# Minimum Purchase Sizes and Why Small Buys Cost More

> Flat costs do not scale down. The arithmetic of why a twenty dollar purchase can lose a tenth of its value before it arrives.

- Source: https://theonrampreport.com/minimum-purchase-sizes/
- Published: 2026-09-28
- Author: Nadia Brandt
- Publication: The Onramp Report — The first mile, priced and dated
- Topic: industries
- Tags: industries, fees, limits

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Small purchases pay a worse effective rate than large ones, and the reason is arithmetic rather than policy.

## The two kinds of cost

Proportional costs scale: a one per cent fee is one per cent at any size. Flat costs do not: a three dollar withdrawal fee is three dollars whether the purchase was twenty dollars or twenty thousand.

Every onramp charges some of each. The mix decides how badly a small purchase is treated.

## The arithmetic at four sizes

On a flat two dollar processing charge plus a three dollar network fee, with a one and a half per cent spread:

| Purchase | Flat costs | Proportional | Effective cost |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| $20 | $5.00 | $0.30 | 26.5% |
| $100 | $5.00 | $1.50 | 6.5% |
| $500 | $5.00 | $7.50 | 2.5% |
| $2,000 | $5.00 | $30.00 | 1.75% |

The percentages are illustrative, but the shape is not. The first row is the reason small test purchases feel like a bad deal.

## Why venues set minimums at all

Below a certain size the venue loses money on the transaction, and below a smaller size the network fee exceeds the purchase. Minimums exist to stop both.

A venue with a low minimum is not being generous if the flat fees make that minimum uneconomic for the buyer.

## The test purchase exception

A small first purchase to check that a route works is worth its terrible effective rate. The cost is a fee; the alternative is discovering a problem with a meaningful amount in transit.

Treat it as a cost of verification rather than as an investment and the arithmetic stops mattering.

## What reduces the damage

Leaving the balance at the venue rather than withdrawing, where the venue is one you would leave a balance with. That removes the network fee, which is the largest flat component on a small purchase.

[A regulated venue for the first purchase](https://collectnexchange.cy/compliance/cysec-licensed) makes that a reasonable choice rather than a risk.

## Where it stops mattering

Above roughly five hundred dollars at typical retail pricing, flat costs fall below half a per cent and the comparison between venues becomes a comparison of spreads.

That is the point at which [exchanges that publish their deposit limits](https://collectnexchange.cy/services/crypto-exchange) and their fee schedules start to be worth comparing carefully, and [an onramp with the fee shown before confirmation](https://collectnexchange.cy/) starts to pay for itself.

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This article explains how something works. It is not financial advice.
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