Fees: 8% on sales
That’s the whole platform fee for artists and labels. No monthly fee, no listing fee, no upload fee — you only pay when something sells. Here’s exactly what it covers.
8% on sales
metal.club takes 8% of the item price of each sale — the price the fan paid for the record, format, bundle or merch (after any discount code). That percentage is the same for artists and labels, digital and physical.
VAT on the commission
The commission is 8% + VAT where applicable. VAT applies to the commission only where you are established in the UK — 20% on the 8%, deducted from your payout alongside it. Sellers established outside the UK pay the 8% only: the supply is outside the scope of UK VAT and the reverse charge applies.
It is never added to what the fan pays. The fan’s total is the item price, shipping and any support they chose to add — nothing else. Where VAT on the commission applies it comes out of your payout, and your statement shows the commission and its VAT as two separate lines so you can see which part is our fee and which part is tax.
If you are established outside the UK, your commission statement carries this wording: Reverse charge: VAT to be accounted for by the recipient. This supply of platform services is outside the scope of UK VAT (place of supply is where you are established).
What it never touches
- Shipping — including a fan’s tracked-delivery upgrade. 100% goes to you.
- Fan support — anything a fan adds on top to support you. 100% goes to you.
- Card processing — passed through at cost, never marked up (below).
A worked example
A fan buys a £10.00 record, pays £4.00 shipping and adds £2.00 of support:
- Platform fee: 8% of £10.00 = £0.80
- On the £4.00 shipping and £2.00 support: nothing
- Card processing: Stripe’s actual fee for that payment, at cost — it varies by card, and your statement shows the exact amount
Everything else is yours, paid out to your own Stripe account.
Card processing
Card payments are processed by Stripe. Their fee is passed through at cost — the platform doesn’t mark it up or hide it — and it’s shown as its own line on your statement, separate from the platform fee.
Refunds & disputes
When a sale is refunded the fan gets back everything they paid. The platform fee on that sale is returned to you in full — we don’t keep a fee on a sale that didn’t happen. Stripe doesn’t return its card processing fee on a refund, so that fee stays a cost of the refunded sale.
A chargeback is different from a refund: the buyer’s bank reverses the payment and holds the money while the card scheme decides. That sale is listed on your statement under “Charged back — not counted” rather than netted into your totals, because the money is neither kept by you nor returned by you.
The card scheme also charges a fee for raising the chargeback, and that fee is yours. It is shown openly as its own line on your statement under what you owe, never folded into the platform fee or the card processing fee. The amount is set by the scheme and varies by currency, so it is shown as the figure actually charged. metal.club submits the evidence on your behalf — chargeback cases are raised against the platform’s payment account, so there is nothing for you to file; reply to the chargeback email with proof of shipment and delivery and we file it.
Payouts
metal.club never holds your money: sales settle to your own connected Stripe account and pay out on its schedule. A small standing balance (about ten pounds, or the equivalent in your currency) is kept back as a buffer against refunds on recent sales, and released if you leave.
Promotional rates
Some accounts are offered a lower rate for a fixed period by invitation. If that applies to you, your dashboard shows the rate and when it ends; afterwards the account moves to 8% on sales going forward — past sales are never recalculated. VAT and tax reporting are covered in the business side of selling.