Fees and take-home
Lemon Squeezy Fee Calculator
Estimate the base ecommerce fee (5% + $0.50) and seller take-home for paid one-time digital orders. Enter the total paid by the customer, including any sales tax or VAT, then enter the tax amount already included in that total. Lemon Squeezy remits that tax; it is not seller income. No tax is assumed when the tax input is 0. International, PayPal and other add-on fees are excluded.
Formula
- Fee per transaction = Order total including tax * 5% + $0.50 for a positive collected amount; $0 for a no-payment order
- Total fees = Fee per transaction * Number of transactions
- Total tax deducted = Tax included per order * Number of transactions
- Net per transaction = Order total - Tax included per order - Fee per transaction
- Total net = Order total * Number of transactions - Total tax deducted - Total fees
- Fees as % of total collected (incl. tax) = Total fees / Total collected including tax * 100 (tax is not a platform fee)
Examples
- A $29 order with no sales tax has an estimated base fee of $1.95 and leaves $27.05 before add-ons.
- A $24 order including $4 tax has a $1.70 base fee and leaves $18.30 before add-ons. This is not the official France example: that example also includes an international surcharge.
- Processing 100 orders of $19 each with no sales tax collects $1,900, incurs $145 in base fees, and leaves $1,755 before add-ons.
- On a $29 order at standard rates, Gumroad Direct platform fees are $3.40 before processing, while Lemon Squeezy's base fee is $1.95. Eligible Gumroad high-volume sales use a different rate; compare your actual fee layers.
When to use this calculator
- Compare Lemon Squeezy with Gumroad and Payhip for digital product sales.
- Separate platform-collected tax from seller take-home for an order or a same-value batch.
- Decide whether the merchant-of-record convenience is worth the percentage compared to direct Stripe.
Common mistakes
- Assuming the 5% + $0.50 rate covers every situation; international, PayPal, and subscription add-ons can raise the effective rate.
- Comparing only Lemon Squeezy's percentage to Stripe's percentage without accounting for Lemon Squeezy bundling sales tax handling that Stripe does not provide.
- Counting platform-collected sales tax as seller income, or adding that tax to the order total twice.
- Treating the Refund Impact Calculator's generic retained-fee defaults as Lemon Squeezy policy instead of using actual refund adjustments.
Frequently asked questions
What are Lemon Squeezy's current fees for sellers?
Lemon Squeezy charges 5% + $0.50 per transaction as the base ecommerce rate. This rate bundles base payment processing into the platform fee, so there is no separate Stripe-style processor fee for a base card sale. International transactions, PayPal transactions, subscription payments, payout choices, and marketing features can add costs beyond this base rate. Lemon Squeezy also acts as merchant of record and handles sales tax and EU VAT collection and remittance on your behalf.
How is the Lemon Squeezy fee calculated on a sale?
Multiply the total paid by the customer, including any sales tax or VAT, by 5% and add $0.50. Seller take-home is that total minus the included tax and the fee. A $24 order including $4 tax has a $1.70 base fee and leaves $18.30 before add-ons. A $29 order with no tax leaves $27.05. Enter the actual tax per order; missing tax inputs in older links assume zero tax. International, PayPal and subscription fees are not modeled here.
Does Lemon Squeezy include sales tax handling?
Yes. As merchant of record, Lemon Squeezy collects and remits sales tax or VAT and deducts collected tax from seller payouts. That tax is not seller income. Enter the total paid by the customer and the tax already included in it, whether tax was added at checkout or the store uses tax-inclusive pricing. This calculator does not work out tax from a country or rate, and it does not calculate your own income tax.
What add-on fees might apply beyond 5% + $0.50?
International card payments may add a percentage on top of the base rate. PayPal-funded transactions may have a different effective rate than card transactions. Subscription billing handling, currency conversion when paying out in non-USD, and affiliate program payouts can also add costs. The 5% + $0.50 figure is the base ecommerce rate, not the all-in cost in every scenario.
Do I get the Lemon Squeezy fee back on refunds?
Official refund help describes reducing the next payout by the customer refund less Lemon Squeezy's platform fee. This does not support a blanket claim that every bundled processing fee is kept. Check the actual order and payout adjustments, especially for partial refunds; chargebacks can add a dispute fee. This calculator does not model refunds. Use Refund Impact only with the actual non-returned fees, not its generic defaults as Lemon Squeezy policy.
How does Lemon Squeezy compare to direct Stripe?
Direct Stripe at 2.9% + $0.30 has a lower headline rate than Lemon Squeezy at 5% + $0.50. However, direct Stripe does NOT include sales tax or VAT compliance, does NOT include the merchant-of-record service, and does NOT handle international card surcharges automatically. The right comparison depends on whether you would otherwise pay for separate tax compliance software and how international your customer base is.
Is Lemon Squeezy good for subscriptions?
Lemon Squeezy supports subscription billing including trials, upgrades, downgrades, and cancellations, but subscription payments may add a fee beyond the base ecommerce rate. This calculator models the base ecommerce fee only. If subscription billing is your primary model, include Lemon Squeezy's subscription add-on in your own estimate or compare against Stripe Billing, Paddle, and other subscription-focused options.
Can I sell physical products on Lemon Squeezy?
No. Lemon Squeezy's prohibited-products documentation lists physical goods of any kind as prohibited. It generally supports digital goods fulfilled through its platform, such as software, ebooks and digital assets. Check the current official product rules before selling; this calculator is for paid one-time digital orders only.
Related calculators
Sources and assumptions
Lemon Squeezy: PricingLemon Squeezy: FeesLemon Squeezy: Sales tax and VATLemon Squeezy: Refunds and chargebacksLemon Squeezy: Prohibited products
- Lemon Squeezy ecommerce base rate: 5% + $0.50 per transaction. Base card payment processing is bundled into this rate.
- A $0 order total is treated as no paid order, with no ecommerce transaction fee and a fee percentage of N/A. This is not a refund of an originally paid order. Payout, email-marketing and other account-level costs are outside this calculator.
- Merchant of record: Lemon Squeezy collects and remits sales tax and VAT. The base fee is calculated on the total including tax; the entered tax is then deducted from seller take-home. Copy the actual tax amount from the order, not a guessed local tax rate. Tax must be between zero and the order total.
- Each transaction in this batch has the same order total and included tax. Tax is not calculated automatically. Older links without a tax input assume zero tax; check that assumption before using their result.
- International cards, PayPal-funded transactions, currency conversion, subscription billing handling, payouts to non-USD bank accounts, and affiliate program features may add costs that are not modeled here.
- Refunds are not modeled here. Official refund help describes a deduction from the next payout equal to the customer refund less Lemon Squeezy's platform fee. Do not assume every bundled fee is retained. Check actual order and payout adjustments, especially for partial refunds; chargebacks may add a dispute fee.
Rates checked:
Last updated:
Base-fee estimate only, not a complete payout reconciliation. Subtracting entered sales tax does not include international, PayPal, subscription, affiliate or payout add-ons, product costs or income tax. Use paid orders; free orders and refunds need separate treatment. Share links expose the order and tax amounts to anyone who receives them; use fictional numbers for public examples.