> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.yabetoopay.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Commissions and pricing
> How your commission, the Yabetoo fees and the vendor's net are computed on every Connect charge.
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.
## The Yabetoo rate card
Two lines apply to a Connect charge. They are distinct and they add up.
| Line | What it charges for | Standard rate card (Congo) |
| ------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------- |
| `collection` | the charge itself (it exists for every merchant) | **3.5% + 25 XAF** |
| `connect` | the Connect relationship: vendor verification, onboarding, payout rails | **1%** |
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`](/en/api-reference/introduction) and
`POST /v1/commissions/calculate`.
**The fixed fee makes the effective rate depend on the amount.** The 25 XAF do not dilute:
| Gross | Yabetoo take | As % of gross |
| ------: | -----------: | ------------: |
| 500 | 47.50 | **9.5%** |
| 1,000 | 70.00 | **7.0%** |
| 10,000 | 475.00 | 4.75% |
| 100,000 | 4,525.00 | 4.53% |
This is what **the vendor** bears. It changes nothing, however, to the refusal described below,
which is a comparison of **rates**.
## Declare your commission
You declare your commission **on every charge**, on the payment intent, in the form of a
**rate**.
```json theme={null}
{
"amount": 10000,
"currency": "xaf",
"on_behalf_of": "acct_01HZVENDOR000000000000000",
"application_fee_rate": 5
}
```
| Field | Type | Rule |
| ---------------------- | -------- | ------------------------------------- |
| `on_behalf_of` | `string` | the vendor identifier, `acct_…` |
| `application_fee_rate` | `number` | **percentage**, between `0` and `100` |
**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](/en/connect/activate). Posting it is refused.
### 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.
```
commission charged = your_rate × gross + collection_fixed + connect_fixed
```
| | 100 XAF sale | 10,000 XAF sale |
| ------------------------------------------ | -----------: | --------------: |
| commission charged to the vendor (5% + 25) | **30.00** | **525.00** |
| ├ Yabetoo collection (3.5% + 25) | 28.50 | 375.00 |
| ├ Connect surcharge (1%) | 1.00 | 100.00 |
| └ **your margin** | **0.50** | **50.00** |
| the vendor receives | **70.00** | **9,475.00** |
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%".
## 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.
```
vendor = gross − commission
you = commission − (collection + connect)
Yabetoo = collection + connect
```
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 vendor is billed by Yabetoo **like an ordinary merchant**, and your commission is added
on top. You collect your commission in full.
```
vendor = gross − commission − (collection + connect)
you = commission
Yabetoo = collection + connect
```
Nothing to fund, therefore **no floor**: your commission can be zero. And **no pass-through
of the fixed fee**: adding it would make the vendor pay it twice.
**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.
### Comparison table
On 10,000 XAF of gross, standard rate card, with `application_fee_rate`:
| | marketplace | platform | platform + commission |
| ------------------------------- | -----------: | --------: | --------------------: |
| `fee_payer` of the relationship | `controller` | `account` | `account` |
| `application_fee_rate` | `10` | `0` | `10` |
| commission actually taken | 1,025 | 0 | 1,000 |
| **the vendor receives** | **8,975** | **9,525** | **8,525** |
| **you receive** | **550** | **0** | **1,000** |
| **Yabetoo takes** | **475** | **475** | **475** |
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.
## The refusals, and how to avoid them
### `connect.application_fee_too_low` (400)
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.
```json theme={null}
{
"status": 400,
"code": "connect.application_fee_too_low",
"message": "...",
"minimum_rate_excluded": 4.5,
"requested_rate": 4,
"minimum": 475,
"requested": 425,
"currency": "xaf"
}
```
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.
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:
```
your_rate > collection_rate + connect_rate
```
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.
### `connect.application_fee_too_high` (400)
Your commission exceeds the amount charged.
```json theme={null}
{
"status": 400,
"code": "connect.application_fee_too_high",
"requested": 12000,
"gross_amount": 10000,
"currency": "xaf"
}
```
### `connect.vendor_net_not_positive` (422)
After all deductions, the vendor would receive zero or less. There is nothing to credit.
### `connect.incomplete_request` (422)
`on_behalf_of` and `application_fee_rate` must be supplied **together**.
### `connect.fee_payer_unset` (422)
The targeted connected account has no usable `fee_payer`. Activate Connect on your account
before charging. See [Activate Connect](/en/connect/activate).
### `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.
## 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.
## What about deferred mode?
An [allocation](/en/connect/payments/allocations) 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%`.