Deal Fee Doctrine · AF-11e

How the Flip360 Deal Rate Is Calculated

A single-page explainer for how we set the average deal value in the commercial model — the per-vertical range, the weighted blend, and the doctrine that determines which $ actually flows through the platform.

The Doctrine · What Flows Through Flip

The critical distinction

The bank commission, the agent's listing commission, the accountant's engagement fee — none of these touch Flip. They stay with the closing Provider. The only $ that flows through the platform is the referral fee that one Provider pays another Provider for the introduction. Flip takes 15% of that — nothing else.

Worked example · Mortgage broker referral

Accountant (Provider A) refers a client to a Mortgage Broker (Provider B) via Flip360.

Broker settles a $600,000 home loan with the client.

Bank pays Broker $3,900 upfront commission (0.65% of loan). — this NEVER touches Flip

Broker keeps $3,120, pays $780 (20%) back to the referring Accountant. This $780 is the ONLY transaction Flip sees.

Flip takes 15% × $780 = $117 as platform fee.

That $117 splits: $58.50 → Flip · $58.50 → Community pool (of which 80% = $47 goes to local chapter, 20% = $12 to national — allocated by democratic vote).

Why this matters for the model: the deal value we use isn't the underlying transaction (the $600k loan). It isn't the closer's gross commission (the $3,900). It's the P2P referral fee — the piece that actually settles on the Flip rails. Every $ in the commercial model rolls up from this number.

The Range · Per-Vertical P2P Referral Fees

Nine profession verticals covered by the 21 ANZ peak-body associations. Each has its own referral-fee norm — from a flat $75 finders fee on a building inspection through to $3,780 on a real estate conjunctional. The bar chart shows the range; the table underneath sources every number.

Range Floor

$75

Building inspectors

Volume-Weighted Blend

$1,515

Across 466,800 members

Range Ceiling

$3,780

Real estate agents

P2P referral fee by vertical · $ per deal

The teal line marks the volume-weighted blend of $1,515 — the number used in the commercial model.

Vertical	Peak Bodies	Members	Weight	Closer Earns	P2P Split	P2P Fee (Flip GMV)
Real estate agents Property sale $900k	REIA, REINZ	107,000	22.9%	$18,900	20%	$3,780
Accountants SME engagement Y1	CPA, CAANZ	204,000	43.7%	$5,500	20%	$1,100
Mortgage & finance brokers Home loan $600k	MFAA, FBAA, FANZ	27,800	6.0%	$3,900	20%	$780
Migration agents Visa application	MIA, NZAMI	6,500	1.4%	$3,000	20%	$600
Financial planners Advice engagement	FPA, FinAdvNZ	13,500	2.9%	$3,960	15%	$594
Builders New build / major reno	HIA, MBA, RMBA, CBANZ	77,500	16.6%	$7,500	7%	$500
Insurance brokers Policy placement	NIBA, IBANZ	16,500	3.5%	$1,200	20%	$240
Lawyers & conveyancers Conveyance / property txn	LCA, NZLS	10,500	2.2%	$1,750	10%	$175
Building inspectors Inspection report	IBIA, BOINZ	3,500	0.7%	$500	15%	$75
VOLUME-WEIGHTED BLENDED P2P REFERRAL FEE →						$1,515

Why each vertical is at the level it is

Real estate agents

$3,780

Conjunctional/introducer fee at 20% of listing commission — industry norm.

Accountants

$1,100

20% of Y1 engagement fee — standard practice / peer referral norm.

Mortgage & finance brokers

$780

Broker retains bank commission, pays 20% of upfront to referring Provider.

Migration agents

$600

20% of engagement fee — MIA member standard commercial arrangement.

Financial planners

$594

FASEA-restricted; 15% Y1 fee via corporate arrangement only.

Builders

$500

Thin build margins — usually a flat $500-1,000 finders fee, not %-based.

Insurance brokers

$240

20% of Y1 broker commission — standard.

Lawyers & conveyancers

$175

LCA/NZLS professional ethics limit referrer arrangements — usually 10% or $100-300 flat.

Building inspectors

$75

Small flat finders fee — volume-play vertical, low $ per deal.

Why We Use a Weighted Average, Not a Simple Average

A simple average of the nine verticals — just adding up the fees and dividing by nine — would give ~$1,205 per deal. That number is misleading. It treats a $75 building-inspector referral as if it happened as often as a $3,780 real-estate conjunctional. The reality is very different: the mix matters.

Simple Mean — WRONG for this model

$1,192

Assumes every vertical has the same likelihood of appearing on the platform. That's only true if we recruit exactly the same number of inspectors as real estate agents — which contradicts reality (there are 30× more agents than inspectors in the ANZ universe).

Volume-Weighted Mean — CORRECT

$1,515

Weights each vertical by its share of the 466,800-professional ANZ universe. This is the number our model uses because it reflects the expected mix of deals if Flip achieves proportionate adoption across the peak bodies we're targeting.

The weighting effect · vertical share of ANZ universe

Accountants (43.7%) and real estate agents (22.9%) together are 66.6% of the universe. They dominate the weighted average — as they should, because they're going to dominate the deal mix.

Sensitivity — how the average moves under different scenarios

Scenario	Assumption	Avg P2P Fee	Flip Net/Deal
Inspector-only	Worst case — only low-value verticals sign up	$75	$6
Simple mean	Every vertical equal weight (unrealistic)	$1,192	$89
Volume-weighted (base)	Deal mix follows ANZ member proportions	$1,515	$114
Property-heavy mix	If real estate + mortgage dominate (60% of deals)	$2,800	$210
Real estate only	Best case — only high-value conjunctionals	$3,780	$284

The commercial dashboard uses $1,515 as base. The L3 Profession filter re-weights this in real time — filter to real estate + mortgage only, and the model reactively shifts to ~$2,800/deal. Filter to accountants only, and it settles at $1,100. That's why the weighted approach matters: it makes L3 a live commercial lever, not a cosmetic filter.

Flow-Down · From $1,515 to Flip's Bottom Line

Once a P2P referral fee settles on the platform, Flip takes 15% — but only half of that goes to Flip's P&L. The other half funds the Community Give-Back mechanic (80% Local chapter, 20% National). This is a structural differentiator vs. traditional marketplace models.

$1,515

P2P REFERRAL FEE

Paid by Provider B to Provider A on Flip

$227

FLIP TAKE (15%)

Platform fee — gross

$114

FLIP NET (50%)

To Flip P&L

$91

LOCAL COMMUNITY

80% of give-back · local vote

$23

NATIONAL

20% · national democratic vote

Notes to Accounts

Take rate — 15% is set below industry benchmark (Uber ~25%, Airtasker ~15-25%, hipages ~20%). Deliberately positioned to make the platform economics work for Providers.
50/50 Flip:Community split — hard-coded, non-adjustable in the CM/board pack. This is a structural commitment, not a lever.
80/20 Local:National — each chapter votes democratically on where the local share is deployed. National share supports peak-body-level initiatives voted on by the full membership.
Deal fees are a validation stream, not the revenue driver. At Y5 base (5% share of 466,800 = 23,340 members · 1 deal/member/yr), deal fees contribute ~$2.65M vs $35M membership. Deal engine proves stickiness and funds Community — Membership is the SaaS-style ARR the model rests on.
Doctrine reference — this page is the canonical source for the deal-value assumption used in /investors/commercial-dashboard and /investors/financial-model.

Explore related pages

Commercial Dashboard (see this number in action) Deal Room DD pack Financial Model