Gateway Cost: Track Payment Processing Fees

Gateway Cost measures the total payment gateway processing fees charged by payment processors like Stripe, PayPal, or Shopify Payments.

Formula

Gateway Cost = SUM ( Payment Gateway Fees )

Formula Components

Metric	Definition
Payment Gateway Fees	Flat fees + percentage-based fees charged per transaction by payment processors

Metadata
Type	Currency
Data Source	Shopify
Aggregation	Sum

Example

Your store processed $125,000 in revenue across 1,247 orders in January. With a 2.9% + $0.30 fee structure:

Component	Calculation	Amount
Percentage fees	$125,000 × 2.9%	$3,625
Flat fees	1,247 × $0.30	$374
Total Gateway Cost		$3,999

How It Works

Gateway Cost aggregates all payment processing fees from your payment processor. This includes both the percentage-based fee (typically 2.4-3.5% of transaction value) and any flat per-transaction fees ($0.30 is common). The metric pulls from Shopify’s transaction data.

When to Use

Scenario	Action
Evaluating payment processors	Compare Gateway Cost across different processors to find the best rates
Calculating contribution margin	Deduct from revenue at CM2 level for accurate profitability
Benchmarking processing costs	Target 2-3% of revenue for typical e-commerce
Analyzing per-order economics	Combine with per-order metrics to understand unit costs

Metric	Relationship
Gateway Cost Per Order	Average gateway fee per order
Gateway Cost %	Gateway fees as percentage of net revenue
Total Transaction Cost	Gateway Cost + Other Transaction costs

See all Transaction Cost metrics →

Transaction Costs Gateway Cost Per Order

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​Formula

​Formula Components

​Example

​How It Works

​When to Use

​Related Metrics

Formula

Formula Components

Example

How It Works

When to Use

Related Metrics