A software founder struggles to calculate true costs of different Merchant of Record options due to hidden fees, transaction-based fixed cents, and international charges.

Existing MoR providers have opaque and unpredictable fee structures that vary by transaction size, card type, and geography, making it impossible to compare total costs accurately before committing.

Severity

3Medium

Willingness to Pay

implied

Added

Jun 21, 2026

Workarounds Described

manually reading multiple sites' fee pages and doing math with spreadsheets to compare costs

Implied Software Gaps

A tool that aggregates and calculates true all-in MoR fees based on the user's specific pricing and customer mix, updating automatically when fees change

App Concept

FeeForge

FeeForge is a merchant-of-record comparison and cost simulation tool tailored for SaaS founders. It pulls real-time fee schedules from major MoR providers and calculates total per-transaction costs based on your pricing, customer geography, and card mix, revealing hidden fees and showing true take-home per sale.

Key Features

Aggregate fee data from all major MoR providers (Stripe, Paddle, Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, etc.)
Real-time cost simulation: input your pricing tiers and expected customer countries to see exact per-transaction fees
Transparency alerts: automatically flag hidden charges like international card fees, cross-border taxes, and compliance surcharges
Side-by-side comparison view with monthly subscription or freemium pricing recommendations

Target Users: SaaS founders and indie software developers launching their first product or evaluating payment providers

Revenue Model: Freemium with limited comparisons (up to 3 providers); $19/mo Pro tier for unlimited comparisons, advanced simulation, and API access

Existing Solutions Mentioned

StripePaddleGumroadLemon Squeezy

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