Why Pact
The secure, low-fee marketplace.
The traditional freelancing and peer-to-peer marketplace models are broken: giant cuts, mandatory holding periods, unpredictable platform fees. Pact combines protected payment routing powered directly by Trustap with flat, transparent fees, security and payout speed first.
Why choose Pact?
Funds skip our business accounts entirely and are held securely by Trustap the moment an agreement is locked.
The only wait Pact adds is a 24-hour dispute window after completion is confirmed. After that your payout is on its way. Standard bank transfer timing applies, with no review periods or clearing blocks stacked on top.
No hidden administrative surcharges or surprise statement markups. Just a clean, split framework where everyone wins.
Pricing
Simple, fair fees. Free to post and browse. You only pay when a deal completes. Each side pays the same 5.5% + $0.40: the buyer's goes to Pact, and the seller's covers a 0.5% Pact fee plus Trustap's payment-processing fee. Drag the slider or type a price to see the full cost and payout at any amount.
Excludes sales tax, which is calculated at checkout based on your location. The seller's fee is collected through Trustap's standard processing rates and may vary slightly. Free pacts (agreed price of $0) skip payment entirely.
The real cost breakdown: $100 project
When you look at a standard $100 job across major platforms, the financial differences add up. Competitor figures use each platform's standard published rates, checked against its own pages on September 24, 2026 (see Sources below the comparison). Where a platform publishes a range, the table shows the range. Some platforms offer reduced rates to certain users. Fees are subject to change.
| Platform | Buyer pays | Seller takes home | Total fees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pact | $105.90 | $94.10 | $11.80 |
| Freelancer | $103.00 | $90.00 | $13.00 |
| Upwork (Basic plan) | $105.99-$119.99 | $85-$100 | $5.99-$34.99 |
| Fiverr | $109.00 | $80.00 | $29.00 |
| Mercari | $103.60 | $90.00 | $13.60 |
| eBay | $100.00 | $86.00 | $14.00 |
| Craigslist | $100 | $100 | Free, except $3-$75 to post in certain categories. No protection |
| Facebook Marketplace | $100 | $100 | $0 for local sales, no protection |
Pact vs. the competition
1. Pact vs. Craigslist & Facebook Marketplace
The appeal is obvious: little or nothing in fees. On Facebook, a local sale is arranged between the buyer and seller rather than through Facebook's checkout, and Facebook charges no fee for it. Craigslist is free, except for $3-$75 to post in certain categories. But on a local deal, neither one is part of the payment. Craigslist's own advice is to deal locally, face-to-face and not to pay before meeting in person. Facebook's Purchase Protection doesn't cover local pickups. So if a job is abandoned halfway through, or payment is withheld after the work is done, there is no platform to take it to.
Pact charges a small fee in exchange for a structured agreement: payment is secured before work begins, both parties are registered account holders, and a formal dispute process exists if something goes wrong. The fee is the cost of that structure, and for most jobs, it is worth it.
2. Pact vs. Upwork
Upwork's fees depend on the contract and the plan. Clients on the free Basic plan pay a 5% marketplace fee plus a $0.99-$14.99 contract initiation fee on every new contract (10% on the Business Plus plan). Freelancers pay a variable 0-15% service fee on all earnings. After the work is submitted, payment goes through a 14-day client review period, followed by a separate 5-day security hold, up to 19 days before earnings can be withdrawn.
On Pact, your funds are held securely by Trustap. A Pact seller keeps $94.10 of every $100, one fixed rate on every job, and funds release to the seller after a 24-hour dispute window.
3. Pact vs. Fiverr
Fiverr takes a flat 20% of every order from the seller. Buyers pay a 5.5% service fee plus $3.50 on orders under $200. Sellers then wait through a clearance period of up to 14 days before earnings can be withdrawn.
Sellers using Pact take home $14.10 more per $100 job compared to Fiverr, and buyers pay $3.10 less.
4. Pact vs. Freelancer
Freelancer is a bidding-based marketplace where buyers post projects and freelancers compete for them. Buyers pay a 3% project fee, and freelancers pay a flat 10% service fee on every payment received. A $100 job costs the buyer $103 and nets the freelancer just $90.
