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On every Connect charge, the gross is split between three parties: the vendor, you, and Yabetoo. This page describes exactly what each one receives, and why some commissions are refused.

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The Yabetoo rate card

Two lines apply to a Connect charge. They are distinct and they add up. On 10,000 XAF of gross, Yabetoo therefore takes 375 + 100 = 475 XAF.
This rate card is negotiable per organization. Never hardcode 4.5% in your code: read your actual grid with GET /v1/commissions/types and POST /v1/commissions/calculate.
The fixed fee makes the effective rate depend on the amount. The 25 XAF do not dilute:This is what the vendor bears. It changes nothing, however, to the refusal described below, which is a comparison of rates.

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Declare your commission

You declare your commission on every charge, on the payment intent, in the form of a rate.
Both fields go together or neither. Supplying only one returns 422 connect.incomplete_request.
application_fee_rate is expressed as a percentage: 5 means 5%. 0.05 would mean 0.05%.
Why a rate and not an amount. The gross is converted into the currency of the chosen country at confirmation time: an intent of 100 EUR confirmed in Congo captures roughly 65,000 XAF, while a fixed amount of 20 would stay 20. A rate applies to the actual gross.If you need a flat amount, compute it on your side and express it as a rate for that particular sale.
fee_payer is not transmitted. It is read from the controller relationship, as you set it at activation. Posting it is refused.

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The rate form passes our fixed fee through (marketplace mode only)

In controller mode, a rate of 5% does not charge the vendor 5%: it charges 5% + our fixed share. You declare only one number: the fixed part is ours, passed through automatically, so that your margin does not depend on the basket.
Your margin is exactly 0.5% × gross in both cases: it no longer depends on the basket.
Tell your vendors. On a 100 XAF sale, the vendor receives 70, not 95: the 25 XAF fixed fee sits inside what you charge them. Advertise “5% + 25 XAF”, not “5%”.

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The two modes: fee_payer

The mode decides who bears the Yabetoo fees. It moves the burden, it never removes it: the Connect surcharge applies in both modes.
The Yabetoo fees are taken out of your commission. The vendor only bears a single deduction: yours.
Your margin is the residue. That is why there is a floor, and why our fixed share is passed through into it: your commission funds our fees.
The same rate does not earn the same thing. A controller declaring 5% on a 10,000 XAF sale keeps 50 in marketplace mode (the residue above Yabetoo’s 475) and 500 in platform mode (their entire margin). A factor of ten. And the vendor receives 9,475 in the first case against 9,025 in the second.

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Comparison table

On 10,000 XAF of gross, standard rate card, with application_fee_rate: In all three cases the total is exactly 10,000: Connect neither creates nor destroys money.
On the “commission actually taken” line: in controller mode, the 25 XAF fixed fee is added to your rate (1,000 + 25); in account mode, it is not: the vendor already pays it separately, and passing it through would make them pay it twice.

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The refusals, and how to avoid them

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connect.application_fee_too_low (400)

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controller only
Your commission must exceed (not merely cover) the Yabetoo fees. Equality is refused: it would leave you at zero net, which is not a viable operation.
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number
The rate floor, as a percentage. On the standard rate card it is 4.5%: the collection rate (3.5%) plus the Connect one (1%).It is called excluded because the bound is strict: at exactly 4.5%, it is still refused.
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number
The rate you sent.
This refusal does not depend on the amount. Since our fixed share is passed through into your commission, it appears on both sides of the comparison and cancels out. The guard reduces to:
A rate above the floor passes at every amount. A rate equal to or below it is refused at every amount. You will not see “some” captures fail, you will see all of them fail.The remediation is therefore to revisit your pricing, never the sale in progress.
In account mode there is no floor: your commission has nothing to fund, it can be zero. This refusal never occurs there.
The simple rule: declare a rate strictly above your grid’s floor, and you will never be refused for this reason, whatever the amount of the sale.

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connect.application_fee_too_high (400)

Your commission exceeds the amount charged.

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connect.vendor_net_not_positive (422)

After all deductions, the vendor would receive zero or less. There is nothing to credit.

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connect.incomplete_request (422)

on_behalf_of and application_fee_rate must be supplied together.

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connect.fee_payer_unset (422)

The targeted connected account has no usable fee_payer. Activate Connect on your account before charging. See Activate Connect.

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E_CONNECT_PRICING_UNAVAILABLE (503)

The commission grid could not be resolved. Connect fails closed: it never charges a fallback rate. Retry; if the refusal persists, contact support: a rate card line is missing for your organization.

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Rounding

Amounts are computed in exact decimal then rounded to two decimal places (HALF_UP for fees, ROUND_DOWN for the captured amount). The rounding residue goes to Yabetoo: the vendor and you receive deterministic amounts.
XAF has no sub-unit. The amounts that actually leave the system towards the operator are whole numbers; fractions stay internal to the ledger.

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What about deferred mode?

An allocation also carries the 1% Connect surcharge, computed on the allocated amount, not on the original gross. Without it, “charge with no vendor, then allocate” would reach the same economic result while paying 1% less. The fee_payer of the relationship applies there in the same way: in controller mode you are debited amount + 1% and the vendor receives amount; in account mode the vendor receives amount − 1%.