How we're paid.
Most firms in this industry make you guess how they earn their money. We'd rather you know — because once you understand the economics of technology buying, you understand why an advisor on your side of the table costs you nothing extra and changes the outcome.
The short version.
Unravyl has two sources of revenue. Clients pay engagement fees for advisory work — assessments, audits, negotiations, and implementation support, priced and agreed before the work begins. And carriers and suppliers compensate us through partner programs when clients choose solutions through our channel relationships. When a recommendation involves an option that compensates us, we tell you. That’s the whole model. No hidden margin, no resold products marked up under our name, no platform you’re required to buy.
The buyer's agent analogy — because it's exactly how this works.
When you buy a house, the seller’s side prices the commission into the transaction whether you bring an agent or not. Show up without one, and the listing side keeps it all. Bring your own agent, and part of that built-in cost goes to someone whose job is representing you.
Technology buying works the same way. Carriers and suppliers build distribution cost into their pricing — it funds their direct sales teams, their dealers, and their channel partners, and it’s in the rates whether you use an advisor or not. Buy direct, and the carrier keeps that cost as margin or pays its own salesperson. Buy through Unravyl, and part of that built-in distribution cost compensates the party working your side of the table — running the competitive process, benchmarking the pricing, and negotiating the terms.
You don’t pay more because we’re involved. In our experience, you pay less — because the person the distribution economics are funding is finally the one negotiating against the list price instead of defending it.
How to use these tools.
Every tool works the same way: enter the numbers from the quotes and invoices in front of you, and the tool shows the true cost — normalized so unlike offers become comparable. Nothing is prefilled with vendor pricing, because vendor pricing changes monthly and your agreement is the only one that matters. Nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere.
Enterprise Mobility True Cost Calculator
Compare carrier offers side by side — line tiers, discounts, credits, device costs, BYOD, and bonuses included. See the true monthly cost per line.
POTS Replacement Savings Calculator
Analog line pricing climbs every year as copper retires. See what disconnecting unused lines and migrating the rest saves — with payback timing.
Internet & Circuit True Cost Comparison
Compare DIA, Ethernet, wavelength, and broadband quotes — access charges, escalators, and credits included. True monthly cost and cost per Mbps.
Business Voice Cost Comparison
Legacy voice is being sunset. Compare SIP trunking, Teams Phone, and UCaaS quotes — DIDs, toll-free, and licensing included.
What we disclose, and when.
When a recommendation compensates us
If an option we put in front of you compensates Unravyl through a supplier or channel program, we say so at the time of the recommendation — not in fine print afterward.
When you ask
Any client can ask at any time how a given option compensates us, and gets a direct answer. There is no question about our economics we won't take.
When options differ
When we present multiple options and they compensate us differently — or some not at all — the comparison you receive is built on fit for your environment. The compensation difference never reorders the list.
In our agreements
Engagement fees are stated in writing before work begins. There are no contingent charges you discover later, and no invoice for renegotiating the contracts that produced your spend.
What we don't do.
We don’t sell or resell software, licenses, or hardware under our own name. We don’t require a platform purchase to begin an engagement. We don’t accept compensation arrangements that would require us to steer volume to a specific vendor. And we don’t present a compensated option as the only path when a no-cost path exists — if the honest answer is “do nothing” or “handle it internally,” that’s the answer you get.
Why this model works in your favor.
Independence is about judgment, not the absence of compensation. A firm that claims to have no economic relationships in this industry either has no market access or isn’t telling you the truth. Our channel relationships across hundreds of suppliers are precisely what let us run a real competitive process on your behalf — every serious option on the table, benchmarked and negotiated, without you managing twenty vendor relationships to get there. The economics that fund that access were already built into the pricing. The only question is whether they fund someone selling to you, or someone representing you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I pay you and does the vendor also pay you on the same deal?
Sometimes, depending on the engagement structure — and when that's the case, you'll know. Advisory work is covered by engagement fees agreed up front. Supplier compensation, where it applies to an option you choose, is disclosed at the recommendation. Neither is hidden inside the other.
Doesn't supplier compensation bias your recommendations?
It's the right question to ask any advisor — and the honest answer is that the protection is disclosure plus structure, not denial. Recommendations are built from your requirements and benchmarked against the market before economics enter the picture, compensation differences never reorder options, and you can always ask how any option pays us. A firm that says "we take nothing from anyone" is describing a firm with no market access.
Why not just charge fees and refuse all supplier compensation?
Because it would make you pay twice for the same thing. The distribution cost is already in the carrier's pricing — refusing it doesn't lower your rate, it just leaves that money with the carrier while you fund the advisory work entirely from fees. The buyer's-agent structure puts the industry's own distribution economics to work on your side.
Is this the same as being a reseller?
No. Resellers take title to products, mark them up, and bill you under their own name — their margin lives inside your invoice. We don't resell anything. Your contracts are directly with your chosen providers at directly negotiated rates, and our compensation is visible rather than embedded.
