I was scrolling through my Stripe payouts last week and noticed something weird. Every transaction had a 30 cent fee plus 2.9%, but on a $5 payment I was getting charged almost $1. That math didn't add up. Turns out there's a hidden international fee of 1.5% that kicks in when a client uses a foreign card. I ended up losing about $80 over six months without realizing it. Has anyone else found surprise fees buried in their Stripe dashboard?
I was sending invoices through PayPal while also paying Fiverr's 20% cut and it wasn't until I noticed a random $3.49 fee last month that I connected the dots on how much I was losing.
A buyer messaged me after I sent their digital file and said why did you charge me $8? I had to explain that PayPal took 0.50 of the $5 and Fiverr took another 1.00, so I only got 3.50. Has anyone else had a client not realize how much the platforms actually take?
I was adding up my Fiverr earnings for taxes last month and noticed my PayPal fees were way higher than they should be. Turns out I had the 'Receive payments from anyone' option on AND a business account payment fee stacked on top. For my $15 logo gigs I was losing almost $2 each time instead of the $0.50 I thought. What tipped me off was comparing my PayPal transaction history to my Fiverr dashboard side by side. Has anyone else caught a hidden setting like that just eating their profits?