1. The three charges, in short
FreeMarket holds a buyer's payment in escrow the moment they check out, and only releases it to the seller once the order is confirmed that's what makes buyers comfortable paying up front, and it's why this page exists: full transparency on the fees that make that protection possible. There are exactly three charges anywhere in the system, each with one clear payer. Nothing else is ever deducted from a sale.
- FreeMarket's commission our own revenue, deducted from the seller's payout when escrow releases. Fixed tiers, capped at ₦1,000 no matter how large the order. This is the one you plan your pricing around see Section 2.
- Collection fee what our payment partner, Monnify, charges to accept a card/transfer/USSD payment. Added on top of the price and paid by the buyer at checkout. FreeMarket keeps none of it see Section 3.
- Withdrawal fee what Monnify charges to send a seller's withdrawal to their bank account. A real, pass-through cost with zero FreeMarket markup see Section 4.
FreeMarket never adds a hidden markup anywhere in this chain. The collection fee and the withdrawal fee are exactly what our payment processor charges nothing more. Our only revenue is the commission table in Section 2, and it is fully published below.
2. Our commission what sellers should plan for
This is the number that matters for pricing your products: it's deducted from what you're credited when an order's escrow releases. It is a flat fee per price bracket, not a percentage so the larger your sale, the smaller it is as a share of the price, and it never exceeds ₦1,000, however big the order.
| Order value (goods total) | FreeMarket's commission |
|---|---|
| ₦0 – ₦1,999 | ₦30.00 |
| ₦2,000 – ₦4,999 | ₦50.00 |
| ₦5,000 – ₦9,999 | ₦100.00 |
| ₦10,000 – ₦24,999 | ₦200.00 |
| ₦25,000 – ₦49,999 | ₦300.00 |
| ₦50,000 – ₦99,999 | ₦500.00 |
| ₦100,000 – ₦199,999 | ₦750.00 |
| ₦200,000 and above | ₦1,000.00 |
This commission is only ever taken when an order actually completes and escrow releases to you. If an order is cancelled or refunded before release, FreeMarket takes nothing from it.
3. Payment collection fee paid by the buyer
When a buyer pays by card, bank transfer, or USSD, Monnify charges 1.5% of the amount, capped at ₦2,000, plus 7.5% VAT on that fee and it's waived entirely on orders under ₦2,500. This is added on top of your listed price at checkout; it is never subtracted from what you're owed as the seller, so you don't need to build it into your product price at all.
Buyers see this fee broken out separately on the checkout screen before they pay, so there's no surprise at payment time.
4. Withdrawal fee cashing out to your bank
Once escrow releases an order into your sales balance, that money sits in your FreeMarket wallet until you request a withdrawal. At that point and only then Monnify's real cost to send the transfer is deducted, plus VAT. You can batch many completed orders into a single withdrawal and pay this fee only once; a seller who never withdraws never pays it.
| Withdrawal amount | Provider fee | VAT | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| ₦0 – ₦9,999 | ₦10.00 | ₦0.75 | ₦10.75 |
| ₦10,000 – ₦49,999 | ₦20.00 | ₦1.50 | ₦21.50 |
| ₦50,000 and above | ₦40.00 | ₦3.00 | ₦43.00 |
5. Annual subscription only for larger stores
Listing and managing your first 9 products is completely free, forever. Once your catalogue reaches 10 products, an annual subscription applies so we can keep investing in the platform; it doesn't touch your per-order commission above.
| Account type | Annual fee |
|---|---|
| Business owner (up to 50 products) | ₦5,000/yr |
| Business owner (more than 50 products) | ₦8,000/yr |
| Artisan | ₦5,500/yr |
| Rider | ₦6,500/yr |
6. Full worked examples
Here's exactly what happens to a real order at different price points from what the buyer pays, to what lands in your bank account after a withdrawal.
7. How to price so you don't get lost
Because our commission is a small flat fee per bracket rather than a percentage, the rule is simple:
Your selling price = the amount you actually want to keep + the commission for that price bracket (Section 2 table).
- Decide what you need to keep per sale your cost price plus your profit margin.
- Find your bracket in the commission table in Section 2, using roughly where that number falls.
- Add that bracket's commission on top when you set your listed price. For most brackets this is well under 1% of the order for a ₦25,000 item it's ₦300, or about 1.2%; for a ₦100,000 item it's ₦750, or about 0.75%.
- Ignore the collection fee in Section 3 entirely when pricing it's added on top for the buyer and never comes out of your side.
- If you withdraw often in small amounts, batching withdrawals (Section 4) keeps more of your money the withdrawal fee is charged once per withdrawal, not once per order.
In short: look up your price bracket in Section 2, add that flat commission to your target price, and the number you listed is the number minus that one line that lands in your wallet. No surprises, no percentage creeping up as your sales grow.
8. What happens to fees on a refund
If a paid order is refunded, the buyer always gets the full price of the goods back. Whether the collection fee (Section 3) is included in that refund depends on whose issue caused it:
- Seller or platform at fault (order rejected, never fulfilled, or a dispute upheld against the seller) the buyer gets the collection fee back too, since they did nothing wrong.
- Buyer-initiated with no seller fault (buyer cancels or changes their mind after paying) the collection fee was a real cost already incurred to collect the payment, so it isn't refunded.
If escrow had already released to you before a refund is approved, FreeMarket recovers that amount from your sales balance rather than absorbing the loss so keep this in mind if you're planning a withdrawal on an order that's still inside its confirmation window.
9. Frequently asked questions
Does FreeMarket take a cut of the collection fee?
No. Section 3's fee passes straight through to our payment processor. FreeMarket's only revenue is the commission in Section 2.
Can these numbers change?
Our commission table is reviewed rarely and any change will be announced in advance. The collection and withdrawal fees track Monnify's own published pricing and move only if Monnify's rates do this page always reflects the current numbers.
Is there a fee just for listing a product?
No listing is free up to your account's product threshold (Section 5). No fee is ever charged just for adding stock.
Still have a question?
Reach out via our Support Hub and we'll walk through the numbers for your specific store.
