To negotiate Stripe fees, contact Stripe's sales team with your monthly card volume, growth, card mix and current effective rate, and ask for custom pricing: a lower blended rate, interchange-plus, or waivers on surcharges and add-ons. Your leverage is your volume plus a credible competing quote.
When Stripe will negotiate
Stripe doesn't publish a threshold for custom pricing. Its pricing page points businesses with large payment volumes or unusual business models to its sales team for a custom quote. Merchants commonly report that the conversation becomes worthwhile somewhere in the range of several hundred thousand to a million dollars a month, but there is no official number, and growth trajectory matters as much as current volume.
Good moments to ask:
- When your volume has grown substantially since you signed up.
- When you're adding a product, region or business line that will add volume.
- When you have a written quote from another processor.
- Before renewing any custom agreement you already have.
What to prepare before the call
Stripe's sales team will ask for the same numbers any processor would. Having them ready makes you look like a serious account and keeps the conversation on price.
- Monthly card volume for the last 12 months, and your forecast for the next 12.
- Transaction count and average ticket. The fixed per-charge fee matters more at small tickets.
- Card mix: domestic vs international, consumer vs commercial cards, and roughly how much is debit.
- Your current effective rate, calculated from total fees ÷ total volume.
- Products in use: Billing, Radar for Fraud Teams, Tax, Connect, Terminal, and what each costs you per year.
- Dispute and refund rates. Low rates make you a lower-risk account.
- Your alternatives: a written quote, or at least a clear sense of what interchange-plus would cost elsewhere.
What to ask for
A lower blended rate
The simplest ask: a lower percentage, a lower per-transaction fee, or both. Easy to compare, but you still pay one price for every card type.
Interchange-plus pricing
Pass-through of real interchange and network costs plus a fixed markup. Usually the better deal at scale, especially with a good share of debit and standard credit cards. See interchange-plus pricing explained.
Surcharge waivers
If you sell internationally, ask about the 1.5% international card fee and the 1% currency conversion fee. These are often negotiable for large cross-border volumes.
Add-on discounts
Billing, Radar for Fraud Teams, Tax and Connect fees can also be part of a custom agreement. Bundle them into the same conversation.
Build leverage with a competing quote
Volume gets you a meeting. A competing written offer gets you a better number. Without one, Stripe has little reason to move far from its standard price.
Our free analysis gives you a written competing proposal, priced on your real volume and card mix. Use it to negotiate with Stripe or to switch. Your choice.
Request a free savings analysis
How to compare Stripe's offer with an alternative
Compare total fees on the same volume and the same card mix, never headline rates. A lower percentage with a higher per-transaction fee can cost more at small ticket sizes; an interchange-plus offer can look complicated but cost less.
- Take three recent months of volume, split by domestic and international, and your transaction count.
- Price that exact volume under each offer, including surcharges and product fees.
- Add any monthly, gateway, chargeback or compliance fees.
- Divide each total by volume. The lower effective rate wins, all else equal.
- Then weigh the non-price terms: contract length, termination, migration effort, support.
The Stripe fee calculator gives you a quick baseline for step one.
Email template: requesting a pricing review
Short, factual and easy to forward internally. Adjust the numbers to yours.
Subject: Pricing review for [Company] (Stripe account [ID]) Hi [Name / Stripe sales team], We've processed about $[X]M in card volume with Stripe over the last 12 months, currently around $[Y]M a month, and we expect [growth, e.g. 30%] over the next year. Our effective rate is [Z]% across card fees, international surcharges and [Billing / Radar / Tax]. We're reviewing our payments costs and would like to discuss custom pricing, including: - interchange-plus pricing or a lower blended rate - the international card and currency conversion surcharges - pricing for [Billing / Radar / Tax] We have a competing proposal we're evaluating. Could we set up a call in the next two weeks? Thanks, [Name], [Title]
What to check in a custom pricing offer
Custom offers can come with conditions that change the real price. Before you accept, check:
- Volume commitments. Is the rate tied to a minimum monthly volume, and what happens if you fall short?
- Term and renewal. How long the pricing is fixed, and whether it renews automatically or reverts to standard.
- Scope. Which payment methods, card types and regions the new rate covers. Surcharges often stay unless you ask.
- Product fees. Whether Billing, Radar or Tax pricing changed too, or only card processing.
- Interchange pass-through. On an interchange-plus offer, whether network fees are passed through at cost or marked up.
Mistakes to avoid
- Comparing headline rates. A lower percentage with a higher fixed fee can cost more. Always compare total fees on the same volume.
- Negotiating without data. "Our fees feel high" gets a polite answer. Volume, mix and a competing quote get a number.
- Forgetting the add-ons. Product fees can rival card fees for subscription businesses. Put them on the table.
- Accepting the first offer. The first custom offer is rarely the best one. It's normal to come back with a counter based on your competing quote.
When negotiating isn't enough
If Stripe's offer still leaves you well above what interchange-plus would cost elsewhere, moving some or all of your card volume is the next step. Stored cards can be migrated directly between PCI-compliant providers, and many merchants move in stages. See how to switch from Stripe.