Budgeting the full cost of changing payment providers

An expense and a cash delay are not the same input

A fee you pay and money you receive later are both real, and they do not belong in one total. A reserve hold and a payout schedule change dates. They are costs of the change only if the document names an amount as a fee. If it names a hold, leave the hold on the cash calendar and out of the expense list. Adding the hold to the expense list counts the same money twice, once as delayed cash and once as if it were spent.

This page does not build that calendar and it does not compare payout clocks. It asks whether each figure you might put in a budget is written down somewhere you can point to.

Costs that exist only if a document names them

The current agreement may say that ending it leaves amounts payable for the period already passed. Stripe's general terms say termination does not relieve amounts payable to Stripe for the period before the effective date of termination. That sentence does not state the amount. The amount, if any, is whatever your Stripe account or your separate written terms show. Do not insert a cancellation fee the agreement does not name. A sentence in Stripe's Canada regional terms about closing without a fee is not used here, because it is not the general rule and it is not another provider's contract.

The new offer counts only where it states a fee, a rate, or a recurring charge. A public pricing page is not the offer unless the offer adopts it. Stripe's platform help article says Stripe charges a processing fee that can differ by country and points readers to Stripe's pricing. That is Stripe's description of Stripe, not a figure for your proposal and not a Prism fee.

WooCommerce's settings documentation tells you where to enable a payment provider. It does not state a price for enabling one. An agency or developer cost counts only when you have that person's quote or invoice. Your own estimate of staff time counts only if you label it as your estimate. An unresolved blank stays unresolved. Do not fill it with a round number so the budget looks complete.

The change does not erase the old account's work

Refunds, disputes, and other duties on the old account can continue after the checkout points somewhere else. Stripe's payments terms say that after those terms end, existing transaction obligations still have to be fulfilled and new transactions are not accepted through those services, with regional terms controlling if they conflict. Time and money spent on those open items are part of the change only when you can point at the open item. They are not a reason to drop the item, and they are not a savings from switching.

A period when both accounts could charge something is a cost only if both documents say a charge applies during that period. Overlap you merely expect is unknown.

What you can decide

You can decide which figures are documented, which are your labeled estimates, and which questions block a comparison. You can refuse to treat two offers as comparable while a fee on one of them is unstated. You cannot decide that the change saves money. Nothing on this page measures savings or a payback period.

Each provider decides the price and the account terms it will actually offer. Prism's contact page says scope, any fees, and terms are discussed before work, and that a request does not purchase a service. Obtain a written quote for any work or provider charge before relying on it in the comparison.

Change-cost inventory

Enter a figure only when you can name the document. Label an estimate as an estimate. Leave undocumented amounts blank. Do not put a reserve hold or a payout delay in the expense column unless the document calls it a fee. Worksheet entries are not submitted by this worksheet or saved by this site. Use only non-sensitive summaries; do not enter credentials, government identifiers, card or bank-account numbers, private receipt links, or customer details.

Worksheet entries are not submitted by Prism’s worksheet and are not saved by the site. Use record types, availability, anonymized observations, or match/mismatch results. Do not enter government identifiers, customer names or addresses, customer messages, receipt-access links, card or bank details, passwords, or keys. Send sensitive documents only through the provider’s verified secure channel.

These are temporary notes. Leaving or reloading this page may clear them. The consultation form does not include these entries.