Processing costs from the statements you already have
You can total only the amounts your own statements and invoices define for a period you name, against a sales figure you can point to in those records. On a Stripe account, the balance report and the payout reconciliation report answer different questions, a refund does not return Stripe's original processing fees, and a reserve is a temporary hold rather than a fee. Another provider's statement uses that provider's labels. The provider's records, not this page, define the amount. Describe the work you need. Prism will confirm scope, responsibilities, fees, and terms before work begins.
For: An owner of a research-use-only peptide business who wants to read the processing fees and other amounts already on statements and invoices.
Updated 2026-09-21
Name the period and the denominator first
A cost figure without a period and a definition is not comparable to anything. Before you add numbers, write the start and end dates and what the denominator includes: the gross card sales in a store report, the gross column on a processor report, or the net amount after fees and refunds. Those are different numbers. Using one of them while labeling it as another produces a rate that the statements do not show.
Stripe's balance summary report is for reconciling the Stripe balance over a selected period. Transactions appear in the settlement currency. The report includes the period's transactions and payouts, and Stripe says it does not associate payouts with payment transactions. The balance-change summary has separate gross, fee, and net amounts for each reporting category. Stripe's payout reconciliation report instead matches automatic payouts to the batches they settle, and it can include transactions from before the selected period. It is not available for every payout type. Instant payouts, Stripe says, must be reconciled by the business because Stripe cannot identify which transactions they include. A store's order total is a third record. Do not add these three together.
A refund does not automatically reverse the fee
Stripe's refund article says Stripe's processing fees from the original charge are not returned. For standard pricing, Stripe says there is no fee for issuing a refund except in the bank-transfer case it describes. For IC+ pricing, it says the fee schedule may include fees for issuing refunds. In all cases, it says payment-processing, Connect, and currency-conversion fees from the original charge are not returned. It also says card networks set the rules for refunded payments and in many cases keep the upfront cost.
Copy what your statement shows. Do not subtract a fee return that is not on the statement. If the provider is not Stripe, Stripe's rule is not that provider's rule. Ask that provider how its statement treats a refunded sale, and leave the row unresolved until the statement or the written answer shows it.
Refund timing is a separate problem. Stripe says refunds use the available balance, and a card refund can remain pending when the balance does not cover it. A refund initiated near the end of a statement period can land in the next period. The period you named has to say which date you are using.
A reserve is a hold until the record says otherwise
Stripe's reserve FAQ says a reserve is a temporary hold on a portion of the business's funds for a stated period, intended to cover refunds and disputes. Funds still held at the end of the term are paid out, minus amounts used to cover customer refunds or disputes. Stripe says a reserve does not stop the business from accepting payments. It also says a reserve can be extended, and in rare cases required indefinitely, after a later review.
Do not enter the reserved balance as a processing expense. It is still subject to the reserve terms, but it is not a fee line. If a refund or dispute is paid from the reserve, record that use as its own event. If the statement does not say whether a line is a hold, a release, or a fee, leave the classification unresolved. This page does not compare future proposals. It only reads the history the statements already contain.
What you can total, and what you still have to ask
You can total the fee lines your chosen report defines, list invoices from other companies for the same period, and mark reserves and timing gaps as unresolved. You cannot produce a single rate that every provider would calculate, and you cannot treat a missing month as zero. Stripe says a day's report data is normally available by noon the next day, with exceptions, including longer preparation for some payout reconciliation reports. A period that the report says is not ready is not a closed period.
Use the relevant provider’s definitions for its statement fields and obtain written pricing for the actual business. A consultation can discuss the business and the question. Confirm any statement-analysis work in the engagement scope. Whether a contract's price matches these records is a question for the provider that wrote the contract.
Statement cost reconciliation
Enter figures only from a statement, invoice, or export you can identify. Leave the amount blank when the record does not define it. Do not paste full account numbers. 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.
Statement cost reconciliation. The last column is for temporary notes.
Amount
Which record defines it
What not to do with it
Your figure or note
The period
Which record defines itWrite the start and end dates on the statement or export you are using.
What not to do with itDo not close a period the report says is not available yet.
The sales denominator
Which record defines itName the column and the report: store gross, Stripe gross, Stripe net, or another provider's label.
What not to do with itDo not divide fees by a denominator from a different report and call it one rate.
Processor fees in that period
Which record defines itUse the fee amount on the same report as the denominator. Stripe's balance-change summary keeps gross, fee, and net apart.
What not to do with itDo not add a second company's invoice into this line.
Refunds
Which record defines itRecord the refund amount and whether the same statement returns the original fee. Stripe says its original processing fees are not returned.
What not to do with itDo not apply Stripe's fee rule to a provider whose statement defines the refund differently.
Disputes and dispute amounts
Which record defines itKeep dispute debits separate from ordinary refunds. Stripe describes a dispute as a reversal plus network dispute fees, debited from the balance.
What not to do with itDo not classify a dispute as a refund because both reduce the balance.
Reserves and releases
Which record defines itRecord the hold, the release, and any amount the reserve FAQ's terms say was used for a refund or dispute.
What not to do with itDo not book the untouched held balance as an expense.
Invoices from other companies
Which record defines itList gateway, monthly, or other invoices that are not lines on the processor statement.
What not to do with itDo not ignore them, and do not pretend they are processing fees the statement does not show.
Labels you cannot classify
Which record defines itQuote the label and the report name. An unknown label stays unknown.
What not to do with itDo not assign it to fees or to reserves without a definition in the record.
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.
This worksheet is your historical baseline. It does not compare proposals or predict a future price.
Stripe's fee and reserve descriptions apply to Stripe records. They are not a universal processing tariff.
Stripe balance summary report — checked 2026-09-21. The balance report reconciles the Stripe balance for a selected period in the settlement currency, separates gross, fee, and net on the activity summary, and does not associate payouts with payment transactions.
Stripe payout reconciliation report — checked 2026-09-21. Payout reconciliation matches automatic payouts to settlement batches and can include earlier transactions. It is not the report for every payout type. Daily data is normally available by noon the next day, with stated exceptions.
Stripe fees for refunded payments — checked 2026-09-21. Stripe does not return the original processing fees when a payment is refunded. Refund-issuing fees depend on the pricing schedule, and networks may keep the upfront cost.
Stripe refunds — checked 2026-09-21. Refunds use the available Stripe balance. A card refund can stay pending when the balance does not cover it.
Stripe reserves FAQ — checked 2026-09-21. A Stripe reserve is a temporary hold to cover refunds and disputes. Unused funds are released at the end of the term. A reserve can be extended and, rarely, kept in place.
Stripe disputes — checked 2026-09-21. A dispute reverses the payment and Stripe debits the payment amount and dispute fee from the business's balance.
Prism features — checked 2026-09-21. Prism's published processing support is help organizing business information and questions. The provider determines eligibility, approval, and account terms. Specific requested work is confirmed through the inquiry.
Request a consultation
Describe the business and this specific question. Prism follows up by email to discuss fit and scope. An inquiry is not a processing application or an approval.