Course 3 of 6 · Seller track
Price it right.
Know your costs, know the LEVELLER service fees, and the plain truth about shipping: the service fee is on the item price only — never on shipping you arrange yourself.
Start with your costs
Before you pick a price, write down the full cost of one sale:
The cost stack
- What the item cost you — wholesale price, materials, or your time to make it.
- Packaging and shipping — box, padding, label, postage or courier fee.
- LEVELLER service fee — a percentage of the item price only (see below). Nothing else.
- Your margin — what's left is your profit. If it's too thin, the price is wrong, not the costs.
LEVELLER service fees — the locked rates
What you pay per sale
- Essential — you keep 85% of the item price.
- Professional — you keep 87% of the item price.
- Growth — you keep 89% of the item price.
- Enterprise — you keep 91% of the item price.
All-in rates: the fee behind each keep is one LEVELLER service fee — 15%, 13%, 11% or 9% — that already includes payment processing, which LEVELLER absorbs, so there is no separate processing bill.
No forced ad fees — if you want promotion, you choose it and you approve the spend.
Worked example: you sell a bag for $40 on the Essential plan. You keep $34.00 minus your product, packaging, and shipping costs — the service fee is 15% of $40 = $6.00, all-in. On Growth at 11%, you'd keep $35.60. As your volume grows, the lower rate is one more reason to level up.
Shipping: who pays, who takes what
Shipping money is shipping money. Here is the plain rule — no loopholes:
The shipping rule
- You ship it yourself (UPS, USPS, DHL, or any other third-party carrier): the shipping cost is entirely yours to arrange and pay — and LEVELLER takes zero service fee on it. Not a cut, not a fee, nothing. What you spend on shipping is between you and the carrier.
- LEVELLER Courier or a LEVELLER rider delivers it: normal delivery fees apply, charged separately from the marketplace service fee. You choose the option per order, and the fee is shown before you confirm — never a surprise.
The service fee is calculated on the item price only — never on shipping. That's the whole rule.
Back to the example: that $40 bag on Essential — the service fee is $6.00 whether you ship it yourself via USPS or hand it to a LEVELLER rider. Ship it yourself and the shipping money is untouched by LEVELLER; use LEVELLER Courier and the delivery fee applies on top, shown up front.
Pricing psychology that actually works
- Charm pricing: $19.99 feels meaningfully cheaper than $20. It works because shoppers read left to right.
- Anchor high, sell smart: show the honest original price next to a sale price — but only if the original price was real. Fake "was" prices destroy trust.
- Free-shipping thresholds: "free shipping over $50" lifts average order value because shoppers add one more item to cross the line. Set the threshold just above your current average order.
- Don't race to the bottom. The cheapest seller wins the sale and loses the business. Price for the customer who values what you sell, and say clearly why it's worth it — materials, craft, origin, care.
The founder's pricing spine: LEVELLER prices sit a little below the big platforms — enough that choosing LEVELLER is an easy decision, never so low the business can't stand. Price your products the same way: fair, a touch below the giants, and honest about what the customer gets.