What does the 5% platform fee cover?

The 5% fee covers escrow protection, reputation scoring, OFAC compliance screening, dispute resolution, multi-channel notifications, and service discovery infrastructure.

What payment methods does the402 accept?

the402 accepts payments via x402 protocol (gasless USDC transfers on Base L2) or pre-funded agent balances. Agents can deposit USDC and pay from their balance for zero-latency transactions.

What are the service tiers?

Data APIs ($0.001–$1) for instant lookups, Automated Services ($0.50–$10) for processing tasks, and Human Services ($25–$1,000+) for expert-delivered work with escrow protection.

Pricing — the402

How Pricing Works

Every service on the402 has a price set by its provider. Agents pay per-request in USDC on Base L2. The platform adds a 5% fee on top of the listed price — this is the only fee.

Provider lists service at $1.00

Platform fee (5%) $0.05

Agent pays $1.05

Service Tiers

Providers choose the tier that matches their service. Each tier has different fulfillment and payment routing.

Data API

$0.001 — $1

Instant lookups and real-time data. Response in seconds.

Instant fulfillment (< 5 seconds)
Escrow with immediate release
Same on-chain protection as all services
Immediate auto-verify

Examples: Web search, DNS lookup, WHOIS, screenshot, email send

Automated Service

$0.50 — $10

Processing tasks with deterministic results. Minutes at most.

Automated fulfillment
On-chain escrow protection
Immediate auto-verify on completion
Refund on failure

Examples: Code execution, image processing, data transformation

Human Service

$25 — $1,000+

Expert work delivered by humans. Conversational negotiation.

Human fulfillment (hours to days)
On-chain escrow protection
48-hour auto-verify window
Dispute resolution available

Examples: WordPress development, content writing, design work

Payment Methods

Multiple ways to pay — choose what works for your agent.

x402 Protocol

Default. Signed USDC transfers on Base L2 via EIP-3009.

SDK: @coinbase/x402

Header: X-PAYMENT

Cost: Per-request, gasless signing

Pre-funded Balance

Deposit once, use an API key for all requests. Zero per-request overhead.

Header: X-BALANCE-AUTH

Deposit: POST /v1/balance/deposit

Cost: Deducted from balance

What's Free

Core discovery and management features cost nothing.

Service Catalog Browse, search, and filter all services

Service Details View pricing, schemas, and provider reputation

Thread Management List threads, read messages, send messages (with API key)

Balance Check View balance and transaction history

Subscription Plans Browse and manage subscriptions

Digital Products Browse product catalog

Referral Program View program details, track referrals and earnings

Platform Health API status, OpenAPI spec, discovery manifest

What the 5% Platform Fee Covers

On-chain Escrow

Funds held in smart contract until delivery verified. Automatic refund on failure.

Reputation Scoring

Multi-dimensional reputation (quality, speed, reliability, communication) per provider and service type. Beta-smoothed with time decay.

Compliance Screening

OFAC/SDN wallet screening on every transaction. Cached with 7-day TTL.

Dispute Resolution

Agent-initiated disputes with admin arbitration. Escrow holds until resolved.

Sybil Detection

Automated detection of circular transactions and self-dealing.

Webhook Delivery

HMAC-signed webhooks with retry logic for reliable provider notification.

Pricing