This week we made two changes to how Tradelynx charges tradespeople. The short version:
- Marketplace commission is now 0%. There was a 2% fee on completed jobs. There isn't any more. When a customer pays you, the money is yours.
- LabourLynx is now included in Tradelynx Pro. The separate £29 access pass is gone. If you'd already bought one, it runs until it expires — nothing you paid for is taken away.
That's the news. The rest of this post is the reasoning, because we think the reasoning matters more than the announcement.
Traders aren't a commodity
Most platforms in this industry treat tradespeople as inventory. Your profile is the product. Your enquiry is sold — often to three or four of you at once — and the platform gets paid whether or not you win the work. If you stop paying, you stop existing. That model has a name in any other industry: a toll booth.
We think it's the wrong way round. You are not the commodity here — your work is the entire point. A customer doesn't come to Tradelynx for Tradelynx. They come because somewhere in Portsmouth, Southampton or Bournemouth there's a plumber, an electrician, a roofer who does the job properly and can prove it. That's you. Without you there is no platform.
Our model only works if you bring the work
Here's the honest commercial logic, because you deserve to see it rather than take our word for the sentiment.
Tradelynx is building the operating system for property operations — the verified record of what was done to a property, by whom, and to what standard. Every job you complete through the platform writes an entry into that property's record — confirmed on completion and, where the customer pays through the platform, evidenced by the payment that settled it. That record is what homeowners, and eventually agents, insurers and lenders, will value — and it's where our long-term business lives, alongside optional tools like Pro for traders who want them.
Which means the maths is simple: the more work flows through the platform, the more valuable the records become — and none of that happens unless you bring the work. Charging you for the privilege of doing the thing our entire business depends on never sat right. It's like a stadium charging the team to play.
So we stopped. Leads are free, there's no subscription required, and there's no commission on your jobs.
What we do charge for
We're not pretending to be a charity, so here's the whole picture, plainly:
- The core is free. Verified profile, routed leads (one job, one trader — never auctioned), quoting, booking, invoicing with card payment, and every completed job building your portable reputation. No commission.
- Tradelynx Pro is £19/month, optional. The practice-growth layer: your customer book, maintenance reminders that bring repeat work back to you, templates, branded quotes — and now LabourLynx staffing included.
- Card processing. If your customer pays by card through the platform, there's a card-processing charge of 1.5% + 25p. That's not commission and it isn't a revenue line for us — it's what covers what Stripe charges us to move the money. We apply it as a flat rate rather than the exact per-transaction cost, which lands slightly above on a standard UK debit card and slightly below on an Amex or an overseas card. If you'd rather not pay it at all, invoice your customer directly and settle off-platform — the choice is yours, and it always has been.
Pricing is published, in the open, on the trader pricing page. If it ever changes, it changes there first — announced, in advance, with notice. Not in a sales call. Not buried in terms. Not quietly, one Tuesday, on your next invoice.
The bet we're making
Every platform says it's "on the side of trades". The test is where the money comes from. Ours doesn't come from you working — and that's not generosity, it's the design. We'd rather build the place where the best local trades do their best work, prove it, and get found because of it.
You bring the work. We keep the record straight. That's the deal.
— Mike