How do I price so I still get my full amount after the payment fee?

Online payments carry a fee. The payment provider keeps a small share of each transaction before the rest reaches you. If you set prices without thinking about it, you quietly earn less than you planned. There is a simple correction, and it has a small trap.

The trap in adding the fee

Suppose you want to receive Rs 1,000 from an order. Assume, only for this example, that the fee is 2 percent. A natural reaction is to add 2 percent to Rs 1,000, which is Rs 20, and charge Rs 1,020.

But the fee is taken from what the customer pays, not from your Rs 1,000. Two percent of Rs 1,020 is Rs 20.40. You receive Rs 1,020 minus Rs 20.40, which is Rs 999.60. You are 40 paise short.

Forty paise sounds trivial. On a larger order, or across thousands of orders, it is not.

The right way, divide

If the fee is 2 percent, you keep 98 percent of what the customer pays. So the amount charged times 0.98 must equal Rs 1,000.

Charge = Rs 1,000 divided by 0.98 = Rs 1,020.41.

Check it. Two percent of Rs 1,020.41 is Rs 20.41. Rs 1,020.41 minus Rs 20.41 is Rs 1,000.00. You get exactly what you wanted.

The general rule is: price to receive = target amount divided by (1 minus fee rate).

Where this applies in practice

Your selling price already covers product cost, shipping, packing and profit. Treat the payment fee as one more cost that scales with price. If you pick a price from a target margin, include the fee in the cost side by using the divide method, or reduce the usable price by the fee rate before measuring margin.

For example, if you price at Rs 1,020.41 and the customer pays that amount, you should see Rs 1,000 reach you, which is the figure to use in your margin sum.

Read your own terms

The 2 percent used here is made up for the example. Your payment provider has its own rate, and it may differ by payment method, by card type, or by plan. Some charge an extra amount on top of a percentage, and tax may apply to the fee. Read your gateway's current terms and your settlement reports to find the real figure. Work out the average fee from a month of orders, then plug it in.

Do you pass the fee on to the customer?

Some sellers add a visible convenience fee for online payment. Others fold the cost into the price. Either is a business decision, and rules about what you may charge and how you must show it can change, so check with a qualified adviser if you are unsure. Many sellers find a clean, single price easier on customers than a surprise at checkout.

Compare with cash on delivery

COD has its own costs, including collection charges and returns, covered in cash on delivery without the chaos and UPI and COD payments for your own store. Do not assume one is free and the other is expensive. Compare the full cost on a real order.

To apply the divide idea to margins, see price from a target margin. If marketplace fees are on your mind, marketplace commissions and what they really cost adds context.

Next time you set a price, add one line to your sheet: fee-adjusted price.