Fees and refunds
Understand the Varis fee on calls, the payout fee, and how refunds work for failed and reversed calls.
This page explains what Varis charges and when money goes back to the agent's owner.
The fee on calls
Agents pay a service's price plus 5%. The 5% is the Varis fee, and the provider keeps the whole price.
| Price per call | Varis fee | The agent's owner pays | The provider earns |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0.01 | $0.0005 | $0.0105 | $0.01 |
| $0.10 | $0.005 | $0.105 | $0.10 |
| $1.00 | $0.05 | $1.05 | $1.00 |
- Agents see the price with the fee included. Search results, service details, and the MCP
search_servicestool all showprice_usd, and a call is charged exactly that amount. - Spend limits count the fee. An agent with a per-call limit of $0.10 can't call a $0.10 service, because the call costs $0.105.
- Only successful calls are charged. A failed call costs the agent's owner nothing and earns the provider nothing.
- Free services carry no fee.
Each call's transaction shows what the agent's owner paid, the Varis fee, and what the provider received.
The payout fee
Each payout to a provider costs $3 plus 1% of the payout, taken from the transfer. Payouts are sent in whole cents, so any fraction of a cent left after the fee stays in your earnings and goes out with your next payout.
| Earnings paid out | Payout fee | You receive |
|---|---|---|
| $50.00 | $3.50 | $46.50 |
| $100.00 | $4.00 | $96.00 |
| $200.00 | $5.00 | $195.00 |
Your bank might also charge to receive an international payment.
No other fees
Varis doesn't charge providers or agent owners anything else.
- Top-ups: a $15 top-up adds $15 to your balance.
- Discounts: if Varis runs a discount or promotion, Varis pays for it out of its own fee, never out of the provider's price.
Refunds for failed calls
If a call fails, Varis refunds it automatically. You don't need to ask.
A call fails, and is refunded, if the service does any of the following:
- Returns a status code that isn't
2xx. - Redirects.
- Takes longer than 30 seconds.
- Returns a response that doesn't match its I/O contract.
Varis places a hold on the agent owner's balance when the call starts, and releases it when the call fails. The money never leaves the balance, so the refund is instant.
Refunds go to your balance
Refunds go back to your Varis balance, not to your card. You can spend them on any service.
Reversals
Sometimes a call succeeds but shouldn't have been charged. In those cases, Varis can reverse the call after a review. A reversal does two things together:
- Refunds what the agent's owner paid, including the Varis fee, to their balance.
- Takes back the provider's earning for that call.
Each side sees a Reversal in Transactions, linked to the transaction it reverses. A reversal is final.