What our 15% actually pays for

We take 15% of a sale. The card takes about another three. Here's where it goes, because a fee nobody will itemise is a fee people are right to resent.

Holding the money

You pay on a Tuesday and the thing changes hands on Saturday, because that's when two people can actually be in the same place. Somebody has to hold that money in between, be good for it, and decide what happens when the two of you disagree about what turned up. That's most of the cost and all of the risk.

Reading the photograph

Every listing is written by looking at what you photographed: the title, the description, the category, the condition, and a price at each of the four conditions. That's a real call to a real model on every item, and we pay for it whether or not the thing sells. Photograph ten and publish none and it still cost us ten.

Checking things before a stranger sees them

Every photograph is scanned, every listing is screened before it goes public, and every file anybody sends anybody is checked for malware on the way through. You never see any of that when it's working.

What it doesn't pay for

The donation. What a seller gives comes out of the seller's share and we don't take a second slice of it. 100% of what's given reaches the cause it was given to.