Why every cash fund has a fee, except one

Card processing on a cash gift costs about 2.9% + 30¢. That cost doesn't disappear because a wedding website is involved, it lands on someone. Zola, The Knot, and Joy land it on the couple at 2.5%. Honeyfund lands it on the couple at 2.9%. MyRegistry absorbs it. Donum asks the guest to cover it at checkout. There is no fifth option.

Here's how the math works on each platform, and why "the platform eats it" is rarer than you'd think.

The card-processing floor

Every cash gift paid by credit or debit card runs through a card processor (Stripe, Adyen, Braintree, PayPal, somebody). The standard US online rate is 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction. Big platforms negotiate that down with volume, sometimes to 2.0–2.3%, but never to zero. Card networks (Visa, Mastercard, Amex) take a cut, the issuing bank takes a cut, the processor takes a cut. That's just what cards cost.

Bank transfers (ACH) are dramatically cheaper, usually under 1%, sometimes flat-fee, but most guests pay by card anyway. ACH-only fee waivers are mostly cosmetic.

So: a couple receives a $500 cash gift by card. Somewhere in the flow, ~$14.80 is processing cost. The question is who pays it.

Option 1: Pass it to the couple, with margin (Zola, The Knot, Joy)

Zola, The Knot, and Joy all charge 2.5% on credit-card cash contributions. They describe it as a credit-card processing fee, but it isn't a passthrough, it's a markdown. They negotiate processor rates lower than retail, charge 2.5% to the couple, and pocket the difference as margin.

On a median wedding with $8,000 in card-paid cash gifts:

• Zola/Knot/Joy: $200 to the platform
• The processor itself probably saw closer to $160–$180
• Margin to the platform: $20–$40

It's a small margin per couple, but at scale it's a real revenue line.

Option 2: Pass it to the couple, at cost (Honeyfund / PayPal)

PayPal Honeyfund charges 2.9% + 30¢, which is the going PayPal/card rate. They aren't keeping margin; they're just not absorbing it. On $8,000 in card-paid cash gifts that's about $232 + $24 in flat fees ≈ $256 to PayPal.

This is the most expensive option of the four, but also the most transparent. They aren't pretending the fee is anything other than what cards cost.

Option 3: Eat it (MyRegistry)

MyRegistry has charged 0% on cash funds for years. The platform absorbs card-processing costs out of its broader affiliate-driven business: every physical item added to MyRegistry runs through their affiliate relationships, and that revenue subsidizes the cash side.

This works because MyRegistry has been around long enough to have thick affiliate coverage and a small enough cash-fund footprint that absorption is sustainable. The tradeoff is that the product itself is dated: UI, mobile experience, and universal-add flow are all roughly a decade behind Zola or Joy.

Option 4: Ask the guest (Donum)

Donum charges 0% as a platform fee. Stripe Connect handles processing at the standard 2.9% + 30¢. At checkout, the guest sees a pre-checked box: Cover the small Stripe processing fee so 100% reaches the couple. Default-on. Industry-typical adoption is ~80%.

The math on a $500 gift:

• Guest covers: $500 reaches the couple. Guest paid $514.80.
• Guest declines: $485.20 reaches the couple. Guest paid $500.

Across a registry, the blended effective cost to the couple is well under 1% (the residual from the ~20% of guests who decline). The platform itself is funded by affiliate revenue from the physical-gift side, the same revenue source every other registry already has.

This works because guest fee-cover at checkout is a well-tested pattern (DonorBox, GoFundMe, ActBlue, every modern donation platform uses it) and because registries already have a parallel revenue stream that doesn't depend on cash. Stack the two and the platform fee on cash can genuinely be zero without anyone losing money.

Why most platforms pick Option 1

Option 1 (charge the couple, keep margin) is the default because it's the easiest to build and the easiest to hide. Couples don't see the fee at signup. Guests don't see it at checkout. It only appears when the couple looks at the dashboard math and notices the deposit is smaller than the gift. By then, the wedding is happening either way.

Option 2 (Honeyfund) is transparent but expensive. Option 3 (MyRegistry) requires a mature affiliate book to subsidize. Option 4 (Donum) requires building the guest-fee-cover UX correctly and trusting affiliate revenue to carry the platform.

The reason every cash fund has a fee somewhere is that someone has to pay the card processor. The reason most cash funds have a fee on the couple is that nobody made the other choice.

What to ask

1. Is the cash-fund fee on top of card processing, or instead of it? If they don't separate the two, assume the worst.
2. What does the guest see at checkout? A guest who's asked clearly converts at 75–85%. A guest who's not asked never covers.
3. What funds the platform if not the cash fee? If there's no clear answer, you're paying for the whole thing.

Related

• Zola's 2.5% cash fund fee, explained
• Are wedding registries actually free?

Bottom line: every cash fund has a card-processing cost. Only one major US registry routes that cost away from the couple by default.