Paying a commission on every booking
A percentage feels fair because it only costs you when you earn. Run the number over a year against a flat fee and the two are rarely close.
Work out what the commission costs you annually at your current volume and compare it with a flat subscription. Then check who the customer belongs to, because that matters more than the percentage.
Do the arithmetic once#
Ten bookings a week at ¥8,000, with a 10% commission, is ¥8,000 a week — over ¥400,000 a year. The same volume on a flat ¥1,200 a month is ¥14,400. The gap widens every time you get busier, which is the part that is easy to miss when you are choosing.
A marketplace and a booking tool are not the same purchase#
A marketplace brings you customers you did not have. The commission buys demand, and for a new business that can be a genuinely good deal.
A booking tool takes bookings from customers who already found you. Paying a percentage for that is paying for demand you generated yourself.
The trap is paying marketplace rates on repeat customers. Somebody who found you once through a platform and comes back every six weeks should not be earning it a commission for the next four years.
Whose customer is it?#
Worth knowing before you build on something: whether you can see and contact your customers, and whether you may take them elsewhere. Platforms differ enormously, and the answer is usually in the terms rather than the marketing.
You can run both#
There is no rule against using a marketplace for discovery and your own booking page for everybody else. Put your own link in your confirmation emails, on your receipts, in your signature and on your shopfront, and the repeat business arrives commission-free.
How Business Box charges#
A flat ¥1,200 a month to take card payment, and no commission. Payments are created directly on your own Stripe account through Stripe Connect, so you are the merchant of record and the money never passes through us. Stripe charges its own processing fee, which is between you and Stripe. Connecting Stripe
And Business Box brings you no customers. That is the other half of the trade honestly stated: it is a tool, not a marketplace, and demand is still your job.
Common questions
Does Business Box take a commission on bookings?
No. Payments are created on your own Stripe account and the money goes directly to you. You pay a flat ¥1,200 a month and Stripe charges its own processing fee.
Is a commission-based platform ever worth it?
Yes, when it is genuinely bringing you customers you would not otherwise have. It stops being worth it on repeat customers who already know you, which is where most of the cost accumulates.
Can I use a marketplace and my own booking page together?
Yes, and it is usually the right answer — the marketplace for discovery, your own link for everybody who has already found you.
Set this up in about ten minutes
Business Box is free for as long as you like, with no card required — booking pages, Google and Outlook calendar sync, availability, Japanese public holidays and the website widget. Taking card payment for bookings is ¥1,200 a month, tax included, with no commission on what you sell.
Last reviewed 28 September 2026.