,500 per item, then 2.35% above.
• Per-order fee (all accounts): $0.30 for orders ≤ $10.00, otherwise $0.40.
• Explicitly excludes: promoted listings, international fees, buyer-paid sales tax, below-standard performance surcharges, and the seller's own shipping-label cost.
• Callers can override the FVF % via ebay_fee_percent_override (flat rate; tiers ignored).

Competitor marketplaces — estimated (opt-in)

COMPETITOR_FEES holds estimated fixed-price / Buy Now seller fees for other platforms. They are off by default and included only when requested via the methods field. Each entry has its own source, source_url, effective_date, review_by, and conditional_notes, and is marked estimated: true.

Auction formats (hammer price + buyer's premium + negotiated consignment) are not modeled — only the fixed-price seller fee. The seller's own shipping-label cost is excluded for every competitor.

Freshness / staleness

Each schedule has effective_date, reviewed_at, and review_by. effective_date dates the modeled fee assumptions; reviewed_at records the last source review, including reviews that find no rate change. MCP outputs expose all three. Never advance a review date without checking the source. When the current date is past review_by, every response includes a warnings[] entry. This prevents a stale schedule from silently staying active. Competitor schedules are checked the same way, but only when that competitor method is part of the comparison.

Update procedure

1. Confirm the new value against the authoritative source (Pulltrader's fee configuration for Pulltrader; eBay's published fee page for eBay) and note the source + date.
2. Edit packages/scout-domain/src/fees/schedule.ts: update verified values and bump version. Set reviewed_at to the source review date and review_by to the next quarterly deadline. Preserve effective_date when modeled fees are unchanged.
3. Update the boundary tests in test/ if a documented example changes.
4. Bump package.json and server.json versions; add a CHANGELOG.md entry.
5. npm run typecheck && npm test.
6. Deploy (with approval) and, if the listing metadata changed, re-publish registry/Smithery entries.

Confirmed by product (2026-06-27)

• eBay fees confirmed: tiered individual 13.25% / $7,500 and Store 12.35% / $2,500 (then 2.35%), per-order fee $0.30 (≤ $10) / $0.40 (> $10). Encoded above.
• No managed-listing "$1/item" fee — Pulltrader has no per-item listing fee. Confirmed not charged.
• Platform fee is always charged (buyer by default, seller optional); no seller fee on storefront/POS; no fees on cash POS.

Remaining notes

• Shipping is modeled only in eBay's fee base; the seller's own shipping-label cost is excluded (documented). Revisit if sellers want label costs subtracted for self-fulfilled methods.

Source review: 2026-10-03

Next review: 2027-01-03. Pulltrader values checked against the current backend utils/payoutCalculator.js; rates unchanged. External fees remain estimates.

• eBay individual and Store: modeled trading-card rates unchanged. Store estimate assumes Basic or higher; Starter does not receive this rate.
• TCGplayer: base rates unchanged; corrected Pro/Sync and Direct-only notes.
• Mana Pool: base rates unchanged. Its cap policy offers a $50/item marketplace-fee cap via support rebate; estimates show pre-rebate fees and disclose that condition.
• Misprint: 7% commission on item sale price; 3% + $0.30 processing on the total. Corrected commission base and Seller Rewards notes.
• Fanatics Collect: retains the 6% Great Price estimate; corrected higher-tier disclosure from 15% to 12%. Auctions and alternate payouts are outside this model.
• Goldin: updated listed Marketplace bands to the currently published 8.3%. Above $250,000 remains negotiated; estimates use 8.3% and disclose this limitation.