How much do international payments really cost?
By Lily Rogers  Nov 2020  2 min read  A year ago this month, we announced the launch of international payments. The launch brought together our global network of bank debit systems with exchange rates powered by Wise to provide the most holistic, affordable, and transparent way to collect recurring payments from around the globe. While there are many ways to move money between borders, its not always easy to tell how much it costs you. International payments with GoCardless work just like domestic payments, and cost 2% + 20p per transaction. Thats it. No small print, no hidden fees. But we also had a look at some alternatives to see how they compare. Turns out, not only are fees often buried in lots of legal language, sometimes fees are hidden directly inside the exchange rate. To do this we compared GoCardless international payments to PayPal, Stripe, and Barclays  and heres what we learned. In our analysis, GoCardless came out 75% cheaper than PayPal. This is because PayPal charges up to a 2% surcharge on top of their standard 2.9% transaction fee. Every transaction also includes a fixed fee. For our transfer coming from USD, it would be $0.30. We also checked the exchange rate and found PayPal took 3.31% margin off every US dollar exchanged, what they refer to as a Currency conversion fee. In the end, it could cost over $245 in fees alone to complete the transfer. While Barclays might not have a standard wire fee, it adds a fee into the exchange rate. We thought they were less sneaky than most high street banks, though, as they state that a margin will be applied to your reference rate.  Stripe also charges a currency conversion fee, which is added on top of the mid-market exchange rate. Which means if youre a UK or EU merchant, every non-European card transaction you do with Stripe could have you paying up to 4.9% in fees. Stop losing thousands on fees  For international payments, GoCardless will charge you 2% of the source currency and a small fixed fee  for a UK merchant, thats 20p. That means, if you're in the UK and want to collect a $5,000 payment from a US customer, our fee is $100.25. In other words, it doesn't cost you much to get the full value out of collecting GoCardless payments globally. The same $5,000 payment would cost you over $300 using PayPal. And those fees add up over time, especially when it comes to recurring payments. Imagine collecting $5,000 from a customer every month. By the end of the year youve lost $3,600 on fees with PayPal. With GoCardless youd only be spending $1,203 on fees. Thats over $2,300 still making its way into your bank account when you use GoCardless. Not bad. International payments are easy with GoCardless  With GoCardless, collecting from all over the world is easy, and the funds go straight into your domestic bank account. If youre already using GoCardless for domestic payments, international payments work exactly the same way. Add a customer, or create a new payment - however you normally do it. Get started today, and stop paying unnecessary fees. Get started with international payments in GoCardless International payments work just the same as domestic payments. So just login and do what you'd normally do. Read more on getting started here. GoCardless exchange rates as at 23/10/2020. The information contained here is not intended as individual financial advice. The information supplied is intended to help people make their own decisions based on publicly available data. Pricing information for competitors was taken on 27 October 2020 as follows: Stripe pricing | PayPal pricing | Barclays pricing.