---
title: Understanding fees
description: What Insy keeps on each sale — the platform commission, how it differs between card and crypto, the VAT added on card sales, and which costs are passed through to you.
---
When you make a sale, Insy takes a commission and passes the rest to your balance. Here's exactly
what comes off the top.
## The platform commission
Insy's standard commission is **8% of the sale** — the default on both card and crypto. How it's
charged differs by rail:
The 8% commission has Polish VAT (currently 23%) added, because the commission is a taxed
service. That works out to **9.84% of the sale** deducted in total (the 8% fee plus 1.84% VAT on
that fee).
The standard commission is **8%**. Crypto fees are handled through a separate billing
arrangement rather than shown like card — getting paid in crypto is covered in the payouts
section.
The 23% isn't a tax on your buyer's purchase — it's Polish VAT applied to Insy's commission itself.
## Payment-provider costs are passed through to you
The commission is Insy's own cut. Separately, the payment provider that processes the sale — Stripe
for cards, the crypto processor for crypto — charges its own fee, and **that fee is carried by the
sale that caused it**: it comes out of your side, not Insy's.
So a sale splits like this:
1. Insy takes its commission (8%, or 9.84% with VAT on card).
2. The payment provider's processing fee comes off your share.
3. What's left is credited to your balance.
The three always reconcile to the full sale amount, and any rounding remainder falls in your
favour, never against you.
## A worked example
For a **100 PLN** card sale, at the standard rates:
| Line | Amount |
| --------------------------------------- | ------------- |
| Sale | 100.00 PLN |
| Insy commission (8% + 23% VAT = 9.84%) | −9.84 PLN |
| Stripe's own processing fee | passed to you |
| **Your balance** | the remainder |
Stripe's fee depends on the card, so it's shown as "passed to you" rather than a fixed figure — it's
set by the payment provider, not Insy.
## Who sets the rate
> **Fees aren't self-serve**
>
> 8% (and the 23% VAT on card) are the platform **defaults**, applied to every new community and
> product. There's no screen to change your own commission — rates are managed by the Insy team and
> can be set per product or community. If your account has an agreed rate that differs from the
> default, that rate applies.
## What isn't a fee
- **Creating an account, profile, community or product costs nothing.** You're only charged as a
share of a sale that actually happened.
- **The commission is on sales, not on your balance.** Holding a balance doesn't cost you over time.
## Next
How your balance becomes money in your account, and any hold before it can be
withdrawn.
Prices, checkout, coupons and how buyers pay.