Take Rate

TL;DR

The percentage of gross transaction value a marketplace or platform retains as revenue, usually charged to the supply side, the demand side, or both.

Take rate is the marketplace's revenue divided by the gross transaction volume it processes. Airbnb's blended take rate is around 14%; eBay sits in the 10–13% range; high-end marketplaces (Etsy with payments, StubHub) can hit 20%+. Marketplaces with strong differentiation can charge higher take rates; commodity matching markets get squeezed.

Take rate is a strategic lever: too low and the business can't support its operating costs; too high and supply or demand defects to alternatives. The right take rate depends on the value the platform creates beyond pure matching.

Formula

Take Rate = Net Revenue ÷ GMV

• Net Revenue — Marketplace revenue (commission + payment fees + ads)
• GMV — Gross Merchandise Value transacted on the platform

Worked example

Etsy facilitates $13.2B in GMV in a year and recognizes $2.7B of revenue (transaction fees, listing fees, ads) → take rate 20.5%. By contrast, Amazon's marketplace take rate is ~12% — Etsy charges more because its sellers see no equivalent traffic anywhere else.

Common pitfalls

• Raising take rate before defensibility is in place.
• Comparing take rate across marketplaces with very different value-add.
• Confusing take rate with gross margin.

When this shows up in a pitch deck

Marketplace decks state take rate explicitly on the Business Model slide and benchmark it against comparable platforms.

Related terms

• GMV — Gross Merchandise Value — the total dollar value of transactions processed through a marketplace or platform over a given period.
• Two-Sided Marketplace — A platform that connects two distinct user groups — typically buyers and sellers — and creates value by enabling transactions between them.
• Marketplace Liquidity — The probability that a buyer or seller arriving at a marketplace finds a successful match within their tolerance window.
• Gross Margin — The percentage of revenue remaining after subtracting cost of goods sold (COGS), reflecting the unit economics of delivering the product.
• Moat — A structural advantage that protects a business from competition over time — network effects, switching costs, scale, brand, or proprietary technology.

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