Marketplace & payment fee statistics 2026
Last updated September 2026
The numbers below are computed directly from the Global Fee Index — 52 published rates read from official provider fee pages and re-verified monthly (last verification: 2026-08-29). Every statistic is free to quote with attribution.
2.7x
The most expensive Stripe market on our index (Brazil, 3.99%) charges 2.7 times the rate of the cheapest (United Kingdom, 1.5%) — for the same card, the same product and the same seller effort.
3 rate cards
PayPal prices the euro area 3 different ways. Across the 5 eurozone countries on our index, merchants share a currency but not a fee schedule — domestic rates and fixed fees differ by country of registration.
2.6% vs 3.5%
The average published domestic card rate across the 18 Stripe markets we track is 2.6%, against 3.5% across 20 PayPal markets — before fixed fees, cross-border surcharges and currency conversion.
8 of 20 markets
In 8 of the 20 PayPal markets on our index, the published currency-conversion spread starts at 4% — charged on the full transaction amount, which routinely makes it the largest single cost on cross-border income.
2 markets
Only 2 of 18 Stripe markets publish no fixed per-transaction fee. Everywhere else, the fixed component quietly dominates small orders — the same basket can cost three times as much in fee terms at a low price point.
8 marketplaces
We track Amazon referral fees across 8 country marketplaces. 2 of them currently waive the monthly subscription entirely (stated as limited-time), and 1 charges no minimum referral fee at all.
52 verified rates
The dataset behind this page holds 52 country-level fee entries across 4 providers and 24 countries — each row carrying the official source URL and the date it was last read from that page (2026-08-29).
Notable single data points
- Stripe UK charges 1.5% + 20p for standard UK cards but 2.5% for EEA cards — accepting a payment from across the Channel raises the percentage fee by two thirds.
- Amazon India’s “0% referral fee” is not a free sale. The per-order closing fee still applies, which makes a ₹250 order cost 10.4% in practice.
- A fixed fee can triple a small order’s cost. Stripe’s HK$2.35 fixed fee makes a small basket cost roughly 11% in Hong Kong against 3.6% in Tokyo, where no fixed fee applies.
- Amazon’s Digital Services Fee differs by store. 2% on Amazon’s own fees for UK-established sellers, and 3% on sales in the French, Italian and Spanish stores since 20 March 2026.
How to cite this page
Quote any statistic with attribution to Profitvana Global Fee Index 2026 and a link to this page or to the index itself. For programmatic use, the full dataset is served as JSON at /api/v1/fee-index— no key required. Each statistic’s card has a stable anchor (for example #paypal-eurozone) you can link to directly.
Methodology
Every underlying rate is read from the provider’s own published fee page — never from other blogs — and carries that source URL and a verification date. Rates are re-checked monthly and immediately when a provider announces a change; the statistics on this page are computed from the dataset at build time, so they update automatically with it. Full detail in our methodology and editorial policy.
Frequently asked questions
Where do these statistics come from?
Every number is computed directly from the Profitvana Global Fee Index — a dataset of published seller and payment fees read from each provider's own official fee page, re-verified monthly. The statistics are recalculated automatically whenever the underlying dataset changes, so they cannot drift from their sources.
Can I quote these statistics in an article or report?
Yes. Everything on this page is free to quote and republish with attribution to Profitvana, linking to this page or to the Global Fee Index. The underlying dataset is also available as JSON with no API key.
Why is the spread between countries so large?
Regulation. The EEA and UK cap card interchange, which is why Stripe charges around 1.5% there and more than double that in markets without a cap. On top of that, each provider sets its own fixed fees, cross-border surcharges and currency conversion spreads per market.
When were these numbers last verified?
The verification date is shown at the top of the page and on every statistic's source row in the Global Fee Index. Rates are re-checked monthly against each provider's official page, and immediately when a provider announces a change.