Prices and fees for advertisers

You do, within the board's rules. The screen owner sets the board's minimum price for a first spot, never less than $5, and may set a step that every total must be a multiple of. Above the minimum, the price of a place is whatever it takes to pass the business above it: places are ranked by total paid, so the more other businesses pay, the more a high place costs. The buying page shows the amount that would take #1 right now.

One line, shown before you pay, with two parts:

• Our fee: the larger of 20% of the amount and $0.50. Those are the platform's current settings; some boards have a lower fee, never a higher one.
• The card processing: the amount that pays Stripe's fee for processing your card at Stripe's standard US card rate (2.9% plus 30 cents), worked out so that the screen owner keeps the whole spot price.

They are added together and shown as one "Service fee" line. Nothing else is added by us.

Worked examples, at the platform's current fee settings, on a board with no sales tax:

The figure on the buying page is the one charged. It is worked out by our server for the exact amount you choose, so use the page, not this table, for any other amount.

In words: your card pays the spot price plus the service fee; Stripe's checkout page shows the full total first; the whole payment lands in the screen owner's own Stripe account, and Stripe pays it out to the screen owner's bank. The spot price stays with the screen owner, whole on a US card. The service fee splits in two: our fee goes to OnTheList.Live, and the card processing pays Stripe for processing your card.

OnTheList.Live never holds the money you pay. Stripe collects our fee from the payment for us, and the rest stays with the screen owner.

Yes, on the amount you add, not on your whole total. Raising your spot from $20 to $35 is a $15 payment, and the service fee is the fee on $15. Each payment is its own charge, with its own fee shown before you pay.

Only on a board whose owner collects sales tax through their own Stripe account. On such a board the buying page says the total is "plus any sales tax", and Stripe calculates the tax from the billing address you give on its checkout page, showing it and the new total before you confirm. The tax is the screen owner's to collect; OnTheList.Live adds no tax of its own. On every other board, nothing is added for tax.

No. Places are ranked on the amounts paid for spots alone. The service fee and any tax never count towards your total, never break a tie and are never shown on the board.

A first spot costs at least the board's minimum, and no board's minimum is below $5, so the smallest first payment is $6.49 ($5 plus a $1.49 service fee). A raise can be as small as $1 on a board without a bigger step, which is a $1.85 charge, the smallest card charge on the platform.

No. Every payment is a single charge you choose to make. A spot lasts for the rest of the board's cycle, nothing renews on its own, and your card is not charged again unless you pay again.

The screen owner is the seller, so your statement shows their Stripe business name, usually followed by a short form of the board's name, so you can tell what the charge was for. Your emailed receipt lists the spot price, the service fee, any tax and the total.

On a board where the owner approves each new website first, your card is held, not charged, until the owner approves. If the hold is released, nothing is charged. Your bank may still show the hold as pending for a few days before it disappears. See approval and card holds.

No. The service fee quoted when you start a checkout is the fee charged, whatever changes while you pay. The platform can lower the fee on a host's boards, and a lower fee applies to payments started after the change.

When the platform refunds a payment, you get back the spot price, our fee and any tax, but not the card processing: Stripe does not return its processing fee on a refund. For example, a $50 spot paid at $62.10 and refunded in full returns $60.00. See refunds for advertisers.

Our fee pays for the software that runs the board, the screen, the checkout and the records behind them. It scales with what you pay, with a $0.50 minimum, and the screen owner keeps the spot price whole. The Terms of Service and the bid rules state the fee in full.