{{ summaryHeading }} {{ summaryPrimary }} {{ summaryLine }} Preset {{ selectedPresetLabel }} Fee {{ money(values.processor_fee_per_payment_usd) }} Effective {{ percent(values.effective_rate_percent) }}
Choose whether the amount is charged to the customer or received by the seller.
Select a USD baseline, then edit the percentage or fixed fee to match your account.
{{ amountHelp }}
$ USD
Totals assume every payment has the same amount and fee schedule.
payments
Verify your dashboard or contract; the selected public rate may not match your account.
%
Enter the fixed part of the fee schedule in USD.
$ per payment
Zero keeps the public base rate unchanged; only add a surcharge that actually applies.
%
Use for a known gateway, platform, or manual-entry flat charge not already included above.
$per payment
Applied before the optional cap and final cent rounding.
$per payment
When both rules are set, the minimum applies first and the cap applies second.
$per payment
The calculation allocates this amount equally across all modeled payments.
$per period
MeasurePer paymentTotalMeaningCopy
{{ row.measure }}{{ row.perPayment }}{{ row.total }}{{ row.meaning }}

Rate and gross-up notes

Calculation order

Percentage + fixed + allocated cost is adjusted by the optional minimum and cap, then rounded to the nearest cent.

Target-deposit mode searches whole-cent customer charges and returns the smallest charge whose rounded fee leaves at least the target.

Public-rate boundary

The named presets are public US list-rate anchors checked on 13 August 2026.

Your effective fee can differ by country, currency, card type, payment method, platform plan, dispute protection, risk product, tax treatment, and negotiated pricing. Verify the actual account schedule before quoting or passing on a fee.

Comparison scope

Every comparison bar uses the current amount, add-on percentage, add-on fixed fee, monthly allocation, and nearest-cent fee rounding.

The Entered rate bar also uses your minimum and cap. Named public card presets use their documented base percentage and fixed fee without borrowing the entered minimum or cap.

Passing on fees

Processor terms and local card-surcharge rules may restrict what can be added to a customer charge. Treat the gross-up as arithmetic, not legal authorization.

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Payment processing charges usually combine a percentage of the customer charge with a fixed amount for each payment. The fixed part makes small payments proportionally expensive: a $0.30 charge is 3% of a $10 sale before the percentage fee is added, but only 0.3% of a $100 sale.

There are two useful questions. A seller may know the customer charge and want the fee and net deposit, or know the deposit needed and want the smallest charge that leaves at least that amount after fees. The second question is a gross-up, and it cannot be solved reliably by simply adding the advertised percentage because the fee itself is calculated from the higher customer charge.

Account pricing can include more than a headline rate. International or manually entered cards, currency conversion, platform charges, minimum fees, caps, monthly gateway costs, and negotiated rates can all change the result. A provider comparison is meaningful only when payment method, country, currency, plan, and add-ons match the intended transaction.

The arithmetic supports quotes, margin reviews, and pricing scenarios. It is not financial or legal advice, and a gross-up does not establish that passing a processing cost to a customer is permitted. Processor terms, card-network rules, disclosure requirements, and local law may restrict surcharges.

How to Use This Tool:

Choose the question first, then make the fee schedule match the account and payment type before comparing providers.

  1. Select Customer charge to find the fee and deposit, or Target deposit to find the smallest whole-cent charge that reaches a required net amount.
  2. Choose a processor preset, enter the USD amount, and set Equal payments. A count above one multiplies the same per-payment amount and schedule; it does not model a mix of ticket sizes.
  3. Confirm the percentage and fixed fee against the actual dashboard or contract. Add only surcharges that apply to the modeled payment.
  4. Open Advanced for a second fixed charge, minimum fee, fee cap, or monthly cost allocated across the entered payment count.
  5. Review the per-payment fee, net received, effective rate, and provider comparison. Treat named presets as dated US public-rate anchors, not a quote for your account.

Interpreting Results:

Processor fee is the rounded per-payment deduction after any minimum or cap. Net received is customer charge minus that fee. Effective rate divides the final fee by the customer charge, so it captures both percentage and fixed costs in one comparable number.

  • Compare total fees only when every row represents the same charge or target deposit, payment count, currency, add-ons, and monthly allocation.
  • A minimum fee raises the effective rate most sharply on small payments. A cap lowers the effective rate as payment size grows beyond the cap threshold.
  • In target-deposit mode, the returned customer charge is the smallest cent whose rounded fee leaves at least the target. The effective rate is based on that grossed-up charge.
  • Monthly cost is divided evenly across the modeled payments. A different real transaction count changes the allocated per-payment cost.

Technical Details:

Money inputs are converted to whole cents at the calculation boundary. Percentage arithmetic may produce a fractional cent, but the final adjusted fee rounds to the nearest cent. The fee can never be negative or exceed the customer charge.

Formula Core:

Let G be the customer charge in cents, r the combined percentage rate, and F the sum of the base fixed fee, add-on fixed fee, and allocated monthly cost. The raw fee is:

Feeraw=G×r100+F

When enabled, the minimum is applied first and the cap second. Let M be the minimum, C the cap, and Fraw the raw fee. A zero value disables its rule:

Fminimum={max(Fraw,M)if M is greater than zeroFrawif M equals zero,Fadjusted={min(Fminimum,C)if C is greater than zeroFminimumif C equals zero

The adjusted fee rounds to the nearest cent and is constrained from zero through the customer charge. Net and effective rate then follow directly:

Net=G−Fee,Rateeffective=FeeG×100

Rule Core:

Gross-up uses a whole-cent search rather than an unrounded closed-form approximation. Starting at the target deposit, it finds the smallest customer charge whose final rounded net is at least the target.

Gtarget=min{G∈whole cents:G−Fee(G)≥Ntarget}

Lookup Core:

The named presets provide dated percentage-and-fixed-fee pairs for a specific US payment channel. They are comparison anchors; choosing a preset does not add unlisted international, conversion, risk, or platform charges.

PresetPercentageFixed USD
Stripe domestic online card2.90%$0.30
PayPal Checkout3.49%$0.49
PayPal card payment2.99%$0.49
Square in-person card2.60%$0.15
Square online card3.30%$0.30
Shopify Basic online card2.90%$0.30
Shopify Grow online card2.70%$0.30
Shopify Advanced online card2.50%$0.30

These US list-rate anchors were checked on 13 August 2026; the PayPal schedule is dated 15 July 2026. Provider-comparison rows reuse the current amount, add-ons, monthly allocation, and rounding. Named presets do not inherit the entered minimum or cap; a custom comparison does.

Accuracy and Legal Notes:

Use the current fee schedule for the exact account, country, currency, payment method, card type, and platform plan. Public rates can change and may exclude international, conversion, dispute, risk, subscription, or third-party platform charges.

  • Totals assume every modeled payment has the same charge and fee schedule.
  • Allocated monthly cost is an analytical choice, not necessarily a processor transaction fee.
  • Check processor terms and applicable surcharge law before adding any gross-up to a customer's bill.

Worked Examples:

Known customer charge

At 2.9% + $0.30, a $120 charge produces a $3.78 fee and a $116.22 deposit. The effective rate is 3.15%, higher than 2.9% because the fixed $0.30 is included. Across 25 equal payments, total fees are $94.50.

Required $120 deposit

Using the same schedule in target-deposit mode, the smallest customer charge is $123.89. Its rounded $3.89 fee leaves exactly $120. For three equal payments, the modeled fees total $11.67; permission to charge customers that difference must be checked separately.

References: