Why we’re
actually free.
Most wedding registries call themselves “free” while quietly charging 2.5% on every cash gift. Donum doesn’t. Here’s the math.
There are two kinds of fees on a cash wedding gift. The platform fee is what the registry company keeps for itself. The processing feeis what the credit card network charges everyone (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) — about 2.9% + 30¢ on every online card payment.
Zola, The Knot, and Joy charge a 2.5% platform feeon top of processing. That’s revenue for them. On a $5,000 cash fund, that’s $125 they keep before the rest reaches you.
Donum charges 0%. Always. We make money from optional affiliate commissions on the items you add to your registry — not by taxing your guests’ gifts.
What about the processing fee? Stripe (our payment processor) charges 2.9% + 30¢ on each card payment, just like everyone else. By default at checkout, your guests can choose to cover this fee themselves so 100% of their gift reaches you. Most do — it’s a single click. If a guest opts out, that small fee comes out of their gift.
On a $100 gift with the default fee-cover on, you receive $100. On a Zola cash fund, you receive $97.50. That’s the difference, gift by gift.
Cash funds flow directly from guests through Stripe to your bank account. Donum never holds the money, which keeps things simple legally — and means we’re not a money-handling middleman that could go down or freeze your funds.