Costs and account terms

Checking processing invoices against your written fee schedule

Match each line to a written fee, a quantity, a period, and a calculation you can repeat. A line that matches those four is a match. A line that does not is a question for the provider. It is not, by itself, proof that the charge is improper, and asking does not mean the charge will be credited back. You can do the matching from your own documents. The provider explains the line. Describe the work you need. Prism will confirm scope, responsibilities, fees, and terms before work begins.

For: An owner or authorized representative of a business that sells peptides for laboratory research use only and has a processing invoice to compare with a written fee term.

Updated 2026-09-21

The agreement and the invoice are different records

The fee term is the schedule in the agreement you accepted, or the pricing page inside the account if that is where the provider says your rates live. The invoice is a later bill. A public price list is a third document. Do not treat a public price list as your agreement unless the agreement says that list is the price. This page does not quote a rate, because a rate that is not in your document is not your rate.

A total for a month is a different task from this line-by-line match. Here you are looking for one line that either points at a written term or does not. You are not deciding whether the provider may charge a fee. You are deciding whether you can see the term that this line uses.

What Stripe's fees report includes, and what it leaves out

If the account is Stripe, the Fees report lists fees taken from the Stripe balance, fee credits, and financial accounts. Stripe says that includes fees charged by Stripe, card networks, and external partners, and that an itemized view can tie a fee to a transaction. Stripe also says fee data in that report is available 96 hours after the fee affects the balance. The report can show a pricing tier, a feature name, and whether the fee settled by credit, balance, or invoice. For an invoice, Stripe says the settled time is the date the invoice was sent.

Stripe says the same report excludes some charges, including post-paid invoiced fees, Terminal device purchases, Stripe Capital fees, and Atlas fees. An invoice in your files can therefore be real and still be absent from the balance fees report. Absence from the report is not the match, and it is not a finding that the invoice is wrong. The Dashboard page Stripe calls Plans and fees is where Stripe says you can see the pricing plan and the rates on that account. Compare the invoice with that plan and with the written agreement. If they disagree with each other, the question is which document the provider says controls.

Those report rules are Stripe's. Another provider's invoice names its own fee labels. Do not relabel another company's line with a Stripe feature name in order to force a match.

A customer refund is not a credit of the processing fee

Stripe's refund documentation says you can refund all or part of a successful payment, and that Stripe's processing fees from the original transaction are not returned. WooCommerce's refund documentation says transaction fees charged by the payment gateway will usually not be refunded with the order. Neither sentence decides a line on your invoice. They explain why a refunded order can still have a fee line. A fee line that does not match the written schedule is still a question. A fee line that matches the schedule is not improper merely because you later refunded the buyer.

Do not ask the provider to "reverse the illegal fee" when what you have is an unmatched label. Ask which written term, which count, and which period produced the amount. Keep a copy of the line. Asking is not a legal conclusion, and this page does not say the provider must credit it.

What you can decide

You can decide which lines match a term you can point to, which lines do not, and which lines you cannot test because the quantity or the period is not on the invoice. You can send the unmatched lines as questions. You cannot decide that a charge breaches the agreement. That would be a legal conclusion this page does not make.

The provider decides what the line means and whether any amount will be credited. Prism's solutions page describes storefront review, processing preparation, and help with a provider's website questions. Confirm any invoice-analysis scope and obtain processing terms from the relevant provider. A consultation can help you state the question. Any requested invoice review must be included in an agreed scope. Fees for any Prism work are discussed before work begins.

Charge-to-term match

One row set for one invoice line. A blank match is an unanswered question, not a finding that the charge is improper. Do not copy a rate from a public price list into the match. 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.

Charge-to-term match. The last column is for temporary notes.
Part of the line	A match requires	If you cannot show it	Your notes
Fee name	The invoice label and the label in the agreement or, for Stripe, on the Plans and fees page, refer to the same fee. Stripe's itemized report uses a feature name and a fee description.	The labels differ and no document says they are the same fee. Ask. Do not rename the line to create a match.	Fee name: Your notes
Amount	You can repeat the amount from the written rate, the count, and the period. The agreement, not a public price page, supplies the rate unless the agreement adopts that page.	The arithmetic does not reproduce the amount. Record the difference and ask which input you do not have. Do not call the difference improper.	Amount: Your notes
Period	The invoice states the dates the fee covers. Stripe says a fee that spans time has an activity start and end, and that an invoiced fee's settled time is the date the invoice was sent.	The invoice has no period. You cannot yet say which month's agreement applies.	Period: Your notes
Quantity	The count the fee uses, such as a number of charges, is stated on the invoice or in a report you can tie to that invoice. Stripe's itemized report can point at the object that incurred the fee.	The invoice states an amount and no count. Ask what was counted. Do not invent the count from your order total.	Quantity: Your notes
Where the fee was collected	The document says whether the fee was taken from the balance or billed on an invoice. Stripe says some post-paid invoiced fees are outside the balance fees report, so a missing report row is not the match.	You have an invoice and a report that do not contain the same lines, and neither document explains the gap. Ask which document is complete.	Where the fee was collected: Your notes
Question for the provider	One question naming the invoice, the line, the term you compared, and the figure you cannot reproduce. A refund of a buyer payment is a separate event. Stripe says the original processing fee is not returned with that refund.	A demand that the line be refunded, or a statement that the line is unlawful. Those are conclusions the documents do not make.	Question for the provider: Your notes

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

Limits

A Prism consultation can help you organize the facts and discuss the website or processing question. The payment provider decides eligibility, pricing, reserves, and whether an account is opened or closed.
An unmatched line is a question. It is not a finding that the fee is improper, and it is not a promise that the provider will credit it.
Stripe's Fees report rules, including the 96-hour delay and the exclusion of post-paid invoiced fees, apply to Stripe. They do not define another provider's invoice.

Related guides

Sources checked 2026-09-21

Stripe Fees report — checked 2026-09-21. The report lists fees from Stripe, networks, and partners, can be itemized to a transaction, is available 96 hours after a fee affects the balance, and excludes post-paid invoiced fees. An invoice settles on the date it is sent. The Plans and fees page shows the account's rates.
Stripe refunds — checked 2026-09-21. Refunding a payment does not return Stripe's processing fees from the original transaction.
WooCommerce refunds — checked 2026-09-21. WooCommerce says transaction fees charged by the payment gateway will usually not be refunded when the order is refunded.
Prism solutions — checked 2026-09-21. Published support is storefront review, processing preparation, and help with website questions. Specific requested work is confirmed through the inquiry. The provider decides account terms, and Prism's fees are discussed before work.

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