Guide

After Stripe fees, what’s left in your pocket?

The checkout shows one amount. Your Stripe balance usually shows less. Card pricing is typically a percent plus a fixed fee per charge. On small tickets, that fixed piece dominates—and your effective rate climbs.

Indie sellers often price from a round number that “looks right” on the landing page. Then they are surprised when a five-dollar add-on leaves almost nothing after fees. The surprise is the fixed fee doing more work than the percent. See it before you publish the price, not after the first payout.

Feecut is for rough math: gross after fees, or “I need this net—what gross should I charge?” Calculations stay local. Presets are illustrative—not your contracted price.

1. Percent + fixed fee

Most card pricing looks like: take a percentage of the charge, then add a flat amount per transaction. Exact figures depend on country, category, and your agreement. The tool shows structure presets; put your dashboard rates in when you need precision. We do not hard-code unverified fee tables in this article.

Once you see both pieces, you understand why a “low percent” can still hurt on tiny carts.

Write your dashboard rate on a sticky note: percent and fixed. When you change country or product category, update the note. Feecut presets are a starting shape. Your agreement is the source of truth for precision.

2. Forward: gross → net

You already know what you charge the customer (gross). Estimate what roughly remains after fees.

Open Feecut, pick a Stripe-oriented preset (or your custom numbers), enter gross, read estimated net. Useful before you lock package prices. [email protected]

Indie workflow that works well:

List every SKU price you plan to show.
Run forward estimates for the lowest and the main SKU.
If the low SKU’s estimated net is painful, raise it, bundle it, or drop it—do not hope volume will fix a broken unit.
Only then wire the checkout amounts.

3. Reverse: target net → required gross

Sometimes you care about pocket net first. Feecut supports reverse estimates. A product-known relationship:

Gross = (Net + fixed) ÷ (1 − rate)

Write the percent as a decimal. Plug in your contracted rate from the dashboard—not a blog rumor.

Use reverse when you sell services or digital goods with a clear cost floor (hosting, support time, COGS). Decide the net you need, reverse to gross, then round for marketing. Rounding up is common; rounding down without re-checking net is how thin margins appear.

4. Small tickets → higher effective rate

Fixed fees do not shrink with the cart. The smaller the gross, the larger the fixed fee as a share of the charge—so effective rate rises.

Low-priced digital goods, tips, and trial charges deserve a second look: don’t stop at the marketing percent. Decide whether to raise price or set a floor.

If you run trials that charge a token amount, estimate that token charge on its own. Many teams look healthy on the main plan and bleed on trial and tip lines. Feecut’s same-gross compare across presets makes that visible without a spreadsheet.

5. Same gross vs PayPal / Square

At one gross, different processors show different structures. Feecut’s on-site table is for comparing shapes (Stripe / PayPal / Square and related presets; custom rates for channels without a universal public schedule). See FC-2 and FC-3.

Use the table to understand structure—not to freeze forever which processor you “must” use.

Buyer trust, payout speed, and dispute tooling also matter. Lowest estimated fee on a mid ticket is not always the cheapest ops path. Use Feecut for the fee shape; decide the stack with the rest of your checklist.

6. Out of scope

Presets here do not include chargebacks, installment costs, tax ladders, or FX conversion promises. Estimate in the currency you actually receive.

App-store commission is a different line—Storecut.

If you sell both on the web and through app stores, keep processor fees and store commission in separate notes. Mixing them into one “platform cut” hides which lever you can change.

FAQ

Is the preset my contracted rate?
No. Dashboard and agreement win.

Does Feecut convert FX?
No. Estimate in your receive currency.

Are charges uploaded?
Local calculation—no upload of your transaction file for this math.

WeChat / Alipay?
Use custom rates. We don’t invent “official universal” schedules.

Disclaimer

Illustrative structure—not a quote. Follow your processor agreement and dashboard. [email protected]