Circular Resale Pricing Model: Start Small, Scale Globally (Without Switching Software)

Circular is free below $1,000/month resale revenue, then pay-as-you-go with simple tiered rates. Start as a small store, scale to multi-location - without switching software.

Circular’s Pricing Model: “Spreadsheets Are Fine Until You Scale” Is Obsolete

You’ve heard it a hundred times:

“Spreadsheets are fine until you scale.”

The problem is… that advice is backwards.

Because what happens in real resale ops is predictable:

  • You start small (one store, a few drop-offs per day, maybe Shopify + a POS).
  • You hack together spreadsheets for intake, inventory, consignor splits, payouts, and pricing.
  • You grow.
  • Now you’re running a resale operation on a system that was never designed to be one.

So you do the painful thing: you switch software mid-flight.

Circular’s pricing model is built to prevent that.

You can start with Circular when you’re tiny, without overpaying.

And you can scale to multi-location (and eventually multi-country) without replatforming.

Because your pricing scales with what actually changes as you grow:

your monthly resale revenue.

TL;DR: How Circular pricing works

  • Free if your monthly resale revenue is below $1,000
  • After that: pay-as-you-go with a single rate based on your monthly resale revenue bracket
  • No fixed subscription
  • No lock-in — cancel anytime
  • Built to work whether you’re:
    • a solo operator doing consignment
    • a growing single-location store
    • a multi-location, high-volume resale business

We do not believe in limiting you just because you’re not on the paid plan. You’ll get access to all the features straight away.

We also believe in aligning incentives. For us to win, you need to win. So we’ll do what we can to make it easier for you to start, run and grow your resale operations.

To sell more, you need to spend less time on operations. So we automate everything that’s possible with the technology we have available. And this is a promise: as something new becomes possible, we’ll make it a part of the software.

Why “normal SaaS pricing” breaks for resale

Most software pricing is built for teams sitting at desks.

Resale is not that.

Resale is operational. Messy. Physical. Item-level. And it scales in complexity, not just headcount.

Here’s where typical pricing models break:

1) Per-user pricing punishes the wrong thing

In resale, more staff usually means:

  • more intake
  • more floor movement
  • more QC
  • more customer support
  • more shipments

That’s not “extra seats.” That’s the business working.

2) Per-location pricing creates weird incentives

Opening a second location isn’t a luxury. It’s often the thing you must do to grow supply and sell-through. If software cost doubles the moment you add a location, you delay growth. We incentivise growth.

3) Feature gating forces you into upgrades before you’re ready

Resale operators don’t want “more features.”

They want:

  • fewer manual steps
  • fewer disputes
  • fewer payout mistakes
  • fewer missing items
  • cleaner inventory truth

Feature gating often means you pay early for capability you only need later.

The Circular approach: pay based on monthly resale revenue

Circular pricing is simple:

You only pay when you sell, and your rate is based on your monthly resale revenue bracket.

No complicated packages. No seat math. No “Pro plan just to unlock basics.”

You can start day one on the same operating system you’ll use later when the business is 10x bigger. Or 100x bigger.

What counts as “monthly resale revenue”?

For the purpose of pricing, think:

Monthly resale revenue = how much you sold this month through your resale operation.

This aligns pricing with what you actually care about:

  • If revenue is low while you validate supply → you pay nothing or almost nothing
  • If revenue grows because the system is working → pricing scales responsibly
  • If revenue dips seasonally → your software cost dips too

Real examples (so you can sanity-check it fast)

Example 1: New store testing the model

  • Monthly resale revenue: $800
  • Rate: 0%
  • Circular fee: $0

This is the point. You don’t have to “graduate” out of spreadsheets before you’re allowed into real software.

You can start with the system that scales, while it’s still free.

Example 2: Small but real traction

  • Monthly resale revenue: $3,000
  • Tier: $2,500 – $4,999 → 2.25%
  • Circular fee: $67.50

Example 3: A serious single-location operation

  • Monthly resale revenue: $12,000
  • Tier: $10,000 – $24,999 → 1.80%
  • Circular fee: $216

Example 4: High-volume ops

  • Monthly resale revenue: $55,000
  • Tier: $50,000 – $59,999 → 0.70%
  • Circular fee: $385

As you scale, the rate steps down. That’s intentional.

High-volume resale is already operationally heavy. Pricing should reward scale, not punish it.

Why this makes “spreadsheets until you scale” obsolete

Spreadsheets aren’t bad because they’re spreadsheets.

They’re bad because they don’t create operational truth at item-level when volume hits.

At scale, you need:

  • item identity (barcode/QR)
  • POS integrations
  • eCommerce integrations
  • location tracking
  • consistent intake data
  • pricing logic
  • consignor splits
  • payout visibility
  • audit trails for disputes

The “spreadsheet phase” is usually just a period where:

  • data gets duplicated
  • mistakes compound quietly
  • growth becomes stressful

Circular pricing lets you skip that trap.

You can start with Circular while you’re still small (often free), and build your workflows once (the right way) before complexity hits.

What you get (without upgrading into “grown-up plans”)

Resale ops don’t need 50 features. They need the core loop to be clean:

intake → inventory → pricing → selling → payouts → reporting

Circular is built as an operating system for resale, so you’re not assembling your own with tools that weren’t meant for it.

And because pricing is revenue-based, the intent is:

  • start now
  • scale later
  • don’t switch systems mid-growth

When should you talk to sales?

If you’re at:

  • $100k+ monthly resale revenue, or
  • complex multi-entity setups, multi-national, custom requirements
  • have more categories than apparel and accessories

…you’ll want a tailored plan.

(That’s not a “gotcha.” It’s because enterprise resale setups vary a lot. Integrations, reporting needs, workflows, rollout support.)

FAQ

Is Circular really free under $1,000/month?

Yes. If your monthly resale revenue is under $1,000, the rate is 0%. And the cost is $0.

How does pay-as-you-go pricing work?

Circular applies one percentage rate based on your monthly resale revenue bracket. If your revenue goes up, your rate follows the tiers. If revenue goes down, your cost drops too.

Does Circular charge per user or per store?

No. The model is not per-seat pricing. It’s aligned to monthly resale revenue, so you can staff up and add locations without pricing turning into a tax on operations.

What happens when I pass $100,000/month?

At $100,000+ monthly resale revenue, you’ll continue at the 0.60% rate until you contact sales.

Is this better than a fixed monthly subscription?

For resale, often yes. Because resale is seasonal and volatile, and early-stage ops shouldn’t pay enterprise subscription fees before the business is ready.