What you pay for, and who you pay
Money on this platform is always broken into separate lines, so you can see what is a platform fee, what is a provider fee, what is an authority charge, and what is tax. That separation is fixed. The figures behind it are still being decided.
Structure
Four separate lines, always
Money is never presented as a single blended figure. Each of these is its own line so you can see what is a professional fee, what the platform charges, what an authority charges, and what is tax.
Provider fee
What the qualified provider charges for the professional work, stated in the quote you accept.
Stated in the quote you accept, before any payment.
Platform fee
What ZKCAP charges for coordinating the engagement, always shown separately from the provider's fee.
Authority and government charges
Registry, regulator or authority charges. These are set by the authority, not by ZKCAP, and are always labelled as external.
Tax
Any applicable tax, shown as its own line and never folded into a fee.
Rules
How money is displayed everywhere on the platform
These rules are fixed and apply to every quote, order, invoice and receipt.
- Currency is always explicit. A bare currency symbol is never used where more than one currency is possible.
- An indicative amount is always visually distinct from a final amount.
- Provider earnings and what you pay are separate concepts and are never presented as the same figure.
- A payment is only shown as paid when the payment provider has confirmed it.
Open decisions
What has not been decided
Each of these changes what you would see on a listing or a quote. None of them is being guessed at in the meantime.
Prices on public listings
Whether the marketplace shows exact prices, a starting-from figure, or proposal-only indications determines whether a price filter can exist at all.
Cancellation and refunds
What can be cancelled or refunded depends on how far an engagement has progressed — particularly once an authority filing has been made and its fee is spent.
How long a quote stays valid
Every quote shows an expiry and the platform enforces it. The default validity period has not been set.
Sequence
When money enters the process
Nothing is charged during discovery, readiness or a request. The first commercial commitment is accepting a quote.
- 01
Discover and assess
Browsing, comparing and running a readiness review. No charge.
- 02
Request
You describe what you need scoped. No charge, no commitment.
- 03
Quote
A provider scopes the work and issues a quote with every line separated. You can accept or decline.
- 04
Order and payment
Accepting creates an order. A payment is only shown as paid once the payment provider confirms it.