Such a company will sell future payments for small percentage fee and will receive all money they need to continue the work without delays.

The company saves $270 a month on disposal costs and the waste service collects a percentage fee of the first year's savings.

"We don't have a percentage fee in the back of our mind," she said.

The continued use of percentage fees after the giant rise in prices is perplexing.

He took egregiously large percentage fees and embezzled money earmarked for charity.

If the market worked according to Adam Smith, however, one would expect the percentage fee to vary with the size and likelihood of the payout.

In addition, sellers pay a percentage fee for each book sold via the websites.

None the less, the subtly corruptive potential of a percentage fee system, especially in our enterprise culture, is not hard to imagine.

Institutional investors complained of high percentage fees levied on transactions.

The total volume of payments processed - on which eBay earns a percentage fee - was $11.36 billion, up 30 percent.