Chargeback and Dispute Fees: What PayPal, Stripe and Square Charge Sellers
Chargeback and Dispute Fees: What PayPal, Stripe and Square Charge Sellers One customer dispute can cost you $20 at PayPal, $15 at Stripe, and $0 at Square — and the fee is only the start. The disputed sale itself is clawed back too, so a single $100 order can turn into a $120 loss in […]
Can You Pass Credit Card Fees to Customers? Surcharging Rules for Sellers
Can You Pass Credit Card Fees to Customers? Surcharging Rules for Sellers Yes — in most of the United States you can add a surcharge when a customer pays by credit card. But the freedom comes with hard limits: the surcharge cannot exceed 3% of the transaction, it can never be applied to debit or […]
Black Friday $100 Sale: What PayPal, Stripe and Square Actually Take in 2026
Black Friday $100 Sale: What PayPal, Stripe and Square Actually Take in 2026 On a $100 Black Friday sale, Stripe leaves you the most money: $96.80 after its 2.9% plus $0.30 fee. Square takes $3.60, so you keep $96.40. PayPal Checkout takes the most at $3.98, leaving you $96.02. The difference on a single order […]
Marketplace Fees Plus Processing Fees: Why Your Platform Takes Two Cuts, Not One
Marketplace Fees Plus Processing Fees: Why Your Platform Takes Two Cuts, Not One Every marketplace sale is charged twice: once by the platform that brought you the buyer, and once by the payment system that moves the money. On a typical $60 eBay sale, those two cuts together remove about $9.57 — roughly 16% of […]
Selling Internationally? The Cross-Border and Currency Fees That Stack on Every Sale
Selling Internationally? The Cross-Border and Currency Fees That Stack on Every Sale When you sell to a customer in another country through PayPal, the total fee is not the domestic rate with a small top-up — it is two separate charges stacked together: an international rate of 4.99% plus $0.49, and, if the payment arrives […]
PayPal Micropayments vs Standard Fees: When the Higher Percentage Wins
PayPal Micropayments vs Standard Fees: When the Higher Percentage Wins If you sell anything online for under about $13, PayPal’s micropayments rate — 4.99% plus $0.09 — will usually leave you with more money than the standard commercial rates, even though the percentage looks higher. The reason is the fixed fee: on small payments, the […]
Reverse Fee Calculator: How to Price So You Keep What You Need After Fees
Here is the pricing mistake almost every new seller makes: you want to keep $100 from a sale, so you list the item at $100 — and then the payment fee comes out, and you actually keep about $96. A reverse fee calculator fixes this by working backwards. Instead of asking “what do I keep […]
Holiday Seller Checklist: Fees, Refunds and Chargebacks to Sort Before the November Rush
If you sell online, November does not forgive sloppy money systems. Before the holiday rush starts, run one checklist: confirm exactly what your payment processor takes from every sale, hold back a reserve for refunds, and tighten the habits that prevent chargebacks. Sellers who do this in early November keep their margins. Sellers who skip […]
Buy Now, Pay Later on Black Friday: The Real Paycheck Calendar
Buy now, pay later feels free at checkout, but a pay-in-4 plan started on Black Friday does not end on Black Friday. The typical plan takes the first payment the moment you buy, then collects three more payments every two weeks — which means a purchase made on Friday, November 27 is still taking money […]