Gov/en/Portal:Economy/Main

💡 In simple words: The economy is how money moves on the platform. Small commissions on deals help pay for the tools and services everyone shares, keeping the whole community running fairly.

🎯 In 20 seconds (scientific summary): WikiDeal's economy aims at financial autonomy without depending on governmental aid, while welcoming donations and partnerships as long as the project stays user-owned. Funding would rest on two sources: user subscriptions (from CHF 1/month, for platform access) and at-cost transaction commissions, with full transparency and surplus returned to the community.

Economy Portal

The fundamentals in five points

1. Financial autonomy as a goal. The economy of WikiDeal aims at being financially autonomous and at not depending on governmental or parapublic aid. WikiDeal encourages partnerships and support, and seeks support especially at the beginning, in the form of Donations or specific projects, as long as it remains a project owned by its users: a citizen-based research and development programme.
2. Two main funding sources. The financing of the platform is covered by user subscriptions (the general subscription) and commissions on each transaction.
3. The fundamental rule: at real cost. Commissions must be at real cost. Real costs include a share of volunteering and semi-volunteering (volunteering rewarded with Karma tokens, that is, exchange rights), notably for assistance. By nature, this makes commissions generally lower than the commissions observed on the leading platforms currently dominating their domains.
4. The bet. Lower commissions, more flexibility, users participativity: that is the bet WikiDeal takes.
5. Radical transparency. Everyone should know where the money goes: accounts are public, every commission is broken down publicly, and any surplus is returned to the community (see Surplus Return).

The sections below detail each point.

Subscription

The subscription starts at 1 Swiss franc per month, approximately 1 euro or 1 US dollar, and the intention is to keep this cost low. This general user subscription gives access to the use of the platform and to its models of contract (the contract templates users need to make deals), but not to the transactions themselves. For details, see Monthly Subscriptions.

Commissions

Like on today's large platforms, transactions carry commissions. On each transaction, one part of the commission goes to the functioning of WikiDeal, one part goes to the functioning of the User Group operating the service, and everything else goes to the provider of the service or product. The goal is for these commissions to be extremely low.

WikiDeal's Commission structure is built on one principle: at real cost. The platform charges only what it needs to cover the real, auditable costs of processing Transactions, maintaining Infrastructure, and providing legal frameworks. There are no contributor returns embedded in the Commission rate, no growth skimming, and no algorithmic nudges designed to increase take rate over time.

Double Commission Structure

Every WikiDeal transaction carries a double commission: one part goes to the User Group operating the service, and one part goes to the WikiDeal platform itself. These two layers are distinct and transparent.

The total combined commission (User Group + WikiDeal platform) must be between 5% and 15% of the transaction value. Justified exceptions are possible in both directions: a lower rate may apply for civic or non-profit contexts, a higher rate may apply for complex or high-risk services, but any exception must be documented and approved through the Open Call process.

Example breakdown (10% total commission):

• User Group operating the service: ~7-8% (covers service coordination, dispute resolution, community management)
• WikiDeal platform: ~2-3% (covers infrastructure, legal frameworks, free software maintenance)

These figures are initial working hypotheses. What is certain is the fundamental principle: at real cost, with real costs based on a mix that includes volunteering and semi-volunteering rewarded with Karma tokens, notably for assistance.

The subscription fee is billed on top of the commission, not deducted from it.

What is sometimes called the "double commission" actually refers to the at real cost mechanism: beyond the two commissions (User Group fee and WikiDeal operator fee), a real transaction distributes the money across four to five destinations — the final beneficiary (by far the largest share), the User Group commission, the WikiDeal operator commission, the subscription top-up, and credit-card payment fees (only when no wallet is used). Regarding subscriptions, the model does not impose a fixed subscription by default: many participants prefer to pay their subscription at the moment of a real transaction rather than as a recurring fee, which is exactly what the "subscription top-up" covers — the subscription due since the last transaction. The use of a wallet is encouraged (reducing the split to four components), but members without one can simply pay by credit card, adding the fifth component, and everything works just as well.

Where the money goes (visual overview)

The bar below shows the five places the money goes in a typical transaction. Note that only components 2 and 3 are actual commissions (the User's Group fee and the WikiDeal platform management fee). Component 1 is the provider's own income, component 4 is the subscription, and component 5 is a third-party card fee.

1. Service provider raw income ~80–90%

2. UG fee

3. WD fee

4. Sub

5. Card

Legend (the five places the money goes):

1. Service provider raw income – ~80–90%: the final beneficiary, by far the largest share. (Not a commission.)
2. User's Group real-cost commission fee – ~3–15%: actual commission for the local or thematic community running the service.
3. WikiDeal platform management fee – ~2–5%: actual commission sustaining the shared technical and governance infrastructure, at real cost.
4. WikiDeal monthly subscription – 1 CHF (only if not already paid): the subscription due since the last transaction. (Not a commission.)
5. Third-party payment fee (e.g. Visa or Mastercard) – ~2–4%: charged only when paying by card instead of a wallet. (Not a commission.)

In other words, what is sometimes called the "double commission" refers to components 2 and 3 only – the two real-cost commissions. Illustrative ranges: actual percentages vary by User Group policy and transaction type. Components 1–4 always apply; component 5 applies only when a card is used instead of a wallet. The service provider's share always remains by far the largest.

Notes and references

• UC Berkeley Labor Center, Jacobs, Reich et al., Gig Passenger and Delivery Driver Pay in Five Metro Areas (2024): laborcenter.berkeley.edu
• FourWeekMBA, Uber Take Rate (2024): Uber Mobility recorded a 28.8% take rate in 2023 (27% in 2022, 19% in 2021): fourweekmba.com
• National Employment Law Project, Unpacking Uber & Lyft's Take Rates (May 2025), documenting cases where the platform share exceeds 50% of the consumer fare: PDF

Pages in this portal

• Funding Glossary
• Why Fund WikiDeal
• Financing Development
• Targeted Donations
• Initial Funding
• Funder Stories
• Monthly Subscriptions
• Commissions
• Civic Incentive
• What You Get
• Revenue Structure
• Subscription Distribution
• Rewards
• Karma Token Market
• Civic Flex Pricing

See also: Why and How WikiDeal Can Work