Learn more about the marketplace and the various dynamics we've put in place to create a secure and rewarding environment.
At it's core, Playbooks is a marketplace platform where buyers and sellers can exchange software repositories seamlessly. Anyone can access the marketplace with an account and there's lots of free content to enjoy. However, some content does requires purchase or a paid subscription to access the underlying data.
For now, Playbooks is a curated marketplace meaning you'll need access to submit content. For instance, only creators can submit repositories and only contributors can submit bounties. To become either of these, simply head over to the submission flow and click 'Request Access' to jump on the waitlist.
Some repos on Playbooks require purchase or a subscription in order to view the code or download the repository. And, some bounties require a financial contribution that will eventually get awarded to the winner. In each case, Playbooks takes a 20% commission from every transaction and then distributes another 10% to the Community Fund. The remaining 70% is transferred to the content creator (and / or relevant parties) at the appropriate time. The same thing goes for subscriptions however those funds are distributed on a monthly basis rather than immediately.
An order represent a contribution or purchase for paid content on our marketplace. For instance, if you're on the Free Plan, some repos will require purchase before viewing the code or downloading the repository. And, regardless of your plan, most bounties will let you contribute any sum of money toward the development of that project. After placing an order, you'll be able to access the underlying resource at anytime via your orders page.
Subscriptions represent a monthly or annual fee that grant you unlimited to certain resources on the platform. For instance, if you're on the Pro Plan, you'll gain unlimited access to Pro Tier resources. And, if you're on the Plus Plan, you'll gain unlimited access to Plus Tier resources. Generally speaking, subscriptions offer a substantial discount for repeat customers. So, if you accessing Pro or Plus resources more than 1x per month you should consider a subscription.
Contributor pools allow repository owners to share revenue with whomever they'd like via the platform. For instance, if you want to share 20% of your revenue with 5 different contributors, you can do so. Then, when someone places an order for your repo, we'll transfer 80% of the proceeds to you and split the remaining 20% among your contributors. Contributor pools work automatically for orders and subscription revenues. The only requirement is that each contributor must setup their merchant account and bank account in order to get paid.
The Community Fund is an endowment that gets funded by every transaction on Playbooks and is primarily used for bounties, editorial, and content creators. For now, the Community Fund is operated by a mix of admin discretion and some automations. But the plan is to fully automate this down the road. In the meantime, we're working to establish a public ledger for Community Fund activity so you can follow along.
A transfer represent the movement of money from our platform over to your Merchant account. Depending on the resource and type of payment being made, transfers run at different times and at different intervals. But, in general, our platform is setup to transfer the money you're owed ASAP and on a regular basis. For repository orders, this happens right away at the point of sale. For bounty contributions, this happens right after a winner is selected. And, for all subscriptions, this happens on a daily basis though we include a 1-month lag to account for customer service issues and churn that may occur. In each scenario, we'll notify you when a transfer is made to your account and you can always track your activity via the Analytics page.
A payout represents the movement of money from your Merchant account (on Playbooks) to your bank account (in the real world). Due to the dynamic nature of our platform, we process payouts on a daily basis with a 2-day lag to account for any discrepancies that may occur. So, for instance, if you receive 5 transfers on Monday that come out to $100.00, on Tuesday we'll initiate a payout for $100.00 to your bank. Once a payout is initiated, it typically takes 3-5 business days to reach your bank. It's important to note that some payouts may take longer to process since they do require admin review and approval.