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Kajabi·Payments and Commerce Product

Kajabi Payments Fee Collection

A native fee assessment engine built into the Kajabi Payments flow, automatically calculating and collecting platform fees at the point of transaction based on the merchant's plan tier.

PaymentsPlatform EconomicsB2B SaaSMonetization

The Problem

Kajabi needed a way to assess fees for payments being collected on its platform. As Kajabi Payments scaled, the company required a system that could calculate, collect, and reconcile platform fees across different merchant plan tiers, without disrupting the checkout experience or the existing payment flow.

Platform Ledger

Before fee engine
TransactionGrossPlatform fee
Total volume processed$0.00
Platform revenue
$0.00

The Solution

A fee assessment engine built directly into the payment flow, calculating the platform fee at the point of transaction based on the merchant's plan tier, deducting it from the gross payment, and settling the net amount to the merchant. Fee rates vary by plan, giving merchants a clear economic lever as their business grows.

Payment type:

Order summary

Online Business Course

Instant digital access

$197.00
Subtotal$197.00
Sales tax (8%)$15.76
Total$212.76

Secured by Kajabi Payments

Platform Ledger

KJB-TXN-82047

June 5, 2026

Awaiting payment…
Settlement2 business days
StatusAwaiting

Under the Hood

product_price$197.00
card_typeVisa / Mastercard
fee_rate2.9%
fee_flat$0.30
tax_service_fee$0.15
gross_amount$197.00
net_to_merchant$190.84
settlement_days2

My Role

I led this initiative end-to-end, from defining the fee model, to working with Finance and Engineering on the calculation and reconciliation logic, coordinating with Legal and CX on merchant communication, and owning the go-to-market strategy including how fee changes were communicated across the merchant base.

Impact

The fee collection system became a core monetization pillar of the Kajabi Payments product.

1.4M

Fee transactions processed per month

99.998%

Rate of accuracy across all fee calculations

Learnings

01

Fee transparency is everything. How you frame a fee change to merchants matters as much as the fee itself.

02

Fee collection is a product problem, not just a finance problem. Investing in it early saves enormous pain at scale.

03

Small problems in fee collection snowball fast. The ability to react quickly and address issues early is just as important as building it right the first time.