No upfront fee, no retainer, no listing fee, no fee if nothing closes. The schedule below is the whole schedule. It is written into a two-page, non-exclusive engagement letter before any work starts, and it is the only fee we take on your deal.
The rates are marginal, like tax brackets: each band is charged at its own rate, so a larger license does not re-rate the first dollar.
| Amount paid to you | Our fee on that band | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| First $250,000 paid to you | 12% | Covers the manifest, pricing, buyer process, negotiation, and counsel coordination. |
| $250,000 to $1,000,000 | 8% | Steps down once the fixed work is paid for. |
| Above $1,000,000 | 5% | Steps down again. A seven-figure license should not mean a seven-figure invoice. |
Three illustrative license sizes, chosen to show each tier at work. They are arithmetic on the published schedule, not deals we have done and not a forecast of yours.
| Paid to you | Our fee | Effective rate | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|
| $150,000 | $18,000 | 12% | $132,000 |
| $600,000 | $58,000 | 9.7% | $542,000 |
| $1,500,000 | $115,000 | 7.7% | $1,385,000 |
Illustrative. Indicative range observed across the market for single-company operational data licenses. Not a quote. Actual value depends on buyer demand, data quality, rights, and exclusivity.
Arithmetic on the published schedule. Nothing here is saved or sent anywhere, and nothing here is an offer.
The fee is the only line item. If something below appears on anyone's invoice, including ours, that is a red flag worth walking away over.
Most services in this market are paid by the buyer. That is not a scandal, but it is a side of the table, and it is worth knowing which side you are on before you sign anything.
| Seller-side agent (Data Truffle) | Buyer-paid introduction router | Marketplace | Going direct | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who pays the intermediary | You, only at close | The buyer | You: listing fee, commission, or both | Nobody |
| Rate | 12% / 8% / 5%, published | Undisclosed; typically a share of the buyer's deal | Commissions up to 30%, sometimes on a sliding scale | None, but you do the pricing and negotiation |
| Whose side of the table | Yours, by contract | The buyer paying them | Neither; it is a venue | Yours, alone |
| Priced before market | Yes, against live buyer demand | No; one buyer names a number | No; you set a list price | No |
| Competing offers | By design, same deadline | One buyer | Whoever browses | Only if you run the process |
| Custody of your data | Never touches it | Never touches it | Often hosts it | Yours |
Category descriptions reflect published terms across the market as of 2026; individual services vary. No specific company is described.
You can talk to buyers directly, use another agent, or stop at any time. We ask for the work, not for a lock-in.
The three tiers above, verbatim, calculated on money you actually receive and invoiced after it arrives.
If you close with a buyer we introduced to you by name within 12 months, the fee applies. Buyers you found yourself are yours entirely.
We never receive, store, or transmit your datasets. The letter says so, which makes it a contractual obligation rather than a marketing line.
No. The buyer pays you directly, in full, on the license terms. We invoice our fee after your payment has arrived. If the buyer pays in milestones, the fee follows the milestones.
Then nothing is owed to us. The fee is calculated on money actually received by you, not on the contract value. That is also why we care about the buyer's payment terms during negotiation.
Because a flat 20% on a seven-figure license is not a fair price for the work. The first $250,000 carries nearly all of our cost: the manifest, pricing, buyer process, negotiation, counsel coordination. Above that, the rate steps down so a larger deal does not simply mean a larger invoice.
The same schedule applies to money you receive from a license we arranged, including refresh payments under it. A later license to a buyer we did not introduce is yours entirely.
No. There is no retainer, no manifest fee, no sample-preparation fee, no legal review fee, and no cancellation fee. If you walk away at any step, you owe nothing.
Seven questions. A one-page manifest. A first offer in 24 to 48 hours.
Measured from a complete data manifest. A first offer is a process target, not a guarantee; buyers decide eligibility, price, and terms.