A cheaper transaction fee can hide an expensive company. Compare Merchant of Record simplicity with US LLC + Stripe economics, down to the last fixed fee.
$8,000 MRR · $40 orders · $1,000 annual compliance
US LLC + Stripe saves $1,496/year in the base model.
Planning allowance for Franchise Tax / annual state reports, Registered Agent, and IRS Form 5472 / pro forma 1120 preparation, where applicable. Default: $1,000/year, or $83.33/month. This is an editable estimate, not a Doola package quote. Formation, income taxes and sales tax/VAT registration, software and filing costs are additional. Add recurring costs to this budget for a fuller comparison.
Launch lean. Let your MoR handle sales tax.
Sales tax/VAT on MoR sales handled by the provider. Additional international, PayPal, subscription and payout fees may apply. Your own business and income-tax duties remain.
Open Lemon Squeezy ↗Payments, billing and indirect tax together.
Published pay-as-you-go checkout pricing. MoR handles sales tax/VAT on covered sales. Product approval, payout thresholds and seller eligibility still apply.
Explore Paddle ↗Company formation through Doola.
US domestic-card base rate. You own sales tax/VAT obligations. An LLC does not guarantee Stripe or bank approval. Doola service fees depend on the chosen plan.
Get Doola Discount ↗Borrowed identities and “verified” accounts can fail verification and trigger suspension or reserves. Imagine $10,000 inaccessible for 120 days: that is four months of cash-flow pain. This is a risk scenario, not a universal Stripe hold policy.
40+ US state tax regimes, customer-location VAT rules and filing deadlines can turn a low headline fee into a compliance bill. A MoR handles indirect tax on its sales; an LLC alone does not. Your obligations depend on nexus, product and customer location.
Use the modeled winner to compare options. Check eligibility and the final plan price before committing.
Wise Business is a business account and FX option; it is not a substitute for a Merchant of Record. Partner links may earn a commission. “Get Doola Discount” opens the partner route; availability and terms are set by Doola.
N = MRR / AOV. Fractional orders are expected averages; transaction counts are not rounded before calculation.MoR = MRR × 0.05 + N × $0.50 (each provider separately). Stripe = MRR × 0.029 + N × $0.30 + annual budget / 12.Net difference = MoR − Stripe. A nonpositive result selects both MoRs; a positive result selects US LLC + Stripe. Break-even MRR = (annual budget / 12) / (0.021 + 0.20 / AOV). Annual figures use unrounded monthly costs × 12.