A Freelancer's Guide to Payment Fees

How the fee is built

Most payment processors charge a percentage of the transaction plus a small fixed fee per payment. The percentage hurts most on large invoices; the fixed fee hurts most on small ones. Knowing the exact split tells you what you actually keep, and where the leakage is.

On international payments, currency conversion can quietly add more on top — sometimes the largest cost of all, hidden in an unfavourable exchange rate rather than a stated fee.

Decide who pays, on purpose

You have three honest options: absorb fees as a cost of doing business, build them into your rate, or add a clearly stated surcharge. Any is fine — what is not fine is losing a few percent on every invoice without ever deciding to. Price the fee in deliberately.

Cut the cost where it is large

For domestic payments the differences between methods are small. For cross-border work they are not — tools built for international freelancers can save meaningfully on conversion and transfer costs. Weigh any saving against the payment methods your clients actually find convenient.