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How Fees Work

Zenland charges a simple 1% protocol fee on every escrow created.

1% Fee

One percent of the escrow amount

$0.50 Minimum

Never pay less than 50 cents

$50 Maximum

Never pay more than $50

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Fee Calculation Examples

Escrow Amount1% Would BeMin/Max AppliedYou Pay
$25$0.25Below minimum$0.50
$100$1.00Within range$1.00
$500$5.00Within range$5.00
$2,500$25.00Within range$25.00
$10,000$100.00Above maximum$50.00
$1,000,000$10,000.00Above maximum$50.00
The $50 cap makes Zenland extremely cost-effective for high-value transactions!

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Who Pays the Fee?

The buyer pays the protocol fee when creating the escrow. 
Escrow Amount: $1,000
Protocol Fee: $10 (1%)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Total Paid by Buyer: $1,010

Seller Receives (on release): $1,000
The fee is charged on top of the escrow amount. Sellers always receive the full agreed amount (minus any agent fees in disputes).

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When is the Fee Charged?

The fee is charged once, at escrow creation:
  • ✅ Charged when escrow is created and funded
  • ❌ NOT charged on release, refund, or split
  • ❌ NOT charged on dispute resolution
This is intentionally different from platforms that charge on both ends. You know your total cost upfront.

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Locked Escrows

Locked escrows (no agent) pay the same fee as standard escrows. Why? Even without an agent, you’re using:
  • Zenland’s audited smart contracts
  • Deterministic addresses for PDF verification
  • Event indexing and UI infrastructure
  • Gas-optimized minimal proxies

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Fee Breakdown by Token

Fees are calculated per-token to handle different decimal places:
TokenFee %Min FeeMax Fee
USDC1% (100 bps)500,000 (6 decimals) = $0.5050,000,000 = $50
USDT1% (100 bps)500,000 (6 decimals) = $0.5050,000,000 = $50
Additional tokens may be added through DAO governance with their own fee configurations.

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Where Do Fees Go?

All protocol fees are sent directly to the DAO Treasury: 
Buyer creates escrow
↓
Fee transferred to Treasury (in same transaction)
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DAO governs treasury spending
The treasury funds:
  • Protocol development
  • Security audits
  • Community initiatives
  • Agent incentives

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Fee Changes

Fees are controlled by the DAO:
  • Current fees are locked in when you create an escrow
  • Future changes only affect new escrows
  • Your escrow is never affected by fee updates after creation

DAO Governance

Learn how fees are governed →