Vendor pricing · verified September 2026
Seattle's delivery commission cap in 2026
Seattle was the first US city to cap delivery commissions, by emergency order in 2020, and one of the first to make the cap permanent. Council Bill 120379, sponsored by Councilmembers Alex Pedersen and Dan Strauss, passed unanimously on August 2, 2022 and became Ordinance 126639, codified as Seattle Municipal Code chapter 7.30, Delivery Commission Caps, effective November 30, 2022. A third-party delivery platform may not charge a Seattle restaurant more than 15% of the order for delivery services, and it may not reduce driver compensation to make up the difference. Washington State's own cap, Governor Inslee's pandemic Proclamation 20-76 at 15% for delivery and 18% total, was rescinded before the June 30, 2021 reopening, so Seattle's ordinance is the cap that applies today.
Sources: Seattle City Council press release of August 2, 2022; the City's Finance and Administrative Services summary of Ordinance 126639 and SMC 7.30; GeekWire on the rescinded state proclamation. Read September 2026. This page describes the law; it is not legal advice.
What the ordinance says
Seattle capped delivery commissions before anyone else did, by emergency order in 2020, and it is one of the few cities whose permanent version did not get watered down afterwards. Council Bill 120379 passed unanimously on August 2, 2022, became Ordinance 126639, and took effect on November 30, 2022 as chapter 7.30 of the Seattle Municipal Code.
The rule itself is short: a third-party platform may not charge a Seattle restaurant more than 15% of the order for delivery services. What makes it stronger than the equivalent laws in San Francisco and Washington DC is that the ordinance does not create an opt-out tier a restaurant can be sold upward into. There is no enhanced-services carve-out written into it.
It also closes a loophole the other cities left open. Platforms are barred from reducing driver compensation in order to comply with the cap, so the cost of the law cannot simply be pushed onto the person carrying the food. That clause is the reason Seattle's ordinance is usually described as one of the strictest in the country.
| Provision | Detail |
|---|---|
| Law | Ordinance 126639 (Council Bill 120379), SMC chapter 7.30 |
| Passed | August 2, 2022, unanimous |
| Effective | November 30, 2022 |
| Cap | 15% of the order for delivery services |
| Driver pay | platforms may not reduce driver compensation to comply |
| State cap | none in force; Proclamation 20-76 (15% delivery, 18% total) was rescinded in June 2021 |
The 15% covers delivery services. Ask the platform which charges on your statement fall inside that definition and which, such as marketing or processing, sit outside it.
What a $40 order costs a Seattle restaurant
A point of confusion worth clearing up: Washington State does not cap delivery commissions today. Governor Inslee's Proclamation 20-76 limited delivery fees to 15% and total fees to 18% during the pandemic, but it was rescinded ahead of the state's June 30, 2021 reopening. Seattle's city ordinance is the rule in force, and it applies to orders delivered to Seattle addresses.
What the cap is worth in practice: on a $40 delivery order a Seattle restaurant pays $6.00, against $10.00 on DoorDash's national Plus plan. That is $4 a ticket, which at thirty delivery orders a week is about $6,200 a year that stays in the restaurant because of where it happens to be.
| Arrangement | Legal maximum | Cost on a $40 order | Who pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketplace delivery, at the cap | 15% | $6.00 | restaurant |
| Same order outside Seattle on DoorDash Plus | 25% (published national plan) | $10.00 | restaurant |
| Ginger Direct, your own site | no commission; card processing as low as 2% + 5¢ | about $0.85 | restaurant pays processing; guest pays a $1 order fee |
Seattle's cap saves a restaurant $4 on a $40 delivery order compared with DoorDash's national Plus plan. Moving the same order to your own site saves about $5.15 more.
How to tell which tier you are actually on
None of this helps if you do not know which arrangement your restaurant is signed up to, and that is more common than it sounds. Tier changes are often made in a phone call, described in terms of the marketing they add rather than the percentage they cost, and they show up afterwards as a different number on a statement nobody reads line by line.
The check takes ten minutes. Open a full month of payout statements, add every charge the platform deducted, and divide by the subtotal those charges were calculated on. That percentage is your real rate, and it is the only number worth comparing against the cap. Then ask your account manager, in writing, which tier you are on, what the capped tier includes, and what changes if you move to it.
The wider point is that a cap limits what a platform may charge on the orders it brings you. It does nothing about the orders you could have taken yourself. A repeat customer who already knows your name costs the same commission as a stranger the app introduced, which is why the cheapest response to any commission rate is to move the second order onto a channel you own.
Frequently asked questions
What is Seattle's delivery commission cap?
15% of the order for delivery services, under Ordinance 126639, codified as Seattle Municipal Code chapter 7.30. It passed unanimously on August 2, 2022 and took effect November 30, 2022.
Is Seattle's cap permanent?
Yes. The 2020 emergency cap was made permanent by Council Bill 120379, which became Ordinance 126639 effective November 30, 2022.
Does Washington State cap delivery commissions?
Not today. Governor Inslee's Proclamation 20-76 capped delivery fees at 15% and total fees at 18% during the pandemic, but it was rescinded ahead of the June 30, 2021 reopening. Seattle's ordinance is the cap in force.
Can platforms cut driver pay to stay under the cap?
No. SMC 7.30 bars a platform from reducing driver compensation to comply with the 15% cap.
How does direct ordering compare with Seattle's cap?
Orders from your own site carry no commission. With Ginger Direct a restaurant pays card processing as low as 2% + 5¢, about 85 cents on a $40 order, and the guest pays a $1 order fee; there is no monthly fee. The same order costs $6.00 at Seattle's 15% cap and $10.00 on DoorDash's national Plus plan.
Compare it against a system with no monthly fee
Ginger is $0 a month with online ordering, no contract, interchange-plus processing as low as 2% + 5¢, and the Box, up to two printers and a card terminal included for restaurants over $40,000 a month in card volume. The live demo opens in your browser with no signup.