Before you build a business on a marketplace, you want to know exactly what it costs. This guide breaks down how selling economics work on American Service Marketplace (ASM) — commission, optional advertising, and payouts — so you can price with confidence and keep more of every sale.
The cost model in one minute
ASM is built to be performance-based: you mostly pay when you actually sell, not a fortune upfront. There are three things to understand, and they are kept cleanly separate:
- Commission — a percentage of each completed sale.
- Advertising — optional, prepaid, and only spent when you run campaigns.
- Payouts — your earnings, paid to your bank on a schedule.
New to the platform? Start with How to Sell on ASM for the full onboarding path, then come back here for the numbers.
Commission: paying for results
A commission is the share of each completed sale that American Service Marketplace retains to run the platform — payments, security, traffic, discovery and support. Because it scales with your sales, it aligns ASM's incentives with yours: the marketplace earns when you earn. Your exact rate depends on your plan tier and any negotiated commission override on your account.
Advertising costs are separate and optional
You never have to advertise — but when you want to grow faster, ASM ads are the lever. Advertising runs on a dedicated, prepaid ad wallet that is completely separate from your sales payouts. You load credit, set budgets, and only spend when shoppers click (CPC) or view (CPM) your sponsored placements. The full mechanics are in Advertising on ASM, or jump straight to the Advertise on ASM page.
How payouts work
As orders complete, your earnings — the sale price minus commission and any refunds — accumulate in your seller balance. ASM pays that balance out to your connected payout method on a regular schedule. You can track everything from your seller dashboard, so there is a clear, itemised trail from sale to bank deposit.
How to keep more of every sale
The single best way to lower your effective cost is to raise conversion and order value:
- Stronger listings convert better — apply great product photography and product SEO.
- Reviews build trust — fulfil quickly and earn genuine, order-based reviews.
- Bundles and coupons lift average order value, spreading fixed costs across a bigger basket.
- The right plan can reduce commission and unlock tools — compare in ASM Seller Tiers Compared.
A simple worked example
Imagine you sell a $40 dog bed. After a commission of, say, 12%, ASM retains $4.80 and roughly $35.20 flows to your balance (before any payment-processing and refunds). If you also chose to advertise, a separate CPC campaign might cost you, for example, $0.50 per click from your prepaid ad wallet — money you control independently and can pause anytime. Sales economics and advertising never get tangled, which makes your true margin easy to track.