How to compare marketplace fees with direct-ordering costs

Marketplace and direct-ordering costs use different structures. A useful comparison starts with the provider, plan, fulfillment method, territory, order value, and every applicable charge—not a single global percentage.

Start with current provider terms

Published US marketplace plans show that merchant fees vary by provider, plan, fulfillment method, and local market. DoorDash publishes 15%–30% delivery commission for its US Marketplace plans, Uber Eats publishes 20%–30% Marketplace Fees for its standard US tiers plus a 15% self-delivery option, and Grubhub publishes 5%–20% marketing commission with delivery fees starting at 10%. At $10,000 in applicable order value, 15%–30% equals $1,500–$3,000 before other applicable charges.

These published figures are examples from United States pages at the time of writing. Local programs, taxes, promotions, payment processing, delivery, service charges, and negotiated contracts can change the result. The current provider agreement controls.

Use an explicit marketplace-fee calculation

1. Applicable order value × marketplace percentage = percentage-based marketplace fee.
2. Add fixed, delivery, payment-processing, promotional, placement, refund, and other applicable charges separately.
3. Calculate each provider and plan independently; do not apply one provider's range to another territory.
4. Run more than one scenario for order volume, average ticket, fulfillment mix, and promotions.

Calculate the full cost of a direct channel

• Platform plan and any activation or implementation work.
• Payment processing and applicable transaction charges.
• POS, menu, delivery, marketing, analytics, and support integrations.
• Driver, dispatch, customer support, maintenance, app-store, hosting, and compliance responsibilities not included in the selected service.
• Acquisition and retention costs required to move repeat customers to the direct channel.

Ordering.co plans and applicable charges vary by operating model, scope, and selected services. Review current inclusions, exclusions, and terms on the pricing page.

Compare control and responsibility as well as price

A direct channel may give an operator more control over branding and first-party customer relationships, subject to the contract, consent, privacy law, and configuration. It also assigns operating responsibilities that a marketplace may bundle. Record who owns fulfillment, refunds, customer support, data access, uptime response, and integration failures before comparing totals.

Decision record

• Date and territory for every source.
• Provider, plan, fulfillment method, and contract assumptions.
• Monthly order count, applicable order value, average ticket, and scenario range.
• Included and excluded costs for both marketplace and direct channels.
• Operational owner and failure path for each channel.

The durable conclusion is not that one channel always costs less. It is that percentage-based marketplace charges and the full cost of a direct channel must be calculated from current, scoped inputs before a business decides how to use each channel.

Compare the exact marketplace product and territory

Provider sources reviewed November 10, 2026. In the US, Grubhub's Marketplace page includes placement on Grubhub and Seamless. To evaluate Seamless service fees, separate the consumer's checkout delivery/service charges from the restaurant's marketing commission, delivery arrangement and optional promotion costs. Request the merchant agreement for the account and location; a consumer receipt does not reveal the merchant's total fee.

Direct Ordering powered by DoorDash, historically associated with Storefront, receives orders from a restaurant's own website, Google page or social channels. DoorDash Marketplace is the discovery marketplace where customers browse participating businesses. Compare the current Direct Ordering package, payment processing, fulfillment and acquisition responsibility separately from Marketplace commission. Neither a direct-ordering label nor a commission-free headline means the entire order is free to operate.

For talabat, start with the UAE partner page for that market and obtain the account's written commission and service terms. Do not import a US DoorDash, Uber Eats or Grubhub percentage into a talabat quote. Country, service, merchant contract and funded promotions can change the result; there is no universal talabat rate to apply to every restaurant.

Separate tips, customer fees and merchant deductions

For a grocery order, record item sales, discounts and their funder, tax, customer delivery fee, service fee, tip, merchant commission and courier charge separately. Identify which party collects each amount and which is entitled to it under the specific agreement. A customer delivery fee may not be the driver's pay, a service fee may not be the merchant commission, and a tip is not automatically restaurant revenue. Review the provider's current tip and settlement rules for the actual fulfillment model rather than applying one split across platforms.

Reconcile the customer charge to the merchant statement, courier record and bank settlement with refund and adjustment references. Preserve tips and fees through partial refunds; ask which charges are returned and who funds the refund. Keep the existing marketplace and direct-channel cost formulas, using each product's own contract and statement fields. Follow an order through reconciliation before using net deposits to compare margins.