How Faire charges brands
Faire charges a 15% commission on orders from retailers who discovered you on the marketplace, both first orders and reorders. On top of that there is a one-time charge on each new retailer’s first order. For brands outside North America that charge is a 10% referral fee, so the first order costs 25%. North American brands should check their own fee breakdown for the current amount.
Orders from retailers who come through your personalized Faire Direct link carry 0% commission. That is a genuinely good deal, and the reason many brands invite their existing accounts to Faire rather than leaving.
Faire also states that a payment processing fee applies to all orders, and that it depends on how quickly you choose to be paid out. Read the current rates on Faire’s fee page; they are not included in the table above.
Where Faire is better
Discovery. Retailers browse Faire looking for new brands. A small brand with no sales team can get its first 20 stockists there, and that is hard to replicate with outreach alone.
Net terms financed by Faire. Eligible retailers can pay later while you are paid by Faire, and Faire carries the risk if a retailer does not pay. Offering net 60 on your own means waiting 60 days for cash and absorbing any defaults.
Trust and checkout. Retailers already have an account, saved payment details and a familiar returns process. There is nothing new for them to learn.
- You have no stockists yet and need first orders
- Your retailers expect long payment terms and you cannot float them
- You want payment collection handled for you
Where LINK is better
Flat cost. LINK costs from $9/mo, or $29/mo on Complete, whatever you sell. A $5,000 month and a $50,000 month cost the same. That predictability matters most in your busy season, which is exactly when commission grows fastest.
You own the buyer. Contacts, negotiated prices and reorder history live in your account. If a channel changes its fees or shuts down, your customer list does not go with it.
Your own terms. Each account can have its own price list. You set an order minimum, per-product minimums and case multiples, and you agree payment and shipping directly with the buyer: card, bank transfer, net 30 for the accounts you trust, whatever you already do.
- Accounts you found yourself at trade shows, on Instagram or by referral
- Distributors or VIP stores that need different prices from everyone else
- Reps who take orders in the field with their own login
What LINK does not do
To be direct about it: LINK is not a marketplace and will not send you new retailers. It does not offer net terms financing and it does not process payments; LINK never touches the money. If your retailers only buy because Faire gives them 60 days to pay, moving them to your own catalog means you need an answer for terms first.
The hybrid most brands land on
Keep Faire for discovery. Let new retailers find you there and place a first order, and accept the commission as your cost of acquiring that account.
Then look at who reorders. For accounts that buy every season, especially ones you met yourself, send them your own catalog link. They see their own prices, your minimums are applied, and the order arrives without a commission line. Some of those accounts will prefer to stay on Faire for the terms, and that is fine; Faire Direct is the cheaper path for them.
The point is not to win a channel war. It is to stop paying marketplace commission on customers the marketplace did not bring you.
Running the numbers for your own brand
Take last year’s Faire payouts and split them into two groups: retailers Faire introduced and retailers you already knew. Multiply the second group’s order total by your effective commission rate. That is roughly what an own-channel catalog could save you each year, before the time you save on order entry.
Then be honest about the first group. If most of your growth comes from retailers you would never have met otherwise, Faire is earning its fee.
Third-party prices and policies checked in October 2026. They change; confirm on each vendor’s site before deciding.