About

For freelancers, e-commerce merchants, and agency owners, the gap between the amount invoiced and the amount that actually lands in the bank account can be shocking. Payment processors like PayPal, Stripe, and Wise levy a combination of percentage-based commissions and fixed transaction fees that eat into profit margins. In high-volume businesses, these micro-costs aggregate into significant revenue leakage.

Accuracy in fee calculation is not just about bookkeeping; it is about pricing strategy. If you quote a client $1,000 but fail to account for the 2.9% + $0.30 standard processing fee, you are effectively giving an unauthorized discount on every transaction. This tool solves that problem by offering both standard fee calculation (how much will I lose?) and reverse calculation (how much should I charge to net my target amount?). It aggregates current fee structures for major gateways to ensure your invoices cover the cost of doing business.

Formulas

To ensure you receive the exact Net Amount, you must calculate the Invoice Total (Gross) by accounting for the processor's deduction logic mathematically.

Gross = Net + FixedFee1 − Rate

Where Rate is the percentage expressed as a decimal (e.g., 2.9% = 0.029).

Reference Data

Processor	Standard Rate (Domestic)	Fixed Fee	Intl. Surcharge	Settlement Time
Stripe	2.9%	$0.30	+1.5%	2 Days
PayPal (Standard)	2.99%	$0.49	+1.50%	Instant/1 Day
Wise (Transfer)	~0.4% - 0.6%	Varies	Included	1-2 Days
Square	2.6%	$0.10	N/A	1-2 Days
Authorize.net	2.9%	$0.30	1.5%	2-3 Days
Shopify Payments	2.9%	$0.30	Varies	2-3 Days
Venmo (Business)	1.9%	$0.10	N/A	Instant
Manual ACH	0.8% (Capped $5)	$0.00	N/A	3-5 Days

Frequently Asked Questions

When you use the reverse calculation, the fee is applied to the *new, higher* total amount, not the original net amount. For example, if you want to net $100, you can't just add $3 (3%). If you charge $103, the 3% fee is taken from $103 (which is $3.09), leaving you with $99.91. The formula mathematically compensates for this recursive effect.

The standard presets (Stripe, PayPal) usually cover domestic transaction fees. If you are accepting international payments, most processors add a cross-border fee (often +1% to +1.5%) and a currency conversion spread. You should manually increase the percentage rate in the tool to account for this if the payer is abroad.

Generally, no. The fixed fee (e.g., $0.30 or $0.49) is a static cost per transaction regardless of whether the payment is $5 or $5,000. This makes small transactions disproportionately expensive. For micro-transactions, look for processors offering 'micropayment' rates (usually 5% + $0.05).

Yes. Select 'Custom' and input the ACH rates. ACH fees are often capped (e.g., 0.8% with a cap of $5.00). If your processor has a cap, this tool will calculate the percentage; you may need to manually verify if the calculated fee exceeds the cap.