Paying for Stock Through the Platform

When one Knomart merchant buys stock from another, the money can move through the platform or between the two businesses directly. Both are legitimate, and the choice is worth making deliberately.

What paying through the platform gives you

• A record both sides share — what was ordered, agreed, delivered and paid
• A trading history that supports future credit conversations with the same supplier
• Purchases that land in your books automatically, rather than being re-entered
• Something to point at if a delivery is short or a quantity is disputed

What it costs

Work posted and paid through the board carries a 5% platform cut, paid by the merchant on top. On a small order that is a few cents and effectively invisible. On a large stock purchase it is a real number, and two merchants trading weekly will do the arithmetic.

That arithmetic is honest and worth stating plainly rather than hoping nobody runs it.

When each route makes sense

Through the platform — a new supplier you have not traded with, a first order, anything where you want a shared record, or where the value is small enough that the fee is immaterial against the protection.

Directly — an established supplier you trade with regularly, where the relationship is the assurance and the order value makes the fee material.

Record it either way

The important thing is not which route you use — it is that the purchase is recorded. A direct payment that never enters your books is a hole in your cost of goods, and it will show up later as a margin you cannot explain.

An open question, stated openly

How the 5% should apply to goods value rather than labour is a live design question in the Knomart model, not a settled rule. Options under consideration include a cap, labour-only pricing, or accepting the leakage. This page will be updated when it is decided rather than describing a rule that does not yet exist.