Why Paying No Monthly Subscription Is Better for Tradespeople

If you're a tradesperson who's ever subscribed to a leads platform, you'll recognise this feeling: quiet January, the invoice still goes out. You've paid £80–£200 for a month in which you earned nothing from the platform. Multiply that by 12, and you're £1,000–£3,000 down before you've earned a penny. This is the subscription model — and it's designed to benefit the platform, not you.

What do most subscription platforms actually charge?

The UK's dominant trades platforms typically charge:

• Checkatrade: £800–£1,400/year depending on trade and region
• Rated People: £200–£400/year for a basic membership, plus lead credits (£5–£20 per lead, non-refundable if the job doesn't convert)
• MyBuilder: Lead-credit model — £4–£20 per lead, regardless of outcome
• TrustATrader: £400–£800/year
• Bark.com: Credit-based — £1.20–£7 per credit, typically 5–10 credits per lead

With lead-credit models, you're paying per contact, not per job. If a homeowner posts a job and then doesn't respond to your quote, you've paid for nothing.

The maths of commission-only

On a commission-only platform like EzeAla Trades, you pay nothing until a job is completed and signed off by the client. At EzeAla's standard rate of 10%:

• £500 job → £50 commission. You keep £450.
• £1,000 job → £100 commission. You keep £900.
• £2,000 job → £200 commission. You keep £1,800.

In a quiet month, you pay nothing. In a busy month, you earn more. The platform's revenue is directly aligned with your success — EzeAla only makes money when you make money.

Compare this to a subscription model: you owe £100+/month regardless of earnings, plus lead credits on top.

What about platforms that hide fees?

Some platforms advertise "no monthly fee" but charge transaction fees, listing fees, or premium placement fees that add up to similar amounts. Watch for:

• Priority placement fees: Paying extra to appear at the top of search results for homeowners.
• Verification badge fees: Charging extra for a "verified" or "trusted" badge that should be standard.
• Response fees: Charging to reply to a quote request.
• Review removal fees: Charges associated with managing your profile or handling disputes.

EzeAla Trades charges 10% on completed jobs only. There are no listing fees, no lead credits, no placement fees, and no charges for profile features. The only cost is the commission on successful jobs.

Early bird advantage: 0% on your first 5 jobs

The first 100 tradespeople to join EzeAla Trades pay 0% commission on their first 5 completed jobs. This is our way of recognising that early members are taking a chance on a new platform — and that you deserve to see results before you pay anything.

After your first 5 jobs, the standard 10% rate applies. If you reach 100 completed jobs with a rating of 4.8 or above, you earn Elite Pro status and a permanent 8% rate.

Reviews, ratings, and portability

One of the more troubling practices in the subscription platform market is that your reviews — often built up over years of work — stay on the platform if you leave. You've paid for the subscription that made those reviews possible, but the platform owns the data.

EzeAla Trades is building towards portable review profiles: your rating and completed job history will be exportable, so your reputation belongs to you. This is still in development, but it reflects how we think the market should work.