TL;DR

Stripe adds 1.5% to its standard 2.9% + $0.30 when a customer’s card was issued outside your account’s country, and a separate 1% when Stripe has to convert currency, so an international sale with conversion costs about 5.4% + $0.30 on US pricing. The two fees apply independently, and the conversion fee isn’t returned on refunds. Stripe’s Adaptive Pricing passes a 2% to 4% markup to your customer instead. You can lower costs by settling in the currencies you sell in and using local payment methods.

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Selling internationally is one of the best ways to grow an online store, and it’s also where Stripe’s headline rate stops telling the whole story. The 2.9% + $0.30 you see advertised only applies to domestic cards in your own currency, and two additional fees can stack on top of it.

This guide breaks down both fees, shows what they cost on a real sale, explains Stripe’s newer Adaptive Pricing option, and covers practical ways to reduce what you pay. For the PayPal side of this comparison, see our guide to PayPal’s cross-border fees.

How Stripe’s International Fees Stack Up

Stripe’s cross-border costs come in two separate layers, and understanding which one applies to a given sale is the key to predicting your costs.

Layer One: International Card Surcharge

When a customer’s card was issued outside the country where your Stripe account is based, Stripe adds 1.5% to the base rate. This applies to cards only, and it’s commonly described as following where the card was issued rather than where your customer lives or their billing address.

Layer Two: Currency Conversion Fee 

When the payment currency doesn’t match the currency you settle in, Stripe adds 1% (on US pricing). The two fees are independent of each other, so a domestic card charged in a foreign currency can trigger the conversion fee without the card surcharge.

Here’s what that might look like in practice on a $100 sale:

So what does this mean for your margins? 

A fully international sale costs $5.70 in fees on a $100 order, compared with $3.20 for a domestic one, which is a difference of $2.50 on every international sale. At 100 international orders a month averaging $60, that’s $354 in fees versus $204 for the same volume on domestic cards, a $150 monthly gap. 

If you’re pricing for international customers, budget for the higher rate rather than the headline one. To see how it might affect your margin on a specific product, use our eCommerce profit calculator.

These are US rates. Outside the US, Stripe’s pricing is structured differently, and currency conversion commonly runs around 2% instead of 1%, so check the pricing page for your account’s country.

How Stripe Applies the Exchange Rate

Stripe doesn’t convert at the raw market rate. It applies the conversion fee as a margin on top of the mid-market exchange rate, and in practice that margin is often built into the rate rather than shown as its own line item, which makes it easy to overlook when you’re reconciling payouts.

There’s one more detail worth knowing: Stripe’s pricing page states that currency conversion fees from the original transaction aren’t returned when you issue a refund, the same way processing fees aren’t (which we cover in our guide to Stripe chargeback fees).

In practice, a refunded international sale costs you the original fees and, if currency was converted, the conversion margin too, so refund-heavy international categories carry a higher true cost than the fee table suggests.

Who Pays the Markup with Adaptive Pricing?

Stripe’s Adaptive Pricing enables customers pay in their local currency in more than 150 countries, with Stripe calculating the localized price and handling the conversion automatically. Stripe lists it as included with Payments, and the key difference is who bears the cost: according to Stripe’s documentation, it applies a conversion fee of 2% to 4% to the exchange rate shown to your customers, which raises their purchase price by a corresponding amount.

That’s a real tradeoff. Stripe says showing local prices can increase conversion and international revenue, but a price that’s a few percent higher than a competitor’s local price can also work against you. A few practical details:

• It works with Stripe Checkout, Payment Links, pricing tables, and local payment methods, so check whether your WooCommerce or Shopify setup actually uses those.
• It requires your prices to be in the same currency as your default settlement currency.
• Stripe locks the exchange rate for the duration of the checkout session, up to 24 hours.

So what should you decide? If you’d rather not pass a conversion markup to customers, price in local currencies yourself, but know that you’ll then absorb conversion costs unless you settle in that currency.

How to Reduce Stripe’s Cross-Border Costs

A handful of moves can meaningfully cut what international sales cost you:

1. Settle in the currencies you sell in, where supported → The conversion fee only applies when Stripe has to convert, so holding or receiving funds in the customer’s currency, for example through a bank account in that currency, avoids it. Availability depends on your country, so check Stripe’s multi-currency settlement documentation.
2. Price deliberately in local currencies rather than leaving conversion to chance, and compare that against Adaptive Pricing.
3. Offer local payment methods where they make sense, since each has its own fee schedule and bank-based methods often cost less than cards.
4. Build fees into your international pricing or shipping rates so they don’t quietly eat your margin.
5. Once you have real volume, ask about custom pricing, since Stripe says custom pricing is available for businesses with large payment volumes.

If you also pay overseas suppliers, converting that money through a bank often costs more than it needs to. A multi-currency account like Wise might be worth comparing against your bank’s rate (be sure to check which payout destinations Stripe supports in your country before assuming it fits both sides of the flow).

So, what’s the common thread? The cheapest conversion is the one that never happens, so structure your pricing and settlement to avoid it wherever your setup allows.

Stripe vs. PayPal for International Sales

On a $100 sale to an international card in a foreign currency, Stripe’s fees come to $5.70 on US pricing. The same sale through PayPal runs roughly $8 to $9, because PayPal stacks a 1.5% cross-border surcharge on top of a 3% to 4% conversion spread and a higher fixed fee. 

Here’s how some of the main options compare:

Platform matters too. On WooCommerce, Stripe adds no platform fee, while on Shopify, standalone Stripe also carries Shopify’s third-party surcharge, and Shopify Payments follows Shopify’s own cross-border fee terms. Our Stripte setup guide for WooCommerce and Stripe setup guide for Shopify cover the differences.

When Cross-Border Fees Might Signal You Need a Different Setup

If a large share of your sales are international and your processor keeps flagging or holding them, the issue may be a mismatch between your business and how automated processors assess risk. Easy Pay Direct supports multiple currencies and underwrites your business individually, though it doesn’t publish its cross-border costs, so ask for them in writing during your application.

Our full processor comparison covers the tradeoffs.

Final Thoughts

Stripe’s international fees aren’t hidden, but they are split across two independent layers, and the headline rate only covers neither of them. Know which layer applies to each sale, structure your pricing and settlement to avoid conversion where you can, and budget for the real cost of international sales rather than the advertised one.

To ideate, plan, and launch an online business from scratch, claim your free Aurajinn launch dashboard today.

Frequently Asked Questions About Stripe Cross-Border Fees