Topic hub
Payment Gateways
Payment gateway fees look small per transaction and large at month end. A 0.4% difference in effective rate quietly compounds into thousands a year for a small business — and headline pricing is rarely the real cost. This hub explains how processing fees actually work, where chargebacks and international payments add hidden cost, and how to compare providers like Stripe, PayPal, Wise, SumUp, and Adyen using your real volume rather than marketing pages. Start with the Payment Gateway Optimizer to see your effective rate, then read the guides below to interpret the result.
Payment gateway essentials
How payment fees work, and how to stop overpaying
Most small businesses underestimate payment cost because they read headline rates instead of effective rates. Start with the payment gateway fee calculator to see your real effective rate, then read the explainers below to understand what is moving the number.
Fee mechanics, in plain English
Hidden cost, providers, and margin impact
Supporting vocabulary
Useful terms when reading provider statements: payment gateway, processing fee, transaction fee, chargeback, international payment, refund rate.
Start with the tool
Run this in five minutes to get a concrete number or draft.
Read the guides
Plain-English explainers for the questions that come up most often in payment gateways.
When payment gateway pricing looks cheap but isn't
A decision-support page for reading calculator results: the situations where the apparent cheapest provider ends up the most expensive choice.
Refunds, chargebacks, and hidden payment costs
Why total payment cost is bigger than the processing fee — and how refunds, chargebacks, FX, and operational time fit into the real number.
Fixed fee vs percentage fee explained
Why low-ticket and high-ticket businesses experience the same fee structure completely differently — and how to spot which side of the line you are on.
What affects your effective payment fee rate
Headline rate is one of six or seven things that decide what you actually pay. Here is what changes the effective rate and by how much.
How to compare payment providers without guessing
A repeatable framework for comparing payment providers using the inputs that actually matter — volume, AOV, refunds, chargebacks, international mix.
Key terms
The vocabulary you will run into in tools, contracts, and statements.
Editorial insights
Common mistakes and the reasoning behind the numbers.
When cheap payment fees are not actually cheap
The lowest headline rate is sometimes the most expensive choice. A look at the hidden costs that make 'cheap' providers expensive on the wrong transaction profile.
How small payment costs compound over time
A 0.4 percent gap on payment fees looks negligible at a transaction level. Over years and through reinvestment, it changes the size of the business.
Why payment fees quietly eat margin
Payment fees are the SMB cost line that grows fastest with revenue and gets reviewed least often. Here is what to watch.
Common questions
- Which gateway is cheapest?
- There is no single cheapest gateway — it depends on your average order value, international share, and channel mix. Run the Payment Gateway Optimizer with your actual numbers rather than relying on headline rates.
- Why do international card payments cost more?
- Cross-border interchange fees are higher and most providers add a 1–1.5% surcharge on top of the domestic rate. Currency conversion is a separate fee on payout in many cases.
- Are chargebacks worth worrying about?
- Yes. A single chargeback fee is often $15–25 and excessive chargebacks can lead to higher rates or account suspension. The chargeback glossary entry explains what to do when one lands.