How Much Do You Get From Online Sales and Subscriptions?
When you sell on Gumtree or Gumroad or receive paid subscriptions from Substack, you don’t receive 100% of the price. The platform provider takes its fee, and then there’s a payment-processing fee.
These examples use £(GBP), but you can easily adapt them to your currency. The Subscription Calculator app (see below) allows you to select £ (GBP), € (EUR), and $(USD) for your calculations.
Many providers charge a 10% fee and use Stripe to process payments (approximately 2.9% + £0.30).
The £0.30 fixed fee is accurate for the UK. For the US, it’s approximately $0.30, and in the EU, the ‘fixed’ fee is between €0.25 and €0.35.
How much do you receive after deductions?
The total percentage fee is 12.9% (10% + 2.9%).
So you keep 87.1% of the price, minus £0.30.
Let:
p = the price you charge
x = the amount you receive
x = 0.871p − 0.30
Examples
| You want to receive | Charge subscribers |
|---|---|
| £5 | £6.08 |
| £10 | £11.83 |
| £20 | £23.31 |
| £50 | £57.75 |
What should you charge to receive what you want?
p = (x + 0.30)/0.871
Examples
| You charge subscribers | You will receive |
|---|---|
| £5 | £4.06 |
| £10 | £8.41 |
| £20 | £17.12 |
| £50 | £43.25 |
Rule of thumb
For most prices:
Charge about 15–18% more than what you want to receive.
For example, if you want £10 per subscriber per month, set the price to approximately £12.
Examples
If you want £10 per subscriber per month, set the price to roughly £12.
| You charge subscribers | You will receive |
|---|---|
| £5 | £4.06 |
| £10 | £8.41 |
| £20 | £17.12 |
| £50 | £43.25 |
Subscription Calculator app
I have written a web app that can be can installed on an Android or iOS web device to make these calculations easier and quicker.
It calculates both directions:
Charge → What you receive
Receive → What you should charge
Users can choose between GBP, EUR and USD when using the app. It keeps it simple and consistent, which usually works well for pricing decisions.