Build a dated source record
Contract and statement prerequisites
- Record the contract or plan name, market, currency and date checked. (not complete)
- Identify the transaction amount or fee base to which each percentage applies. (not complete)
- Capture fixed, recurring, conditional, refund, dispute and currency-conversion components. (not complete)
- Keep marketplace, payment, advertising, fulfilment and storage charges in separate rows. (not complete)
- Record negotiated or account-specific terms instead of substituting a public headline rate. (not complete)
- Reconcile at least one real settlement statement before using the stack in a decision. (not complete)
Normalise the fee stack without losing its source
- Copy each fee component from the current contract or statement into its own source row.
- Record the exact fee base for every percentage component.
- Keep fixed order charges separate from recurring period charges.
- Allocate a recurring charge per order only with a stated order-volume scenario.
- Add conditional, refund, dispute, conversion and fulfilment components only when they apply.
- Rebuild one settlement and explain every deduction or credit before comparing scenarios.
- Compare the complete effective cost and operating requirements, not one headline percentage.
Fee cost per order = percentage fee base × percentage rate + fixed fee + allocated recurring fee + applicable conditional fees
- percentage fee base
- Contract-defined amount to which the percentage rate applies (currency units per order) — current contract and order record
- percentage rate
- Current percentage component for the applicable scenario (percentage) — current contract
- fixed fee
- Fixed transaction component that applies to the order (currency units per order) — current contract
- allocated recurring fee
- Recurring period fee divided by the stated order-volume scenario (currency units per order) — contract plus user volume scenario
- applicable conditional fees
- Only the other fee components triggered by the scenario (currency units per order) — current contract and settlement record
| Component | Fee base or unit | Current value | Contract or statement date | Applies when |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage transaction fee | Complete from contract | Enter value | Enter date | Enter condition |
| Fixed transaction fee | Per transaction | Enter value | Enter date | Enter condition |
| Recurring fee | Per contract period | Enter value | Enter date | Enter allocation volume |
| Refund or retained fee | Per refund event | Enter value | Enter date | Enter treatment |
| Other conditional fee | Contract-defined | Enter value | Enter date | Enter trigger |
Reconcile a user-entered example
Normalise two contract scenarios
The values are invented user assumptions in currency units. They do not represent a provider, market or current fee schedule.
| Component | Scenario A | Scenario B |
|---|---|---|
| Percentage component | 2.5% = 2.00 | 3.0% = 2.40 |
| Fixed component | 0.30 | 0.10 |
| Recurring fee allocated per order | 40 / 400 = 0.10 | 0 |
| Normalised fee per order | 2.40 | 2.50 |
Keep fee source and conversion scenarios separate
| Input | Required basis | Source | Interpretation limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard percentage and fixed fee | Same tax-excluded order value and currency | Current contract and settlement record | Not a provider benchmark |
| BNPL percentage and fixed fee | Same tax-excluded order value and currency | Current contract and settlement record | Not a provider recommendation |
| Baseline conversion | User-defined cohort and period | Business record or labelled scenario | Does not establish causality |
| Expected conversion | Same cohort and period | Labelled user scenario | Not a predicted uplift |
Test the user-entered BNPL scenario
- Buy Now Pay Later Fee Impact Planner
Test whether an entered BNPL conversion scenario offsets its entered fees
Compare operating fit as well as effective cost
| Criterion | What to compare | Decision boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Fee scope | Base, fixed, conditional, refund and conversion components | Use the same order scenario |
| Settlement | Timing, reserves, credits and reconciliation detail | Cost and cash timing are different measures |
| Operations | Integration, controls, support and internal work | Do not assign a universal value |
| Channel | Service obligations, inventory allocation and customer reach assumptions | Reach is a scenario, not guaranteed volume |
Methodology sources
- Ecommerce Order Profitability methodology — Margin101: Product-owned fee-stack boundary and order reconciliation rules.
- Payment Processing Comparison methodology — Margin101: Product-owned fee normalisation and comparison rules.
Expose how fixed and percentage fees change with order value
A fee stack can produce a lower effective percentage on a larger order even when no contract term changes. Keep percentage, per-order fixed, allocated recurring, marketplace, payment, fulfilment, refund and conditional charges in separate rows so the total can be reproduced against an actual statement.
Total fee/order = order value × entered percentage fee + entered fixed fee + allocated recurring fee/order
- Order value
- Comparable customer order value on the declared tax basis (CU/order) — completed orders or labelled scenario
- Entered percentage fee
- Current plan/contract percentage entered by the reader (percentage) — current contract and settlement statement
- Entered fixed fee
- Per-order fixed component entered by the reader (CU/order) — current contract and settlement statement
- Allocated recurring fee/order
- Recurring fee divided by the explicitly selected completed-order count (CU/order) — current invoice and completed-order records
The fictional table uses 3%, 0.30 CU fixed and 0.20 CU allocated recurring per order. These are invented inputs, not provider prices.
| Order value | 3% component | Fixed + allocated recurring | Total fee/order | Effective fee percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 CU | 0.75 CU | 0.30 + 0.20 = 0.50 CU | 1.25 CU | 5.00% |
| 50 CU | 1.50 CU | 0.50 CU | 2.00 CU | 4.00% |
| 100 CU | 3.00 CU | 0.50 CU | 3.50 CU | 3.50% |
Compare the complete entered fee stack
- Marketplace Fee Profit Planner
Set a viable listing price after marketplace, payment and fulfilment fees
- Payment Processing Fee Comparison
Compare two payment fee structures at an expected transaction volume
- Ecommerce Order Profitability Planner
Test order contribution after the full fee stack