SelectType charges 5.6% on card payments on the free plan, 4.9% on Basic, and 4.6% on Professional and above. If that ordering looks wrong, the instinct is correct. The cheapest plan carries the most expensive processing rate.
None of this is hidden — SelectType publishes the breakdown on its own pricing page. Processing fees arrive in two layers: Stripe's 3.6%, plus SelectType's own cut, which falls from 2% to 1.3% to 1% as you move up the tiers. This article confirms the four plans (as of August 2026) and the fee split, then works out the monthly volume at which paying a subscription costs less than staying free.
Contents
For a broader view of taking bookings and pricing them, see our resources for solo operators and small teams.
SelectType's four plans
There are four tiers. Free costs nothing, Basic is ¥1,500 excluding tax (¥1,650 including), Professional is ¥3,000 (¥3,300), and Premium is ¥10,000 (¥11,000), as of August 2026.
| SelectType plan | Monthly (excl. tax) | Monthly (incl. tax) | Total card fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | ¥0 | ¥0 | 5.6% |
| Basic | ¥1,500 | ¥1,650 | 4.9% |
| Professional | ¥3,000 | ¥3,300 | 4.6% |
| Premium | ¥10,000 | ¥11,000 | 4.6% |
One detail is worth noticing immediately: SelectType's Professional and Premium tiers carry the identical 4.6% rate. Moving up to Premium is a decision about features or scale, never about reducing processing costs. The subscription rises by ¥6,700 a month and the payment cost does not move at all (source: SelectType, "Pricing", checked 6 August 2026, covering SelectType's published prices).
The fee arrives in two layers
Taking payment through SelectType means two companies deduct from the same transaction: Stripe as the processor, and SelectType as the platform. The customer makes one payment; the deduction has two parts.
| SelectType plan | Stripe (card) | SelectType's cut | Total | Bank transfer total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 3.6% | 2% | 5.6% | 3.5% |
| Basic | 3.6% | 1.3% | 4.9% | 2.8% |
| Professional | 3.6% | 1% | 4.6% | 2.5% |
| Premium | 3.6% | 1% | 4.6% | 2.5% |
Bank transfer drops Stripe's share to 1.5%, which pulls the totals down substantially. Convenience-store payments match the card rate and carry Stripe's ¥120 minimum.
There is a structural reason this stays invisible: the fee is deducted from money arriving, so it never appears as a bill. The subscription is charged to a card every month and is impossible to miss; the 5.6% only shows up if you open a payout breakdown. Consistent with that, the published SelectType reviews do not mention processing fees at all. The one comment about cost describes a "cheap running cost" — meaning the subscription (source: ITreview, "SelectType reviews", checked 6 August 2026, covering two public reviews). Two reviews is a very small sample, so this confirms a pattern rather than proving one.
The monthly volume where a paid plan costs less
The short answer: once you process about ¥236,000 a month through SelectType, Basic (¥1,650 including tax) costs less than Free. Professional overtakes Basic at ¥550,000 a month.
| SelectType plan | Monthly (incl. tax) | Effective rate | Volume matching the tier below |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | ¥0 | 5.6% | — |
| Basic | ¥1,650 | 4.9% | ≈¥236,000 |
| Professional | ¥3,300 | 4.6% | ¥550,000 |
| Premium | ¥11,000 | 4.6% | Never — the rate is identical |
Laid out in actual money, the crossovers are easier to see.
| Processed monthly | Free (5.6%) | Basic (¥1,650 + 4.9%) | Professional (¥3,300 + 4.6%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| ¥100,000 | ¥5,600 | ¥6,550 | ¥7,900 |
| ¥300,000 | ¥16,800 | ¥16,350 | ¥17,100 |
| ¥500,000 | ¥28,000 | ¥26,150 | ¥26,300 |
| ¥1,000,000 | ¥56,000 | ¥50,650 | ¥49,300 |
The formula is the subscription divided by the gap in rates. Free to Basic is a 0.7 point gap, so ¥1,650 ÷ 0.007 ≈ ¥236,000. The narrower the gap, the further away the crossover sits. Basic to Professional is only 0.3 points, which pushes the crossover out to ¥550,000.
All of this applies only to money actually routed through SelectType. If most of your income is cash or direct transfer and online payments are occasional, the free plan stays the cheapest option regardless.
Three free-plan limits that are easy to miss
Separately from fees, SelectType's free plan carries three operational limits: adverts are displayed, bookings can only be taken up to 7 days ahead, and only one person can manage bookings.
