Trader fees vary more than people expect. Some traders charge none, some charge small per-claim amounts, and some build the charge into the rate.
The usual suspects
- Processing or admin fee. A flat amount per claim or a percentage of the claim value.
- Subscription. A monthly or annual platform charge.
- Registry or transfer fee. Passed on from the registry or added on top.
- Early payment fee. A deduction for being paid sooner than the standard term.
- Rejection or resubmission fee. A charge if a claim has to be reworked.
- Minimum volume fee. A charge if you fall below a set number of claims.
How to compare properly
Do the sum on a typical job. For a 6.6 kW system in zone 3 in 2026 you create about 45 STCs. If a trader pays $2 per certificate less and charges no fees, that is about $90. Another trader paying $1 per certificate less but charging $30 per claim costs about $75, which looks similar until you do ten jobs a month and a subscription is added.
| Cost | Per job example |
|---|---|
| Rate gap per STC x STC count | Rate difference x 45 |
| Per-claim fee | Flat amount |
| Subscription spread over jobs | Monthly fee divided by monthly volume |
| Cost of waiting | Days of delay x your funding cost |
Reading the contract
Look for the words fee, charge, deduction, levy and cost, and look at the remittance advice on the first payment. Ask for a worked example using one of your own jobs.
Questions to ask on a sales call
Ask: is there any charge other than the rate, are there minimum volumes, what is deducted on rejection, and can I see a remittance from a recent claim? If you are told that fees depend, ask them to define what they depend on. Plain answers are a good sign.
What this means for installers
The headline rate is not the price. The net price is. Our own position is plain: zero fees, with the rate published daily on the pricing page. See also stc trading with no fees, the trader checklist and the switch page. The STC trading pillar covers the market.