Article · Long read, roughly 15 to 20 minutes

How to prevent marketplace leakage (disintermediation)

Juho Makkonen · Sharetribe Academy Free Beginner

Set your take rate too high and you do not lose users to a competitor, you lose the transaction itself: buyer and seller meet once, trust each other, then cut you out to save the fee. This piece names that risk (leakage, or disintermediation) plainly and, more useful than scare tactics, breaks down what actually keeps people transacting on-platform for individual sellers, professional providers, and buyers separately. The core line to remember is provide value to get value: whatever rate you charge, you have to be worth it every single time.

• A high take rate is not free money, it is an incentive for both sides to transact off-platform once they trust each other, so price it against the value you keep delivering.
• Leakage prevention is not about locking people in, it is about being worth the fee: business tools for pros, trust and protection for buyers, insurance and reputation for casual sellers.
• The fix scales differently by user type, so decide who your commission is really charging before you tune the number.