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Starting from a $199 average transaction and the card mix typical for course creators.
Course sales are high-ticket and international, which flips the usual arithmetic: the fixed fee barely matters and the cross-border surcharge matters a great deal.
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.
Payment plans are common too, and splitting a $199 course into four payments quadruples the fixed fees you pay on it.
| Fee | Effective rate | |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe 2.9% + 30¢ | $6.07 | 3.05% |
| Paydude 2.6% + 25¢ | $5.42 | 2.73% |
Those figures exclude card-mix surcharges, which the calculator above does model. Set your own volume, ticket size and card mix and the link updates, so you can share the result.
If you run payment plans, model them as four transactions in the fee impact calculator.
GOOD QUESTIONS
At a typical $199 average transaction, a standard 2.9% + 30¢ rate works out at 3.05% once the fixed fee is included. Paydude publishes 2.6% + 25¢, which at the same ticket is 2.73%. Your real figure depends on card mix, which the calculator above models.
For high-ticket international sales, compare on the cross-border surcharge before the base rate. If you sell into the EU at volume, a merchant of record may be cheaper once VAT compliance is priced in.
The fixed per-transaction fee. A quoted percentage describes only one component; the flat fee on top is a larger share of a small sale than a large one. Divide total fees by total volume on a real statement to see the true figure.
More than the headline rate does. Amex, corporate and premium cards cost more to accept everywhere; some providers surcharge them explicitly and others fold the cost into a higher base rate. International cards add 1–1.5% at most providers. Enter your own shares above rather than accepting the defaults.