Why We Charge 10% (And Why That Matters)

The Fee No One Talks About Until It's Too Late

You finish a food delivery. The app says you earned $45. Then you check your actual payout: $31.50. Where did $13.50 go? The platform took 30%.

Or you complete a handyman gig listed at $200. Your cut? $140. The marketplace pocketed $60 for connecting you with a customer who was already searching for your exact service.

This is the reality on most platforms. TaskRabbit takes 15-30%. DoorDash takes 25-30%. Uber Eats? Up to 30%. Airbnb clips 14-16% from hosts alone.

At Lumo, we charge 10%. Flat. On everything.

Let's talk about why—and what that actually means for you.

The Math That Actually Matters

Competitor at 25%: Provider gets $75, customer pays $100
Lumo at 10%: Provider gets $90, customer pays $100

That's an extra $15 in the provider's pocket. Do that across 10 jobs a week, and you're looking at $150 more per week, $7,800 more per year.

For customers, lower platform fees create room for providers to compete on price. When someone isn't losing 25% off the top, they can charge $85 instead of $100 and still make more money than they would on the expensive platform.

Everybody wins. Except maybe shareholders expecting 40% profit margins.

Why Other Platforms Charge More

Here's the honest part: those high fees pay for something.

Primetime TV commercials and Super Bowl ads
Venture capital repayment and investor returns
Sprawling corporate headquarters in San Francisco and New York
Sophisticated AI and recommendation algorithms
Massive customer support teams
Insurance and complex liability programs

Some of this stuff matters. Some of it is just the cost of being a billion-dollar company that answers to Wall Street.

What We Do Differently

We're not trying to be a unicorn. We're trying to be useful.

No massive marketing budget: We grow through word-of-mouth and providers who tell their customers about us
Simpler infrastructure: We've built a clean, fast platform without the bloat
Smaller team: We're focused and efficient, not trying to hire 10,000 people
Local focus: We serve specific communities well instead of trying to dominate 500 cities overnight

The Trade-Offs (Because There Are Some)

Let's be straight: choosing Lumo means accepting some differences.

You won't see us advertised during the big game. Our app might not have every bell and whistle you'll find on platforms with 500-person engineering teams. Our customer support is responsive, but it's not 24/7 with hundreds of agents standing by.

For providers, we require a little more self-sufficiency. We give you the platform and the customers, but you drive your own reputation and business growth.

For customers, you might be discovering services from people in your actual community instead of getting fed algorithmically-optimized options designed to maximize engagement metrics.

We think these are reasonable trade-offs for keeping an extra 15-20% of your money.

Who This Works For

Value fairness over flash: You'd rather keep more of what you earn than use an app with animated confetti
Think long-term: An extra 15% per transaction compounds into serious money
Prefer local: You want to support and work with people in your community
Like straightforward: No surge pricing algorithms, no hidden fees, no gotchas

The Bottom Line

We charge 10% because we don't need to charge more.

We're not funding private jets or paying back billions in venture capital. We're running a sustainable marketplace that connects people who need services with people who provide them.

The big platforms aren't evil—they've just made different choices about growth, scale, and profitability. Those choices require 25-30% commissions.

We've made different choices. Choices that let providers keep $90 instead of $70. Choices that let customers pay less while providers earn more.

It's not complicated. It's just math. And the math says more money in your pocket is better than more money in ours.

Ready to Keep More of What You Earn?

Whether you're delivering dinner, fixing sinks, or renting out your spare room, Lumo's 10% commission means your hard work stays your money. Check out how much more you could be earning—or saving—on our platform.