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Fair Revenue Share — 5% After $10K

Fair Revenue Share License (v1)

Copyright (c) ilyasLabs

Last updated: 31 October 2026

Overview​

This software is open-source and free to use. To keep it fair and sustainable, successful commercial projects share a small part of what they earn, not the money that only passes through their hands.

1. Permissions​

You are free to:

  • Use this software for personal, educational, and commercial purposes.
  • Modify the source code to suit your needs.
  • Distribute your modified versions (with attribution).

2. Definitions​

  1. "Software" means the software distributed under this license, including modified versions and works based on it.
  2. "You" or "Licensee" means the person or company that runs a business or product built using the Software, together with any company it controls or is controlled by.
  3. "Covered Business" means the business, product, or service you run using the Software. If you also run activities that do not use the Software, only the Covered Business counts.
  4. "Licensee Revenue" means all amounts you earn in your own right from the Covered Business, measured before your own costs and expenses. It includes, for example:
    • commissions, percentage or fixed, that you charge sellers, stores, or other third parties;
    • fees you charge end customers (service fees, platform fees, small-order fees, delivery fees that you keep);
    • subscription, listing, onboarding, or membership fees;
    • advertising, featured-placement, and promotion fees;
    • mark-ups or margins you keep on payment processing, currency conversion, or similar services;
    • 10% of the price of goods or services that you yourself make or provide and sell through the Covered Business (see section 2.8).
  5. "Pass-Through Amounts" are not Licensee Revenue. They are amounts you collect as an agent or intermediary and owe to someone else:
    • the price of goods or services sold by a third party (for example a store) that you collect and pass on to them, minus your commission;
    • delivery charges that belong to a third party who did the delivery;
    • tips, gratuities, and donations that go in full to another person (for example a rider or driver);
    • sales tax, VAT, GST, and similar taxes you collect and pay to a government;
    • refunds, chargebacks, and cancelled orders, to the extent the money is returned;
    • security deposits and other money held for someone else and returned to them.
  6. Discounts and bad debt. Licensee Revenue is counted after discounts, coupons, and credits that you fund, and after amounts you invoiced but could not collect and have written off in good faith. Discounts funded by a third party do not reduce your Licensee Revenue.
  7. How money moves does not matter. An amount is Licensee Revenue because you earned it, not because it went through your bank account. Commission owed to you by a seller who collected the payment directly, or cash collected on your behalf, counts. Money that only passed through your account and belongs to someone else does not.
  8. First-party sales. When you sell your own goods or services directly to end customers through the Covered Business (for example a restaurant running the Software as its own ordering site), only 10% of those sales, after taxes, refunds and discounts you fund, count as Licensee Revenue. This keeps the effective share at 0.5% of such sales. Delivery fees, service fees and other charges you add on top still count in full. Goods bought from others and resold through the Covered Business are not first-party sales.

3. Revenue Sharing Terms​

  1. Revenue Threshold: You can use the Software for free until your Covered Business has earned $10,000 USD in cumulative Licensee Revenue.
  2. Contribution Obligation: After that point, you agree to pay 5% of your monthly Licensee Revenue to the original author. In the calendar month in which you cross the threshold, the 5% applies only to the Licensee Revenue above $10,000 USD; in every later month it applies to all of that month's Licensee Revenue.
  3. Currency: Amounts in other currencies are converted to USD at a reasonable published exchange rate for the month concerned.
  4. Self-Reporting: You are responsible for reporting your Licensee Revenue honestly. A simple monthly figure, with a breakdown by revenue type on request, is enough.
  5. Payment Arrangements: After reaching the threshold, contact the author at m.ilyas@live.com to arrange payment details and invoicing. Each month's payment is due within 30 days after the end of that calendar month.
  6. Audit Clause (Trust-Based): This license relies on trust. The author may request, in good faith, basic validation of your reported Licensee Revenue (for example a summary from your accounting or ledger records).

4. Restrictions​

  • You may not remove original copyright notices.
  • You may not sublicense the Software under a more permissive license that removes the revenue share obligation.
  • You may not structure the Covered Business mainly to move earnings into Pass-Through Amounts or into another entity to avoid the revenue share (for example by labelling your own fees as a third party's charges).
  • You may not use the Software for illegal purposes.

5. No Warranty​

This software is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or implied. The author is not liable for any damages or losses resulting from its use.

6. Why This License?​

The Fair Revenue Share License is designed to:

  • Enable free access for individuals, students, and startups.
  • Ask for a share only of what you actually earn, so the cost stays fair even for low-margin marketplaces.
  • Ensure fair compensation for the creator when your business succeeds.
  • Maintain an open and collaborative development ecosystem.

7. Attribution​

When using this software, a simple attribution like "Powered by ilyasLabs" in your documentation or footer is appreciated, but not mandatory.

For licensing queries and payment arrangements, contact: 📧 m.ilyas@live.com