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Cross-border surcharges and currency conversion, stacked — and what removing them is worth.
International cards are the most commonly overlooked line on a processing bill. The surcharge does not replace the base rate — it stacks on top of it, and currency conversion often stacks again.
Paydude surcharges Amex at +0.3%
Excluding Amex, counted above
Stripe surcharges these; Paydude does not
Take these shares from a real statement rather than estimating. Card mix moves the answer more than the headline rate does, which is the entire reason this calculator asks for it.
Paydude is cheaper here at any card mix — even if every single transaction were on a surcharged card, the base rate difference would still cover it.
Annual saving at other Amex + premium shares
Excludes chargeback and dispute fees, where Paydude charges $12 against a $15–$25 norm. Those depend on your dispute rate rather than your volume, so they are left out of the comparison above.
| Component | Cost |
|---|---|
| Base rate 2.9% + 30¢ | $3.20 |
| Cross-border surcharge, ~1.5% | $1.50 |
| Currency conversion, ~1% | $1.00 |
| Total | $5.70 — an effective 5.70% |
The same payment on a domestic card costs $3.20. Nothing about the transaction is harder; the card was simply issued somewhere else.
Cross-border fees do not appear as a separate line on most statements — they are folded into the total, which is why a business with growing international sales often sees its effective rate drift upward with no apparent cause.
Export with the issuing country or BIN included — most processors expose this.
A customer living in your country can hold a card issued elsewhere, and it is the card that decides the fee.
That share is what drives the surcharge.
At 30% international and a 1.5% surcharge, that is 0.45% of all your volume, before conversion costs.
Then run it through the calculator above, or through the effective rate calculator if you would rather start from a real statement total.
GOOD QUESTIONS
A surcharge applied when the card was issued in a different country from the merchant. It typically adds 1–1.5% on top of the base rate, and it is charged regardless of currency — a US merchant taking a UK-issued card in dollars still pays it.
Usually yes. Cross-border and currency conversion are distinct charges and frequently both apply, commonly around 1–1.5% and 1% respectively. Together they can nearly double the cost of an international transaction.
No. There is no Paydude surcharge on cards issued outside your country. Most flat-rate providers add 1–1.5% plus a currency conversion charge, so for businesses with meaningful overseas volume this is often the largest difference between providers.
Export a month of transactions with the issuing country or BIN included. Split by where the card was issued rather than where the customer lives — the card determines the fee, not the billing address.