6 ms·

“+33c per transaction” For a B2B SaaS this likely represents a minuscule percentage of the revenue. For a $5/month subscription, this fee alone is more than 6%

dkyc 4y ago
You are right, and I see how that would push up the bill as % of revenue. That being said, this has nothing to do with stripe's software platform which this article focuses on, and all to do with credit card payment fees. Braintree charges "2.59% + $.49 per transaction". PayPal charges "3.49% + $.49 per transaction". Square payments charges "2.9% + $.30 per transaction".
- Dand313 4y ago
  I think they are comparing to MoRs like fastspring or paddle where the % is higher?
- newaccount74 4y ago
  It's important to consider when you compare with App Stores or resellers that charge a flat fee of 15%-30%. Another important factor that is missing is currency exchange rates. I don't know how Stripe handles them, but they always resulted in mysteriously missing money in my experience.
  - withinboredom 4y ago
    Sign you business up for something like Wise and take the money in its original form without conversion fees. In my experience, wiring up webhooks + API on wise to automate back to your own currency is less expensive than stripe. YMMV
- kuschku 4y ago
  Girocard (in person) is 0.25%. GiroPay is 0.09€ per transaction, no matter how large. PayDirekt is 0.35€ per transaction, no matter how large. SEPA Debit is about 0.10€ as well. Why are US-based payment services so fucking expensive?
  - ymolodtsov 4y ago
    Interchange fees were legally limited in the EU, not sure about the UK specifically. The reason why EU banks don't have these fancy premium credit cards with 2/3/5% cashback.
  - mardifoufs 4y ago
    Debit card transactions are basically free in the US too.
  - blntechie 4y ago
    I assume because the US credit card customers are obsessed with reward points and miles and it need to be paid by someone. It's usually the merchants through high MDR. The merchants pass on the costs to the card customers or debit card/cash payers.
    - SeripisChad 4y ago
      Prior to those gimmicks the rates where higher than now. I hoped Google to follow through with their pricing cuts, but yielded rather quickly.
    - fredophile 4y ago
      As a consumer in the US I always pay with a credit card when I can. The businesses have already baked the credit card fees into their pricing so I might as well get a few percent back from my card plus the extra purchase protection, etc.
      - dylan604 4y ago
        There are companies that offer lower prices when paying cash/debit specifically to only charge the credit card fees to those using credit cards. It used to be a big thing in the US at gas stations where they advertised the 2 different prices. I don't know the details, but at some point that stopped happening. I was under the impression some rule change, but it is making a come back. I don't know if some consumer protection laws were made the revoked or whatnot, but it is possible to not have to automatically be charged for credit card fees if you're not using credit.
- GeneralTspoon 4y ago
  PayPal offers a micropayments option (5% + $0.05) - which reduces overall cost for businesses where the fixed fee eats a major part of their revenue.
  - SXX 4y ago
    Is PayPal work for small SaaS at all especially one with micropayments? I fear such business would generate more refunds than usually and PayPal is much worse when it's come to blocking your account and freezing your funds.
- ericd 4y ago
  This is one of the major reasons I think that the lightning network backed by bitcoin could actually be useful, vs the totally useless waste of energy that everyone on here seems to believe it is - the fees are basically a tiny fraction of a cent, and so it could make it economically viable to have payments <$1, which currently isn't really the case with the credit card networks.
  - ivalm 4y ago
    Maybe, but really it would just push credit cards to be cheaper. Fundamentally credit card processing tech is cheaper than lightning network (in terms of compute). Pushing CC to be cheaper ofc is a good in and of itself.
    - ericd 4y ago
      My understanding is that a marginal transaction on lightning is pretty lightweight, so it seems like the compute is kind of a non-issue in both cases? But driving Visa et al to be cheaper sounds like a good outcome. I think it might be hard to get them to give up their current firehose of rent they're extracting by sitting in the middle of so many transactions.
- Terretta 4y ago
  It would be good if people remembered these piecemeal costs when comparing to Google Play or Apple App Store particular in year 2+ of a subscription user. At that point, the mobile app store offering is effectively costing well under 10%.

dkyc 4y ago

You are right, and I see how that would push up the bill as % of revenue. That being said, this has nothing to do with stripe's software platform which this article focuses on, and all to do with credit card payment fees. Braintree charges "2.59% + $.49 per transaction". PayPal charges "3.49% + $.49 per transaction". Square payments charges "2.9% + $.30 per transaction".

