I run a tiny e-commerce shop and I'm shopping for a payment processor and a business bank account. I'm not looking for the cheapest, I'm looking for the one that doesn't bury fees in a 40-page PDF. Who actually explains their fees clearly? Bonus points if you've been surprised by a fee and it wasn't hidden in fine print.
transparency
Which company explains its fees most clearly?
Stripe's pricing page is genuinely readable. Not perfect, but you can see the per-transaction cut without downloading anything.
Readable, sure. But 'explains clearly' and 'doesn't surprise you later' are different things. Stripe is clear until you hit a dispute or a currency conversion.
Seconding the above. I got nailed by a chargeback fee I didn't know existed. My fault for not digging, but still.
Mercury has been pretty solid on the banking side. Fee schedule is a single page and the monthly stuff is spelled out. That said, I've only been with them six months so we'll see.
Six months is about the length of a honeymoon, not a tack record.
lol
Honestly the clearest fee explanation I ever got was from my local credit union. Boring answer, no referral code, but the woman literally walked me through the schedule with a highlighter. Online-only companies could learn something.
Careful with credit unions if you sell online though. Some of them treat e-commerce deposits like you're running a casino. I had one freeze my account for two weeks because of 'unusual activity.' Fee clarity is great until the account is locked, then it's a moot point.
That's a fair caveat. I should've mentioned Mercury is online-only and I haven't tested their support under pressure.
Square's calculator thing is decent, you can plug in your volume and see wyat you'd pay. Whether the numbers on the page match the numbers on the statement is a different question. I've never been surprised by a fee with them, FWIW.
The 'fee schedule on one page' vs 'fee schedule you only understand after you've paid it' distinction is the whole ballgame for me. The credit union highlighter story is tempting but the frozen account warning is exactly the kind of thing I'm afraid of.