Fees
What a payment costs, all in
Paytide takes 1% of each payment, with a 20p minimum. Stripe, which processes the card, takes its own fee on top. Here is the total, and what lands in your bank.
Updated
- Paytide fee (1%, 20p minimum)
- £0.50
- Stripe card fee (standard UK card, estimate)
- £0.95
- Total fees
- £1.45
- You receive
- £48.55
| Customer pays | Paytide | Stripe (est.) | Total fees | You receive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £5 | £0.20 | £0.28 | £0.48 | £4.52 |
| £20 | £0.20 | £0.50 | £0.70 | £19.30 |
| £50 | £0.50 | £0.95 | £1.45 | £48.55 |
| £100 | £1.00 | £1.70 | £2.70 | £97.30 |
| £500 | £5.00 | £7.70 | £12.70 | £487.30 |
How much does Paytide charge per payment?
Paytide charges 1% of each successful payment, with a 20p minimum. There is no monthly fee, no setup cost and no card reader to buy, so if nobody pays you in a month, Paytide costs you nothing that month. The fee is taken automatically when the payment goes through, so there is no bill to pay later.
The 20p minimum matters on small payments. Below £20, 1% would be less than 20p, so the minimum is what you pay: a £5 payment carries a 20p Paytide fee, which is 4%. From £20 upwards it is a straight 1%: 50p on £50, £1 on £100, £5 on £500. The calculator above uses the same calculation Paytide uses when it takes a real payment, so the Paytide figure it shows is exact, not an estimate.
What does Stripe charge on top?
Every card payment through Paytide is processed by Stripe on your own Stripe account, and Stripe charges you its own processing fee directly. For a standard UK consumer card that is 1.5% + 20p. Premium UK cards (many business and rewards cards) cost 2.8% + 20p, cards issued in the EEA cost 2.5% + 20p, and cards from further afield cost more, with a further 2% if the payment involves a currency conversion.
Paytide doesn't set or receive Stripe's fee, and you can't know in advance which kind of card a customer will use, so the Stripe column here is an estimate for a standard UK card. The exact fee for each payment appears in your Paytide dashboard once Stripe has settled it. Stripe's current rates are always at stripe.com/gb/pricing.
Why pay Paytide’s 1% instead of using Stripe directly?
You could open a Stripe account and create Stripe Payment Links yourself, and you would pay only Stripe's fee. That is genuinely cheaper, and for some businesses it is the right choice. The 1% pays for everything around the payment that Stripe on its own doesn't give a sole trader in one place.
- Your own link with your name in it, like paytide.co.uk/your-name, and a printable QR code.
- Invoices with a PDF and your business details, emailed to the client, with one polite automatic reminder when they are overdue.
- Fixed-price links, donation pages with a goal, and a pay page you can brand.
- A dashboard showing what came in today and over the last 7 and 30 days, with refunds and a spreadsheet export.
If you only ever need one payment link and no invoices, Stripe on its own will cost you less. We'd rather say so than have you find out later.
What happens to the fees if I refund a customer?
You can refund a payment in full or in part from your Paytide dashboard. When you do, Paytide's fee is returned to you in proportion: refund half the payment and you get half of Paytide's fee back; refund all of it and you get all of it back. Stripe keeps its own processing fee on a refund, so a full refund still leaves you out of pocket by Stripe's fee for that payment.
A dispute (a chargeback, where the customer asks their bank to reverse the payment) is different. Stripe charges £20 for each dispute, and a further £20 if you respond to it, which Stripe returns if you win. Paytide emails you as soon as a dispute is opened, with a link to the payment in Stripe, because the deadline to send your evidence runs from that moment.
Does it cost anything to get the money into my bank?
No. Stripe pays your balance into your bank account automatically on a schedule you choose, daily, weekly or monthly, and standard payouts are free. Your very first payout usually takes about a week while Stripe checks your account; after that, each payment joins the next payout on your schedule.
If your account is eligible, Stripe also offers Instant Payouts, which reach your bank within minutes for an extra Stripe fee of 1% of the amount (minimum 40p). You choose that per payout, so you only pay for it when you need the money the same day. Paytide adds nothing to either kind of payout. You can see what's on its way, and when, on your dashboard.
Is there a monthly fee, a contract or a minimum?
There is no monthly fee, no contract and no minimum number of payments. Signing up and claiming your name are free, and you don't need a card to do it. You can stop using Paytide whenever you like, and your payment history stays available to export until you delete your account.
The only costs are the two per-payment fees on this page, taken automatically when a payment succeeds: Paytide's 1% (20p minimum) and Stripe's card fee. If you are comparing providers, look at the total rather than the headline rate, and see our comparison with PayPal.me, SumUp and others. New to taking card payments? Start with what a payment link is.