Editorial Methodology & Financial Standards
Our Mission
MerchantCalcs.com was built to solve a critical pain point faced by e-commerce merchants, digital product creators, and agencies: opaque, multi-layered payment gateway pricing. Payment processors frequently advertise attractive headline rates while burying cross-border fees, currency conversion markups, and refund retention penalties in legal documentation.
Data Verification Process
Every calculator on MerchantCalcs is audited monthly against primary official rate cards directly published by payment providers (Stripe, Etsy, PayPal, Shopify, Square, LemonSqueezy).
- Primary rate card verification against official vendor terms of service.
- Regulatory compliance check (Durbin Amendment, RBA least-cost routing, EU interchange caps).
- Independent scenario stress-testing across micro-transactions, SMB carts, and enterprise invoices.
Independence & Affiliate Independence
While MerchantCalcs earns affiliate commissions when users sign up for featured SaaS platforms, our calculation engine logic is 100% objective. Calculation formulas are strictly mathematical and reflect actual vendor rate cards.