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.
Share of volume charged on cards issued outside the US. Stripe adds +1.5% for those cards; the model applies the blended share to all revenue.
Off by default so URLs without parameters keep the USD baseline. Enable it when you price in EUR, GBP or another currency and Stripe converts the payout to USD.
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 Firstbase ($399) + Stripe.
Blended US/non-US card rate, excluding FX unless enabled. You own sales tax/VAT obligations. An LLC does not guarantee Stripe or bank approval. Firstbase's $399 package excludes state fees and optional add-ons.
Launch US LLC with Firstbase ↗A flat 5% looks simple until a 70% international card mix and a 1% FX conversion land on the same invoice. The research note derives the general break-even formula and puts exact numbers on all three tiers at $8,000 MRR.
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. Firstbase's $399 formation package excludes state fees and optional add-ons. Partner links may earn a commission.
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). StripeRate = 2.9% + (Intl / 100) × 1.5% + (FX ? 1% : 0). Stripe = MRR × StripeRate + N × $0.30 + annual budget / 12.Net difference = MoR − Stripe. A nonpositive result selects both MoRs; a positive result selects US LLC + Stripe. RateDelta = (5% − StripeRate) + (0.20 / AOV); Break-even MRR = RateDelta > 0 ? (annual budget / 12) / RateDelta : Infinity. Annual figures use unrounded monthly costs × 12.intl=0 and fx=0, so a URL without those parameters keeps the original US domestic-card baseline. Each preset button reloads $8,000 MRR, $40 AOV, $1,000/year with its card mix: 0% Intl → $3,205/mo break-even; 70% Intl → $5,376/mo; 70% Intl + 1% FX → $15,152/mo. URL parameters intl (0–100, step 5) and fx (0/1) round-trip through the share link.