Pact sellers take home $4.10 more per $100 job compared to Freelancer.
5. Pact vs. Mercari
Mercari charges buyers a 3.6% buyer protection fee and sellers a 10% seller fee on every transaction. Once an item is delivered, the buyer has 3 days to rate the transaction before the seller is paid.
Pact sellers take home $4.10 more per $100 job compared to Mercari, and Pact's review window is 24 hours. Pact is purpose-built for service agreements with binding payment protection from the moment the deal is locked.
6. Pact vs. eBay
eBay charges a 13.6% final value fee plus a $0.40 per-order fee in most categories. On a $100 sale the buyer pays nothing extra but the seller takes home only $86.00.
Pact distributes fees across both sides of the agreement rather than front-loading everything onto the seller. A Pact seller takes home $8.10 more per $100 job compared to eBay.
7. Pact vs. OfferUp
Cash works until it doesn't. OfferUp is a good place to sell a lamp for cash. Pact is built for the deals where you need to know you won't get burned.
| Pact | OfferUp | |
|---|---|---|
| Paying | The buyer pays by credit or debit card in the app, before the handover or the work starts. | Cash at the meetup. OfferUp's advice: "bring cash." |
| Where the money waits | Held by Trustap until the deal is done, then released to the seller after a 24-hour window. | In the seller's hand as soon as it's paid. |
| If something goes wrong | A formal dispute process, and a full refund to the buyer if the deal is cancelled. | No refund through OfferUp. In OfferUp's words: "Refunds are not accepted for in-person transactions." |
| Services | Post a job, agree a price, and pay through Pact. The provider is paid once the job is done. | Payment is arranged directly with the provider. OfferUp's advice: get a written contract to protect yourself. |
| Events | Host your own: RSVPs, ticket sales and check-in at the door. | Event pros such as DJs, photographers and planners can advertise, but there are no RSVPs or ticket sales for your own event. A ticket you own can be listed like any other item, unless its resale is restricted. |
| Cost | 5.5% + $0.40 per side, the price of the protection. | Free for items, with a fee to post services or jobs. |
For a quick cash swap with someone down the street, OfferUp is fine. For anything you would be upset to lose, like paying a deposit, hiring someone, or buying something expensive before you have seen it work, use Pact.
More: Pact vs. OfferUp
Where your money waits
When you finish a job on Upwork or Fiverr, the money doesn't reach you right away. It waits in a holding period of up to 19 days on Upwork or 14 days on Fiverr.
Pact never holds your money. Funds for a Pact sit with Trustap's independent secure holding, not in Pact's bank account.
Payment is confirmed before work starts. Upwork's wait is two steps: a 14-day client review window, then a separate 5-day security hold that Upwork says protects against fraud and chargebacks. Pact's protected-payment model ensures funds are confirmed and locked before any work begins, so there is nothing left to verify afterward.
Once it's done, it's yours. Pact adds one wait: a 24-hour window to raise a dispute. After that, the money belongs to the seller.
Sources. Each company's figures were checked against its own pages on September 24, 2026. Fees change, so follow the links for current rates.
- Upwork: client fees, freelancer fee, payment holds
- Fiverr: buyer service fee, seller earnings and clearing period
- Freelancer: fees and charges
- Mercari: fees, getting paid
- eBay: selling fees (most categories, orders over $10)
- OfferUp: how to pay, fees, working with service providers, service categories, prohibited items
- Craigslist: posting fees (US), avoiding scams
- Facebook Marketplace: local transactions vs. checkout, Purchase Protection. Facebook describes local sales as arranged directly between buyer and seller, and charges no fee for them.
- Pact: the fee calculator at the top of this page.
Each side of a Pact pays a highly optimized fee of just 5.5% + $0.40: the buyer covers Pact's platform fee, and the seller covers a small platform fee plus the Trustap payment-processing fee.
This allows us to maintain a secure, low-overhead pipeline that keeps costs down for both sides of every agreement.
Keep more of what you earn. Lock in your next agreement with a Pact.