Dand313 4y ago
I think they are comparing to MoRs like fastspring or paddle where the % is higher?
newaccount74 4y ago
It's important to consider when you compare with App Stores or resellers that charge a flat fee of 15%-30%. Another important factor that is missing is currency exchange rates. I don't know how Stripe handles them, but they always resulted in mysteriously missing money in my experience.
- withinboredom 4y ago
  Sign you business up for something like Wise and take the money in its original form without conversion fees. In my experience, wiring up webhooks + API on wise to automate back to your own currency is less expensive than stripe. YMMV
kuschku 4y ago
Girocard (in person) is 0.25%. GiroPay is 0.09€ per transaction, no matter how large. PayDirekt is 0.35€ per transaction, no matter how large. SEPA Debit is about 0.10€ as well. Why are US-based payment services so fucking expensive?
- ymolodtsov 4y ago
  Interchange fees were legally limited in the EU, not sure about the UK specifically. The reason why EU banks don't have these fancy premium credit cards with 2/3/5% cashback.
- mardifoufs 4y ago
  Debit card transactions are basically free in the US too.
- blntechie 4y ago
  I assume because the US credit card customers are obsessed with reward points and miles and it need to be paid by someone. It's usually the merchants through high MDR. The merchants pass on the costs to the card customers or debit card/cash payers.
  - SeripisChad 4y ago
    Prior to those gimmicks the rates where higher than now. I hoped Google to follow through with their pricing cuts, but yielded rather quickly.
  - fredophile 4y ago
    As a consumer in the US I always pay with a credit card when I can. The businesses have already baked the credit card fees into their pricing so I might as well get a few percent back from my card plus the extra purchase protection, etc.
    - dylan604 4y ago
      There are companies that offer lower prices when paying cash/debit specifically to only charge the credit card fees to those using credit cards. It used to be a big thing in the US at gas stations where they advertised the 2 different prices. I don't know the details, but at some point that stopped happening. I was under the impression some rule change, but it is making a come back. I don't know if some consumer protection laws were made the revoked or whatnot, but it is possible to not have to automatically be charged for credit card fees if you're not using credit.
GeneralTspoon 4y ago
PayPal offers a micropayments option (5% + $0.05) - which reduces overall cost for businesses where the fixed fee eats a major part of their revenue.
- SXX 4y ago
  Is PayPal work for small SaaS at all especially one with micropayments? I fear such business would generate more refunds than usually and PayPal is much worse when it's come to blocking your account and freezing your funds.
ericd 4y ago
This is one of the major reasons I think that the lightning network backed by bitcoin could actually be useful, vs the totally useless waste of energy that everyone on here seems to believe it is - the fees are basically a tiny fraction of a cent, and so it could make it economically viable to have payments <$1, which currently isn't really the case with the credit card networks.
- ivalm 4y ago
  Maybe, but really it would just push credit cards to be cheaper. Fundamentally credit card processing tech is cheaper than lightning network (in terms of compute). Pushing CC to be cheaper ofc is a good in and of itself.
  - ericd 4y ago
    My understanding is that a marginal transaction on lightning is pretty lightweight, so it seems like the compute is kind of a non-issue in both cases? But driving Visa et al to be cheaper sounds like a good outcome. I think it might be hard to get them to give up their current firehose of rent they're extracting by sitting in the middle of so many transactions.
Terretta 4y ago
It would be good if people remembered these piecemeal costs when comparing to Google Play or Apple App Store particular in year 2+ of a subscription user. At that point, the mobile app store offering is effectively costing well under 10%.