There is a particular kind of business expense that never appears on a profit and loss statement in any obvious form. It does not arrive as an invoice. It is not a direct debit that triggers a second glance. It is deducted silently, automatically, from every transaction a business processes — and for many British SMEs, it represents one of the largest ongoing costs they have never properly examined.
The platform commission. The marketplace fee. The booking engine percentage. Whatever form it takes, the mechanism is consistent: a third party sits between a British business and its customers, facilitates the transaction, and retains a slice of every pound that changes hands. The arrangement feels convenient, particularly in the early stages of a business. Over time, it can become one of the most expensive decisions a company never consciously made.
Understanding What Is Actually Being Charged
The headline commission rate is rarely the whole story. Consider the landscape that British businesses typically navigate.
E-commerce marketplaces charge referral fees that vary by product category, typically ranging from 7 to 15 per cent of the sale price, plus fixed closing fees on certain transaction types. Hospitality and accommodation businesses using major online travel agencies face commission rates that frequently sit between 15 and 25 per cent of the booking value. Independent retailers using certain point-of-sale or payment aggregator services pay transaction fees that, whilst individually modest, accumulate significantly at volume.
Beyond the headline rate, there are ancillary costs that are rarely discussed at the point of sign-up. Promoted listing fees, where businesses pay to appear prominently within a platform's own search results, are effectively a second commission — a charge for visibility within a space the business is already paying to occupy. Subscription tiers that unlock lower transaction rates or additional features add fixed monthly costs. Currency conversion fees apply when trading internationally. Dispute resolution processes on some platforms can result in automatic refunds that leave the seller bearing both the loss and the original fee.
When these elements are aggregated across a full trading year, the total cost of platform dependency frequently exceeds what businesses imagine. A hospitality operator turning over £400,000 annually through a booking platform at 20 per cent commission is surrendering £80,000 before a single operating cost is considered. A gift retailer generating £150,000 through a marketplace at 12 per cent plus fees may be paying the equivalent of a part-time salary in platform charges alone.
The Convenience Bargain and Its Hidden Terms
It would be reductive to dismiss platform dependency as simply poor financial management. The platforms that charge these fees typically deliver genuine value, particularly in the early stages of a business. They provide access to established audiences, handle payment processing and fraud management, supply customer service infrastructure, and offer a degree of credibility that an unknown independent website cannot immediately replicate.
For a new business with limited marketing budget and no existing customer base, the audience access that a major marketplace provides can be transformative. The commission paid is, in that context, a legitimate customer acquisition cost.
The problem arises when the arrangement calcifies. When a business that has grown, developed its own reputation, and cultivated a returning customer base continues paying the same commission rate as it did on day one, the value exchange has fundamentally changed. The platform is no longer introducing new customers — it is charging a recurring fee for transactions that would likely have occurred through other channels anyway. At that point, the commission has become a structural drag on profitability rather than a marketing investment with a measurable return.
When Independent Infrastructure Makes Commercial Sense
The case for investing in direct digital infrastructure — an owned website, integrated booking system, or independent e-commerce platform — strengthens as a business matures and its customer relationships deepen.
The mathematics are worth modelling explicitly. A business that processes £200,000 of annual revenue through a platform charging 18 per cent commission pays £36,000 per year in fees. A professionally designed and hosted independent website with integrated booking or e-commerce functionality, maintained through a managed services arrangement, might cost £3,000 to £8,000 annually depending on complexity. Even accounting for the marketing investment required to drive traffic to an independent site, the arithmetic frequently favours ownership within the first or second year.
The secondary benefits compound over time. Ownership of customer data — email addresses, purchase histories, booking preferences — enables direct marketing that platforms typically prohibit or restrict. Pricing control is restored; platforms frequently require price parity or impose restrictions on discounting. The customer relationship is unmediated, which creates opportunities for loyalty programmes, upselling, and personalised service that platform interfaces do not permit.
British hospitality businesses that have invested in direct booking infrastructure report meaningful shifts in their channel mix. Some have reduced third-party bookings from the majority of their trade to a minority, with the balance shifting to direct channels that carry no commission and generate richer customer data.
A Balanced Transition, Not an Abrupt Exit
The argument here is not that platforms should be abandoned wholesale. For many British businesses, they remain a valuable part of a diversified distribution strategy, providing access to audiences that direct channels cannot efficiently reach. The strategic error is treating them as the only channel, or allowing them to remain the dominant channel long after the business has the standing to operate independently.
A sensible approach involves building direct infrastructure in parallel, gradually incentivising customers to transact through owned channels — through exclusive rates, loyalty benefits, or simply the superior experience that a purpose-built interface can provide — whilst maintaining a platform presence for customer acquisition.
The invisible landlord collecting commission on every sale is not inherently an adversary. But every British business should know exactly what they are paying, what they are receiving in return, and at what point the ledger no longer balances in their favour. That calculation starts with looking honestly at the numbers — and most businesses that do so are surprised by what they find.
