--- title: "Payment fees and fund availability: comparing options fairly" canonical: https://www.billabex.com/en/blog/payment-fees-fund-availability/ lang: en alternate: https://www.billabex.com/fr/blog/frais-paiement-disponibilite-fonds.md updated: 2026-10-22 index: https://www.billabex.com/llms.txt --- # Payment fees and fund availability: comparing options fairly Two payment options appear to serve the same purpose: letting a customer settle an invoice. One charges a higher commission but advertises rapid access to funds. The other combines a subscription with a lower percentage. Which actually costs your business less? Compare a defined portfolio over a defined period. A percentage alone describes neither per-transaction charges, additional services nor when cash becomes usable. For a French SME, a few large monthly invoices and hundreds of small receipts can produce different decisions under the same price list. The exercise below uses fictional offers. The primary sources explain payment mechanisms and cost categories; they are not endorsements or the providers behind the simulated prices. ## Define the payment being compared Start with currency, average amount, number of receipts and customer countries. Separate payment categories and the terms actually available to your business. An offer restricted to certain accounts or card types is not an alternative for the entire portfolio. Adyen documentation illustrates why price is more than one commission. It distinguishes processing charges, payment-method fees, interchange, scheme fees and additional services. Some charges also concern transactions that do not reach capture. [Adyen, invoice fee categories](https://help.adyen.com/knowledge/finance/invoices/what-are-the-fees-on-my-invoice/). Ask which attempts are charged, what happens after a refund and which costs apply to payouts. Do not copy one provider's complete list into another's proposal: read each contract on its own terms. An unanswered item remains an open question, not a zero cost. Use the same tax-cost basis too. A recoverable tax amount and an irrecoverable cost should not be mixed without explanation, especially when proposals use different presentation conventions. ## Calculate both offers using identical assumptions Consider a simulation unrelated to the providers' actual tariffs. The company receives 200 payments of €300, totalling €60,000 in one month. Every payment succeeds, with no refunds or currency conversion. The charges below are treated as comparable business costs, without different tax treatment in the exercise. Option A charges 1.2% plus €0.20 per payment, without a subscription. Monthly cost is €60,000 multiplied by 1.2%, plus 200 multiplied by €0.20: €760. Option B charges €60 monthly, 0.6% and €0.50 per payment. Its cost is €60 plus €360 plus €100, or €520. B therefore saves €240 in fees in this scenario. After those costs alone, the economic net is €59,240 for A and €59,480 for B. That does not mean each bank payout is reduced in exactly that way. Some fees may be collected separately. The calculation describes a monthly economic outcome, not a bank-statement breakdown. Now reduce volume to twenty payments, still €300 each. A costs €76. B costs €60 plus €36 plus €10, or €106. The ranking reverses. With the average amount fixed, variable cost per payment is €3.80 for A and €2.30 for B. The €60 subscription is offset after €60 divided by €1.50, or forty payments. Both then cost €152. That threshold applies only to these assumptions. Different payment sizes, refunds or contractual minimums may change it. Preserve the formulas so the person negotiating can test the real portfolio without rebuilding the reasoning. ## Identify when funds become usable A “payment successful” screen and an available bank balance answer different questions. Stripe distinguishes settlement timing from payout frequency. Its documentation lists seven calendar days initially and three business days by default for France, subject to risk and banking qualifications. Daily payouts do not remove the settlement delay. [Stripe, payout schedules and settlement timing](https://docs.stripe.com/payouts). Those details describe the documented service. They are not a promise for every account or payment method. Ask about your contractual timing, its starting point, which days count and any reserves or holds. The first receipt can follow a different timetable from normal operations. A SEPA instant transfer illustrates another route. Banque de France describes credit to the recipient's account within ten seconds, with continuous service availability. That speed concerns transfer execution; it does not establish that the customer will instruct its bank today. [Banque de France, SEPA instant transfers](https://www.banque-france.fr/fr/a-votre-service/particuliers/mieux-connaitre-moyens-paiement/le-virement-sepa-instantane). A technically fast option can therefore deliver later cash if the customer waits for its next approval run. Understanding [customer cut-off dates and payment runs](https://www.billabex.com/en/blog/month-end-payment-runs-customer-cutoff/) helps compare the whole journey rather than only its final step. Test the relevant currency and destination account. A fast domestic description does not automatically settle the timing of a cross-currency or otherwise different route. ## Price the extra delay without overstating it Return to the fictional €60,000 month. Assume B makes every receipt available three calendar days later than A and the business actually finances that gap at a hypothetical annual rate of 8%. A simplified calculation on gross amounts gives €60,000 multiplied by 8%, multiplied by three and divided by 365: €39.45 of additional cost. Under this approximation, B retains an advantage of €240 minus €39.45, or €200.55. The model assumes proportionate financing is available at a constant rate and ignores the marginal effect of fee timing. It does not measure a rejected outgoing payment, an exhausted overdraft limit or an obligation that cannot be postponed. Check sensitive dates separately. If funds arrive after payroll, a modest average financing cost does not establish acceptable cash risk. The method for [stress-testing the next payroll](https://www.billabex.com/en/blog/largest-customer-late-payment-payroll/) examines the balance on the date that matters. Also avoid adding three days to every receipt merely because one payout was late. Confirm whether the difference is systematic, account-specific or an isolated exception before using it in the comparison. ## Keep administrative work in a separate column Suppose B requires five additional hours of monthly reconciliation, valued at €42 an hour: €210 of staff capacity. That exceeds the simplified €200.55 economic advantage. But it does not automatically create an additional cash expense. Employees may already be paid for that time. Show paid fees, estimated financing cost and staff capacity separately. The article on [reminder costs across several teams](https://www.billabex.com/en/blog/payment-reminder-cost-three-teams/) explains this distinction. The choice may depend on what those five hours prevent the team from doing, without claiming a cash saving that will not materialise. A reconciliation problem also deserves investigation before being treated as permanent. Missing references may be fixable through configuration or a clearer customer instruction, changing the operational comparison. ## Connect the payment to the correct case Finally, the option should provide usable references for identifying invoices and explaining differences between customer payments, fees and payouts. Test that chain with a full payment, partial payment and refund using appropriate demonstration data. To examine how accounting information supports follow-up, explore [Billabex integrations](https://www.billabex.com/en/product/integrations/). Ask how statuses and net amounts are handled without assuming Billabex sets the provider's fees or guarantees its payout timing. The decision should rest on documented cost, verifiable fund availability and a case the team can reconcile accurately. ## Sources - Adyen, What are the fees on my invoice?, official documentation. - Stripe, Receive payouts, schedule, settlement and France table sections. - Banque de France, Le virement SEPA instantané. Sources accessed 7 September 2026; all simulated tariffs are fictional.