Fees
Every operation on merca.earth either costs gas only or splits a payment on-chain. This page shows who gets paid and when. For price formulas, see Pricing → Registration Price. For hierarchy payouts, see Tax → What a Tax Bucket Is.
Fee Matrix
| Operation | Cost type | Treasury | Seller / Donor | Hierarchy pool |
|---|---|---|---|---|
register | Payment | 92% | — | 8% |
buy_full | Payment | 7% | 85% (seller) | 8% |
expand_unclaimed | Payment | 92% | — | 8% |
acquire_slice | Payment | 7% | 85% (donor) | 8% |
rebalance_slice | Gas only | — | — | — |
merge_owned | Gas only | — | — | — |
collect_tax | Gas only | — | — | — |
sweep_expired | Gas only | — | — | — |
remove | Gas only | — | — | — |
propose_poi | Payment | MIN fee (100%) | — | — |
accept_proposal | Payment | 7% | 85% (owner) | 8% |
reject_proposal | Gas only | — | — | — |
withdraw_proposal | Gas only | — | — | — |
set_min_offer | Gas only | — | — | — |
Payment-Bearing Operations
These operations move SUI in the same transaction.
Register
When you register an unclaimed parcel, no seller exists. The payment splits as 92% to the protocol treasury and 8% to the hierarchy pool.
See Pricing → Registration Price for how the payment amount is calculated from area and rate.
Buy Full (Buyout)
When you buy a parcel from an existing owner, the payment splits three ways:
| Recipient | Share | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Seller | 85% | Compensation for losing the parcel |
| Protocol treasury | 7% | Protocol development and operations |
| Hierarchy pool | 8% | Tax revenue for parent-level parcel owners |
The seller receives 85% in the same transaction. See Buyout & Premium → The Buyout Price Formula for the price formula.
Expand Unclaimed
Adding unclaimed area to an existing parcel uses the same split as registration: 92% treasury, 8% hierarchy pool. No seller share exists.
Acquire Slice
Acquiring a slice from a donor parcel uses the same split as a buyout: 85% to the donor, 7% to treasury, 8% to the hierarchy pool. The hierarchy pool accrues against the donor parcel, because the donor is the one selling area.
Propose POI
When someone proposes a point of interest on a block-level parcel, they pay at least the board's minimum fee. This MIN fee transfers immediately to the protocol treasury as a non-refundable anti-spam fee. Any amount above the minimum enters escrow.
If the owner accepts the proposal, the escrowed offer splits three ways — identical to a buyout:
| Recipient | Share | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Owner | 85% | Compensation for hosting the POI |
| Protocol treasury | 7% | Protocol development and operations |
| Hierarchy pool | 8% | Tax revenue for parent-level parcel owners |
If the owner rejects, the proposal expires, or the proposer withdraws, the full escrowed amount refunds to the proposer. The MIN fee stays in treasury.
Gas-Only Operations
These operations cost only the Sui network gas fee.
rebalance_slice— adjust the boundary between two parcels you ownmerge_owned— combine adjacent parcels you own into onecollect_tax— collect accumulated tax revenue from child parcels and transfer to the parcel ownersweep_expired— clean up expired tax bucketsremove— delete a parcel you ownreject_proposal— reject a pending POI proposal (full escrow refunds to proposer)withdraw_proposal— withdraw your own pending proposal (full escrow refunds)set_min_offer— set or clear a per-parcel minimum offer threshold
Where the 8% Hierarchy Pool Goes
The hierarchy pool does not go to one fixed address. Its destination depends on the parcel's place in the quadtree.
If tax is initialized and the parcel has a parent: the 8% enters the tax_fund and opens a time-bucketed record on the child parcel. Anyone can collect it later via collect_tax, but the payout always goes to the parent parcel owner.
When the direct parent collects, it keeps 50% and forwards 50% upward as a cascade bucket on itself. Each later ancestor keeps an equal share of what remains, then forwards the rest. The last ancestor keeps everything. If the forwarded remainder falls below MIN_BUCKET_AMOUNT (1000 MIST), the current collector keeps that dust instead of opening another cascade bucket.
Otherwise: the 8% routes directly to treasury. This happens for top-level registrations, top-level expansions, and any parcel where tax is not initialized yet.
See Tax → How Cascade Collection Works for the full cascade formula and examples.
The Dust Threshold
Small hierarchy payouts can be too small to justify a new on-chain bucket. The protocol uses a minimum:
MIN_BUCKET_AMOUNT = 1000 MIST
If the initial 8% hierarchy pool amount falls below 1000 MIST, the whole amount routes directly to treasury instead of opening a bucket.
This threshold applies only when the protocol decides whether to open a hierarchy bucket. Treasury and seller shares still transfer at any size. During cascade collection, sub-threshold dust stays with the current collector.
Payment Flow for a Buyout
Here's the complete flow when you buy a parcel from an existing owner:
The split happens atomically. If the transaction fails, no funds move.
Related pages:
- Pricing → Registration Price — how payment amounts are calculated
- Tax → What a Tax Bucket Is — how hierarchy pool funds accrue and become claimable
- Buyout & Premium → The Buyout Price Formula — how buyout prices are set and the premium multiplier