How Vendor Revenue Share Works: Turning Integrations Into Distribution
The splits on this page are proposed commercial packages, not final contractual prices: a suggested range, not a rate card anyone can sign. This page adds one more concession on top of that: zero vendors have signed a revenue-share agreement with Solidus. No POS software, property- management system, telco, or reseller is a partner today. What follows is a pricing model for a distribution mechanism that has not yet been used.
What revenue share means here
The idea is not novel: pay the software a merchant, hotel, or telco already runs a cut of every verification event it routes through Solidus, instead of Solidus selling directly to every end merchant. The source document that this page draws its numbers from states the logic as one of its core pricing principles, "use vendor revenue share to turn integrations into distribution", and this page treats that as exactly what it is: a stated strategic bet, not a demonstrated flywheel.
The suggested splits
| Partner type | Suggested vendor share |
|---|---|
| High-volume POS/PMS/telco software | 30–50% of proof revenue |
| Strategic OEM | negotiated, potentially 50%+ in early market |
| Small reseller | 20–30% |
| Marketplace/referral only | 10–20% |
These four rows are reproduced exactly from the source's revenue-share table. None of the four categories has a named counterparty today, "POS/PMS/telco software," "strategic OEM," "small reseller," and "marketplace/referral" describe partner types the pricing model anticipates, not vendors who have agreed to any of these terms.
Worked example: age check via POS vendor
The source's own worked example, reproduced with the arithmetic shown:
| Line | Value |
|---|---|
| Price to merchant, per proof | $0.05 |
| POS vendor share (40%) | $0.02 |
| Solidus gross | $0.03 |
| Protocol floor (modeled, not measured) | $0.001 |
Solidus's $0.03 gross, after the vendor's $0.02 cut, is what the source describes as funding "product, support, compliance, and sales", not profit set aside untouched. The $0.001 protocol floor is a modeled anchor figure that appears elsewhere on this site as the cost basis for the reusable- verification wedge; it is not the number any vendor is paid against, and it has not been measured against a running cost, only modeled.
The source sketches two further worked examples that this page does not re-derive in full: a hotel ID capture via a property-management-system vendor (first verification $0.10, reuse $0.05, PMS vendor share 30–50%), covered in depth on /economics/hospitality-and-travel-reuse-economics; and a SIM activation via telco or dealer software, which follows the same shape, a first-check price, a cheaper reuse price, and a vendor cut of both.
Why this is strategic logic, not a result
The bet is straightforward to state and has not been tested: a POS terminal, a hotel's PMS, or a telco's activation software already sits inside the exact moment an identity check needs to happen. Paying that software a share of every proof event turns it into a sales channel Solidus doesn't have to build itself, no cold outreach to every hotel front desk, no direct integration with every merchant. That is the logic for a state with zero signed vendors, not a claim that any vendor has evaluated, piloted, or adopted this split. A vendor lock-in counter-question is fair to ask here too: a vendor embedding Solidus is also choosing a dependency, not just a revenue line, and this page does not pretend that tradeoff disappears because a percentage is attractive.
What can honestly be said today
The arithmetic above is real arithmetic, a stated price, a stated split, a stated remainder, and it is reproduced exactly as the source states it, not invented for this page. What has not happened is a single vendor conversation resulting in a signed term. No POS, PMS, telco, or reseller has adopted a revenue-share agreement, piloted one, or been paid under one. This page is the pricing model that would apply if and when that happens, not evidence that it has. For the pricing hub this page belongs to, see /economics/how-solidus-prices-verification; for the standing status this page's concessions sit inside, see /status.