ToolsPayment processor fees

Which of your payment processors keeps the most of each dollar?

For freelancers, service firms, shops and nonprofits paid through two or more of Stripe, PayPal, Square and Shopify Payments. Drop each one’s own export for the same dates and see what each took in for you and the fees it kept, side by side, with every sum shown. The fees in your files, not anyone’s price list, and not advice on which processor to use.

Sample payments, July to September

A small business’s Stripe, PayPal and Square exports, all made up for this demo

What your 3 processors kept, of each dollar

3.24…%

From 1 July to 30 September, Stripe, Square and PayPal took in $78,102.00 for you and kept $2,537.17 of it, 3.24…%. PayPal kept the most of each dollar, $329.58 of $9,273.50, 3.55…%, then Stripe, $1,484.54 of $43,678.50, 3.39…%, and Square, $723.05 of $25,150.00, 2.87…%.

3.24…% = $2,537.17 kept ÷ $78,102.00 taken in.

$102.97 of Stripe’s is fees it charged apart from your payments, for Billing.

Refunds gave $938.00 back to your customers, $174.00 through PayPal, $681.00 through Stripe and $83.00 through Square. They are not taken off what each took in.

Disputes took $295.00 back through Stripe.

What each kept, of each dollar

PayPal$329.58 kept ÷ $9,273.50 taken in3.55…%
Stripe$1,484.54 kept ÷ $43,678.50 taken in3.39…%
Square$723.05 kept ÷ $25,150.00 taken in2.87…%

Each processor, the most kept of each dollar first

Processor	Payments	Took in for youbefore refunds	Fees it charged	Fees it gave back	It keptcharged − given back	Kept of each dollarkept ÷ taken in	Refunded to customers
PayPalActivity downloadfrom 1 July to 30 September	37	$9,273.5037 payments added up	$329.58	None	$329.58	3.55…%$329.58 kept÷ $9,273.50 taken in	$174.00
Stripeitemized balance exportfrom 1 July to 30 September	268	$43,678.50268 payments added up	$1,484.54	None	$1,484.54	3.39…%$1,484.54 kept÷ $43,678.50 taken in	$681.00
SquareTransactions CSVfrom 1 July to 30 September	451	$25,150.00451 payments added up	$723.05	None	$723.05	2.87…%$723.05 kept÷ $25,150.00 taken in	$83.00
All 3	756	$78,102.00	$2,537.17	None	$2,537.17	3.24…%$2,537.17 kept÷ $78,102.00 taken in	$938.00

What each fee came to

Processor	Fee	Rows	Charged	Given back	Keptcharged − given back
PayPal	On payments	37	$329.58	None	$329.58
Stripe	On payments	268	$1,366.57	None	$1,366.57
Stripe	On disputes	1	$15.00	None	$15.00
Stripe	Billinga fee on a row of its own	49	$102.97	None	$102.97
Square	On payments	451	$723.05	None	$723.05

Rows not counted as money in or out, and why

Processor	In your fileits own word for the row	Why it is not counted	Rows	Fees on themin what it kept
PayPal	General Withdrawal	Money moved to or from your bank or another account	11	None
PayPal	Express Checkout Payment	Money you paid out	1	None
PayPal	General Withdrawal	Not completed	1	None
PayPal	Payment Hold	A hold or reserve, and its release	1	None
PayPal	Payment Release	A hold or reserve, and its release	1	None
Square	Payment	Paid in cash or another way Square did not process	65	None

What this counts

Took in is every payment before refunds. Refunds and disputes are shown apart and never taken off it.
Kept is every fee the processor charged in your file, less any it gave back, on payments, refunds and disputes, and on rows of their own, such as Stripe’s Billing and Radar fees.
Kept of each dollar is what a processor kept divided by what it took in, cut after two decimals and never rounded, so “…” means it goes on.
Each currency is kept apart, never converted. PayPal charges for converting currencies inside its exchange rate, so that cost is not in its file and not here.
Fees billed outside these files are not here, such as Shopify’s plan, apps and third-party fees on its bill, Square’s plan, and Stripe fees paid from fee credits or invoiced.
Square’s cash, gift cards and other tender are money Square never processed, so they are left out of what it took in.
This compares what each processor kept in your files’ dates, not why. One can keep more of each dollar because of the cards your customers use, or where they pay from.

Also in your file

File 1 is Stripe’s itemized balance export, 322 rows from 1 July to 30 September.
File 2 is PayPal’s Activity download, 54 rows from 1 July to 30 September.
File 3 is Square’s Transactions CSV, 518 rows from 1 July to 30 September.

Runs in your browser. Your file is never uploaded.Want every processor’s fees in your books every month, without the exports? Talk to us

More tools

All 30 tools