Fees

Overview

Wallgent charges a fee on every payment processed through the platform. Fees are collected automatically as part of the transaction and recorded in the double-entry ledger.

Fee Structure

Parameter	Value
Fee rate	0.5% per transaction
Minimum fee	$0.25
Currency	USD

The fee for a transaction is calculated as:

fee = max(amount * 0.005, $0.25)

If 0.5% of the payment amount is less than $0.25, the minimum fee of $0.25 applies.

Examples

Payment Amount	Calculated Fee (0.5%)	Minimum	Actual Fee
$10.00	$0.05	$0.25	$0.25 (minimum applies)
$50.00	$0.25	$0.25	$0.25 (minimum applies)
$100.00	$0.50	$0.25	$0.50
$500.00	$2.50	$0.25	$2.50
$1,000.00	$5.00	$0.25	$5.00

The breakeven point is $50.00 -- payments at or below this amount always incur the $0.25 minimum fee.

Ledger Entries

Every payment produces a 3-entry transaction in the double-entry ledger to record the movement of funds and the fee:

Debit the sender's wallet account (LIABILITY) for amount + fee
Credit the recipient's wallet account (LIABILITY) for amount
Credit the Fees system account (REVENUE) for fee

Example: $100 Payment

Fee = max(100 * 0.005, 0.25) = $0.50

Entries:
  DEBIT   sender_wallet   $100.50   (amount + fee)
  CREDIT  recipient_wallet $100.00   (amount)
  CREDIT  fees_account      $0.50   (fee)

Sum of debits:  $100.50
Sum of credits: $100.00 + $0.50 = $100.50   (balanced)

Example: $20 Payment (minimum fee)

Fee = max(20 * 0.005, 0.25) = max(0.10, 0.25) = $0.25

Entries:
  DEBIT   sender_wallet    $20.25   (amount + fee)
  CREDIT  recipient_wallet  $20.00   (amount)
  CREDIT  fees_account       $0.25   (fee)

Sum of debits:  $20.25
Sum of credits: $20.00 + $0.25 = $20.25   (balanced)

The sender always pays the fee on top of the payment amount. If the sender wants to transfer $100 to a recipient, the sender's wallet is debited $100.50 (assuming a $0.50 fee) and the recipient receives exactly $100.

This means the sender must have a balance of at least amount + fee to complete the payment. If the balance is insufficient, the transaction fails with error code INSUFFICIENT_FUNDS.

Fee Collection

Fees are credited to the Fees system account (type: REVENUE). This account is created during database seeding and is tracked in the ledger like any other account. Fee revenue can be queried via the ledger entries on the Fees account.