- A 7-day booking window. This is often the heaviest of the three. A class filling next month's schedule, or anyone taking appointments a fortnight out, simply cannot accept those bookings on the free plan.
- One booking manager. Sub-administrators are also capped at one. The moment two people share reception duties, a paid plan is required.
- Adverts on the form. Booking forms display advertising, which matters if the form is a destination from your own site.
File submission and LINE integration are 30-day trials only, then require a paid plan. Hitting any one of these creates a reason to upgrade regardless of where your fee crossover sits. Checking these limits first and doing the fee arithmetic second usually reaches an answer faster.
When SelectType is the right answer
Fees have been the focus so far, but there are cases where fees should not decide it. SelectType has four capabilities that SailLab — introduced below — does not. If any one of them matters, staying put is the rational choice.
- Embedding into your own site (SailLab offers hosted booking pages only; there is no embeddable widget)
- LINE integration (SailLab notifies by email only)
- Class passes and ticket books
- Automated monthly tuition collection (SailLab charges the full amount per booking; there is no recurring or instalment billing)
The breadth is real, and reviewers say so: one describes it as covering "everything from ordinary booking forms to one-off event bookings, with prepayment, on-site check-in and QR code delivery in the auto-reply." The same reviewer adds that "the UI is hard to follow — even after solving something once, finding the right menu again next time is a struggle." Wide capability, not matched by ease of navigation.
An option with a different fee structure
If none of those four apply, the comparison narrows to fee structure. Three things to check: what the subscription plus the rate actually costs at your volume, how far ahead the free plan lets you take bookings, and whether there is a way to collect money without a processing fee at all.
Below, SailLab is offered as one example where those three are worth comparing.
SailLab
SailLab is a Japanese booking system combining the booking page, calendar sync and prepayment. Payments settle directly into the host's own Stripe account.
- Payments start on the Standard plan (¥1,500/month excluding tax). The fee is Stripe's roughly 3.6% plus SailLab's 3%.
- On the Professional plan (¥2,800/month excluding tax) SailLab's cut is 0%, leaving only Stripe's roughly 3.6%. The feature set matches Standard; the commission is the only difference.
- The free plan has no limit on how far ahead bookings can be taken. It includes one booking page.
- On Standard and above, invoicing by bank transfer after the meeting bypasses Stripe entirely, so no processing fee applies (reconciliation is manual).
In practice, a single lesson type or consultation fits inside the free plan. Where prepayment is required and volumes are high, Professional's 0% commission is the relevant tier.
Set against real numbers (as of August 2026, tax included, monthly billing):
| Processed monthly | SelectType Free | SelectType Basic | SailLab Standard | SailLab Professional |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ¥100,000 | ¥5,600 | ¥6,550 | ¥8,250 | ¥6,680 |
| ¥300,000 | ¥16,800 | ¥16,350 | ¥21,450 | ¥13,880 |
| ¥500,000 | ¥28,000 | ¥26,150 | ¥34,650 | ¥21,080 |
This table is not arranged in our favour. SailLab's Standard plan is the most expensive column at every volume. It costs the same ¥1,650 including tax as SelectType's Basic tier, but the combined rate is roughly 6.6%. Standard earns its place through scheduling capability — round robin, service bookings, analytics — not through payment cost.
Above ¥110,000 a month, SailLab's Professional plan becomes cheaper than SelectType's Basic; it passes the free plan at ¥154,000. The "0% commission" claim applies only to the Professional plan, and Stripe's roughly 3.6% still applies on top. Tier details are on the pricing page.
Running the numbers on your own figures
Three steps convert all of the above into your own answer.
- Check the limits first. Do you need bookings more than 7 days out, or a second person handling reception? Either one settles the plan question before any fee arithmetic starts.
- Work out what you actually process online each month. Not total revenue — only the portion paid by card through the booking system. Cash and direct transfers are outside this calculation.
- Divide the subscription by the difference in rates. Free versus Basic is ¥1,650 ÷ 0.007 ≈ ¥236,000. The only question is whether your processed volume clears it.
For building the form itself, see how to build a booking form; for using prepayment to cut no-shows, see booking systems with prepayment. For classes and schools specifically, see how education providers use SailLab.
You can create a free SailLab plan here (no credit card required).
Ken Morimoto ／ SailLab Editorial
Writes for SailLab Editorial on running bookings and scheduling with the tools already on hand — Google Calendar, Google Forms, Excel, Teams — and where each one stops.
Automate your booking flow with SailLab
Calendar sync, automatic reminders, and prepaid bookings — all in one booking page. The Free plan takes 3 minutes to set up, no credit card required.