I took a look at some online payment processing systems instead to see the associated costs related to using online payment systems and came down to the following summary based on a cursory search:
| Company | Fee | Transaction | Fx Fee | Comment |
| Stripe | 2.90% | 0.3 | On Send | |
| Paypal | 2.90% | 0.3 | 2.50% | From Credit card only and in US |
| Skrill | 1.90% | Capped at 20 euros | ||
| Alipay | 0.7 ~ 1.2% | Chinese accounts | ||
| Alipay | 2.5 ~ 2.5% | Foreign accounts | ||
| Wepay | 2.90% | 0.3 | ||
| 2Checkout | 2.90% | 0.3 | More for other countries |
What has surprised me is that most online payment platforms do no better compared to the standard Visa and Mastercard transaction rates. The only companies that seem to be offering better deals to consumers are Chinese payment systems for Chinese users with far lower rates.
I would surmise that the increase in usage is the result of the lower transaction fees.
Of the online payment providers, their businesses seem to be solely based on transactions instead of providing any sort of banking functions. I am quite certain that there are costs related to transferring money in and out of these payment processing systems and banks adding into the operational costs of these online payment processing systems.
Another interesting surprise is the lack of integration of online payment systems with banks which could make storage of money versus the spending of it far more frictionless.
I see some interesting things in the future, one for the fact that Sweden and other Nordic countries are moving towards cashless payment systems. I think the next step in this process would be for governments to legislate and create infrastructure for this to happen. Once this does happen, I believe it would be the biggest competitive killer in the current payment processing environment.
