Why We Chose to Make Our Pricing Public
Transparency is hard to find in fashion. It’s equally hard to find among technology companies serving the fashion industry. Without transparency there is no way to build trust or measure progress.
That’s why today we’re excited to announce two dramatic changes to how we make our re-commerce platform available to our customers. Starting today, our re-commerce platform is available on a commission-only basis and without a contract.
We’ve done away with subscription fees and contracts in favor of transparency, simplicity, and flexibility. Whenever a sale is completed in a brand’s marketplace, we collect 4.9% from the brand and 11.9% from the seller. It’s that simple.
To some this may seem counterintuitive. After all, we provide a full-service platform that handles collecting payments, making sure purchases are shipped on time, insured, and tracked, keeping up with compliance matter, and even supporting marketplace customers. Sure, there are costs associated with providing these services, but there are three compelling reasons that outweigh that consideration.
First, we want every brand to offer re-commerce. After all, our mission is to improve sustainability through re-commerce, so the more brands that we can convince to join us, the closer we come to achieving our mission. We realize that for many brands, particularly smaller brands, cost is a barrier to adoption. By offering our re-commerce platform on a commission-only basis, we completely remove that barrier.
Second, we want to demonstrate our commitment to our customers’ success. There is no better way to do that than by directly linking our company’s future to ensuring that our customers’ re-commerce marketplaces are successful. It’s also the reason we did away with contracts. If our customers are free to walk away at any time, we have to continually ensure that we don’t give them a reason to. That means providing the best solutions and the best service all the time.
Third, we want to showcase our readiness to shake things up. We’re not afraid to look at a problem from a different perspective, try a new approach to see if it works, and continue iterating until we find one that does. The way we see it, re-commerce can be hugely impactful on combating the effects of climate change. If enough brands and shoppers participate in the re-commerce economy that we’re building, we can reduce waste and decrease production without jeopardizing profits or growth. Our re-commerce platform already reflects our views about changing the status quo. Now our pricing reflects our attitude too.
We recognize that there are few standards around what companies have to disclose in terms of their operations, particularly when it comes to their sustainability efforts. By revamping our pricing and publishing it, we hope to serve as an example of a company that is successful because of its transparency. But pricing is only the beginning. As we grow, we’ll find new ways to report on our sustainability initiatives. We challenge others to do the same.