Most of what you fund comes back to you
A Cold Start budget looks big because it includes the money you are about to get back. Shoppers buy your product at full price on your own storefront, so that spend returns as real sales. What Sparq actually charges is the per-unit fee and the service fee.
What Sparq charges
| Module | Per unit | Service fee |
|---|---|---|
| Cold StartReimbursed real purchases | $15 per purchase | 5% |
| UGC LibraryLicensed creator video | $15 per approved piece | 5% |
| Paid PartnershipsContracted creator work | No per-unit fee | 10% |
| Live ShoppingBooked live selling sessions | No per-unit fee | 10% |
No subscription and no retainer. An account with nothing running costs nothing. On Paid Partnerships and Live Shopping you set the creator's rate, and the service fee is the only thing Sparq takes.
A worked example: 50 units of a $25 product
| Reimbursement to shoppers | $1,250 | Comes back as 50 real sales |
| Sales-tax buffer, up to 12% | $150 | Only spent if tax is actually charged |
| Sparq fee, 50 × $15 | $750 | Sparq revenue |
| Service fee, 5% | $108 | Sparq revenue |
| Funded up front | $2,258 | What sits in your wallet |
| Your true net cost | about $858 | Fees only, before your own cost of goods |
You fund $2,258. About $1,250 of it returns to you as 50 sales on your listing. The cost of buying 50 customers and 50 units of sales history is roughly $858, before your own cost of goods and your marketplace's cut.
What you are not charged for
- A shopper who never completes. Reimbursement is released only when delivery is confirmed with a photo. If that never arrives within 21 days, the money returns to your wallet.
- Unspent budget. Whatever a campaign does not use comes back when it finishes. Wallet funds never expire.
- Reviews. We do not sell them and you cannot buy them here. Reviews are optional, unpaid, and never a condition of a shopper being reimbursed. What you are paying for is verified purchases.
- Content you turn down. On UGC Library you pay per approved piece, so work you reject costs you nothing.
Rates on this page are read from the live platform configuration, the same source the campaign builder charges from.