Zero Commission: Our Promise to League Admins

If you run a sim racing league with entry fees, you have probably dealt with this: a driver sends you money through PayPal, you manually mark them as paid in a spreadsheet, and you hope the numbers add up at the end of the season. Or maybe you use a platform that collects fees on your behalf — and takes a 5-15% cut for the privilege.

We think both of those options are broken. Here is what we did instead.

The Problem with Platform Fees

Most league management platforms that handle payments operate as intermediaries. The driver pays the platform, the platform takes a percentage, and the platform pays the league admin. This creates three problems:

It is expensive. A 10% platform fee on a $50 entry fee across a 30-driver league means $150 that should have gone to prize pools, server costs, or the admin's time disappears into someone else's pocket. Scale that across multiple seasons and it adds up fast.

It creates liability. When a platform holds money between collection and disbursement, they are operating as a payment intermediary. That comes with regulatory requirements, dispute handling obligations, and the ever-present risk that the platform goes under while holding your funds.

It misaligns incentives. A platform that takes a percentage of entry fees is incentivised to push higher fees and more paid events. That is the opposite of what league communities need.

How Stripe Connect Direct Charges Work

Racey uses Stripe Connect with direct charges. Here is what that means in practice:

1. You (the league admin) create a Stripe account. This is your account — you own it, you control it, you have full access to the Stripe dashboard.
2. You connect your Stripe account to Racey through a secure OAuth flow. Racey never sees your banking details.
3. When a driver pays an entry fee through Racey, the charge is created directly on your Stripe account. The money goes from the driver's card to your Stripe balance. It never passes through a Racey-owned account.
4. Stripe's standard processing fee applies (typically 2.9% + 30 cents in the US). This goes to Stripe, not to Racey.
5. You handle refunds, disputes, and payouts from your own Stripe dashboard.

From an accounting and legal perspective, the transaction is between the driver and the league. Racey is the software that facilitates the payment, not a middleman that handles the money.

Why We Made This Choice

The honest answer is that we think commission-based pricing is a bad deal for league admins, and we did not want to build a business on a bad deal.

League admins put in enormous amounts of unpaid work to keep their communities running. They organise schedules, manage rosters, handle conflicts, produce broadcasts, and yes, collect entry fees to cover costs. Taking a percentage of those fees felt wrong.

We also looked at the competitive landscape. Platforms that charge commission have to keep justifying that cost. They add features nobody asked for, raise rates when they need more revenue, and build moats around payment processing to prevent leagues from switching. That is not the kind of company we want to be.

How Racey Makes Money Instead

Our revenue comes from subscription plans:

• Free — core league management for small leagues (1 league, 2 seasons, basic scoring)
• Pro ($9.99/month or $79/year) — unlimited leagues and seasons, advanced scoring, broadcast overlays, stewarding, payments, full export
• Enterprise ($29/month) — everything in Pro plus organization management, cross-league analytics, priority support, and custom branding

The subscription model aligns our incentives with yours. We make money when you find enough value in the platform to pay for a plan. We do not make more money when you charge higher entry fees or run more paid events. Your success as a league is not our revenue source — your satisfaction with the software is.

The Promise

Racey will never take a commission on entry fees. Not now. Not when we grow. Not ever.

This is not a marketing gimmick or a temporary promotion. It is a foundational decision. We wrote it into our about page, our pricing page, and now this blog post. If we ever break this promise, you will have the receipts.

Stripe's processing fees are Stripe's business — we cannot control those, and they apply regardless of what software you use. But Racey's cut is zero. Your entry fees are your entry fees.

If you are currently using a platform that takes a percentage of your league's money, we would love to show you what zero commission looks like. Sign up, connect your Stripe account, and keep every dollar your drivers pay.