Monday Price Point:​
​"In the old model we would charge the ecommerce store $1 per order for [the service].​
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​In this new model we build a flow where the shopper pays $3 for [the service] directly. The ecommerce store then gets $1 and we keep $2.​
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​It's a 100% increase in ARR for us, and it's 10 times easier to sell because the new model converts a cost into a revenue stream for the store."

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I had a lunch with a former client in Hong Kong yesterday who is the founder-CEO of an ecommerce-tech provider doing close to 9-figures ARR who updated me on this major shift in pricing of one of their products.
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And I've seen it over and over again across cases:
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1. Land registration service for municipalities, but have the citizens pay the fees.
2. Payment providers charging 3%, but having this paid by the shopper, not the shop.
3. 10% service charge on restaurant menus to cover wages to the staff.
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All of these are pass-through fees where the entity asking for the payment positions itself (correctly as in 1 and 2 or - performatively - as in 3) as simply passing on a cost from a 3rd party to the payer.
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This is powerful for two reasons:
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First: While payers are annoyed with the charge, the entity charging the fee is removed at least one step, so there is no option to interact with that entity directly. This creates an ultimatum where I can not negotiate and can simply choose to abandon the purchase or proceed at full price.
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Second: since the entity presenting the price is not (presumably) profiting, the payer isn't going to think they are being unfairly treated. It's the credit card company that's ripping you off - not the store.
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Here is how you do it:

To take advantage of this, you have two options: internal and external

​​Internal : "You are not really paying me!"​Internal means you do this towards your customers - break down your own price into things that are passed on and present it as such. Even add charges that you pretend are passed on.​→ Internal pass-through is usually best presented near the end of the customer journey when the customer has already decided to buy.​​​External: "I'm not really charging you!"​External means that you structure your price so that your customer can pass it on to their customer. This is what the quote above from the Chinese ecommerce case is above.​→ External pass-through is usually best re-positioned as a revenue share model and works 10x better if you can structure it so that you control and collect the cashflow.​​Basically you should always try and achieve external pass-through if you can, but it's not always possible.​Internal pass-through is almost always possible, but can feel like you are nickel-and-diming your customers (which you are), so watch out that this isn't adding too much overall complexity to your pricing model.​As promised: a point about pricing every Monday.​PS: I'll do weekly webinars every Thursday at 15:00 CET / 9am EST starting September, so block that time already now and watch out for our announcement on topics.