Agentis analysis of Stripe's, Shopify's, and PayPal's own published fee terms shows currency conversion costs 1% with Stripe, 1.5% to 2% with Shopify Payments (Shopify's own example uses 1.5%), and 3% to 4% with PayPal, a gap of up to $30 more per $1,000 in international sales between Stripe's rate and PayPal's on a standard goods-and-services transaction.
The order total before any currency conversion fee.
Stripe charges 1%. Shopify Payments charges 1.5-2%. PayPal charges 3-4%.
Currency Conversion Fee Cost
$40.00
What Stripe Would Charge (1%)
$10.00
Extra Cost vs Stripe's Rate
$30.00
| Processor | Conversion Fee | Applies When |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe | 1% | Charge currency differs from your settlement currency |
| Shopify Payments | 1.5%-2% (Shopify's own example uses 1.5%) | Payment currency differs from payout currency; exact rate depends on the store's country |
| PayPal (goods and services, money transfers) | 4% | Currency conversion applied to a cross-border transaction |
| PayPal (other conversion transactions) | 3% | Currency conversion applied outside the goods-and-services/money-transfer case |
Sources: Stripe: Pricing (retrieved August 7, 2026); Shopify Help Center: Currency conversion fee calculation for Shopify Payments orders (retrieved August 7, 2026); PayPal: Fees (retrieved August 7, 2026). Shopify's own help documentation states its worked example uses a 1.5% rate 'for illustrative purposes only' and that the actual rate depends on the store's primary country. PayPal's fee terms describe the conversion charge as a percentage 'added to the exchange rate,' separate from any base transaction fee.
| Processor | Fee Rate | Fee Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe | 1% | $10 |
| Shopify Payments (1.5% example) | 1.5% | $15 |
| Shopify Payments (2% example) | 2% | $20 |
| PayPal (other conversions) | 3% | $30 |
| PayPal (goods and services) | 4% | $40 |
Sources: Stripe: Pricing (retrieved August 7, 2026); PayPal: Fees (retrieved August 7, 2026). Agentis synthesis: each processor's published conversion-fee percentage applied to a $1,000 order value. Shopify's exact rate isn't published as a single figure (see the table above), so both ends of its stated range are shown.
How we calculate this
Stripe's, Shopify's, and PayPal's own fee documentation each publish a currency conversion fee separate from the base processing rate. The per-processor comparison and the $1,000-order cost figures are Agentis synthesis: published percentages applied to a common order value so the gap between processors is directly comparable. Read our full methodology →
Expert Insight
Merchants price their base processing rate down to the basis point and then take whatever currency conversion fee comes bundled with it, because it shows up as one line buried in a payout report instead of a rate they negotiated. That's backwards. On a $1,000 order, PayPal's conversion fee alone can cost four times what Stripe charges for the exact same currency conversion. If a meaningful share of your revenue is international, the processor you route those orders through is a pricing decision, not a technical default, and it's one most merchants never revisit after their initial setup.
Udi Razmovich, CTO & Co-Founder →Yes. Stripe, Shopify Payments, and PayPal all describe currency conversion as a separate charge from the base per-transaction processing fee. An international order incurs both: the processor's standard rate, plus the conversion fee on top when the charge currency differs from your settlement or payout currency. The published conversion rates differ widely. Stripe charges 1%. Shopify Payments charges 1.5% to 2%, and its help documentation says the 1.5% figure in its worked example is illustrative, with the actual rate depending on the store's primary country. PayPal charges 4% on goods-and-services and money-transfer conversions and 3% on other conversion transactions. On a $1,000 international order that is $10 at Stripe, $15 to $20 at Shopify Payments, and $30 to $40 at PayPal. For your own store, find the conversion line in your payout report and total it across a month, since it rarely appears as a rate anyone negotiated.
Agentis analysis of Stripe's and PayPal's own published 2026 pricing pages shows PayPal Checkout costs 3.49% + $0.49 per transaction versus Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30. Merchants absorb that difference silently when checkout offers both without weighting the true blended cost by payment-method mix.
Agentis analysis of Stripe's own refund documentation shows a fully refunded charge can't be disputed at all, while Stripe's processing fee is never returned either way. Refunding a $60 order costs the $2.04 processing fee you already paid. Losing that same order to a chargeback costs $75, the order value plus a $15 dispute fee.
Agentis analysis of Stripe's own published pricing confirms ACH bank transfers cost 0.8% capped at $5.00, while card payments cost 2.9% plus $0.30, with no cap at all. On a $2,000 order, that's $5.00 for ACH versus $58.30 for a card, a $53.30 difference that gets larger, not smaller, as the order value climbs.
Agentis finds margin leaks automatically.
Data last updated August 7, 2026. Browse all Payment Fees pages →