Transaction Fees

Transaction fees are what make Skool's cheaper Hobby plan more expensive at higher paid volume. You need the detailed payment schedule, not just the headline percentages on the pricing page, to compare the plans fairly.

The figures here are from Skool's July 2026 payment FAQ. Skool can change a rate or boundary at any time, so look at the current FAQ before you base a decision on them.

Fee schedule

As of September 2026, Hobby charged 10% plus 30c on every transaction, while Pro charged 2.9% plus 30c for charges up to $899 and 3.9% plus 30c for charges above $900.

Skool's wording left the exact treatment of a charge of exactly $900 unclear. Check the payment screen or the FAQ before pricing an offer at that boundary.

The FAQ stated that subscription pricing was in USD and that the maximum charge was $100,000 per charge. That maximum is a charge limit, not a fee cap or monthly revenue ceiling.

Transaction fees were non-refundable. A member refund could therefore return the sale while leaving some payment cost with the community owner.

How the fees affect your plan choice

Hobby combines a low monthly subscription with a higher percentage fee.
Pro combines a higher monthly subscription with a lower percentage on standard charges.
The fixed 30c fee applies to each payment, so more payments mean more fixed fees.
When both plan scenarios use the same payment count, the 30c term cancels from the simple comparison.
The standard break-even is about $1,267.61 in monthly gross paid revenue.
The all-large-charge break-even is about $1,475.41 under the same prices and fees.
Mixed standard and high-ticket charges need a row-by-row calculation.
Hobby Versus Pro gives you the full worksheet in plain steps.

A useful fee calculation

For each payment, multiply the charge by the plan percentage and add the fixed fee. Then add the monthly plan price and repeat for every kind of payment you expect.

If all payments are the same size, you can multiply the fee for one payment by the number of payments. If the community mixes subscriptions and one-time purchases, calculate each group separately.

Keep community referral commissions outside the Skool transaction-fee line. They still reduce your margin, but they belong to the separate Affiliate Program calculation.

Best practice

Use the payment FAQ for detailed fee math.
Use the pricing page only for the simple plan comparison.
Model fees per payment, not only as a monthly percentage.
Model high-ticket offers separately.
Include transaction costs when setting refund and guarantee terms.
Keep affiliate commissions as their own cost line.
Look at the current fee schedule whenever you plan a launch or update a public calculator.
Use third-party break-even articles only as a reasonableness check.

Pitfalls

Do not use only the headline percentage from the pricing page.
Do not forget the fixed fee on every payment.
Do not treat the fixed fee as a monthly charge.
Do not ignore the higher Pro rate for large payments.
Do not guess how an exact boundary charge is treated.
Do not model refunds as cost-free.
Do not count affiliate commissions as Skool transaction fees.
Do not describe the charge limit as a payout limit.
Do not assume a third-party article is current or official.
Do not publish a break-even without its payment-count and charge-size assumptions.