BitPay remains one of the most widely adopted cryptocurrency payment processors for online and in-store merchants, offering a transparent fee structure that scales with transaction volume. Understanding BitPay merchant fees pricing official tiers is essential for businesses evaluating crypto acceptance against traditional card processing costs. The platform’s tiered model rewards higher-volume operations with lower per-transaction rates while maintaining no monthly subscription fees across all plans.
For merchants comparing crypto payment options, reviewing the bitpay merchant fees pricing official alongside alternative processors helps determine which gateway delivers the best margins for your specific business profile.
How BitPay’s Tiered Pricing Works
BitPay replaced its flat-rate pricing with a volume-based tiered structure. The system calculates transaction fees based on cumulative monthly invoice volume rather than individual transaction amounts or static account settings. Rates adjust automatically when a merchant’s month-to-date paid invoices cross into a new tier bracket.
The three pricing tiers are defined by monthly transaction volume thresholds measured in USD:
| Monthly Transaction Volume | Processing Fee |
|---|---|
| Under $500,000 USD | 2% + 25¢ per transaction |
| $500,000 – $999,999 USD | 1.5% + 25¢ per transaction |
| $1,000,000+ USD | 1% + 25¢ per transaction |
A fixed 25-cent fee applies to every transaction regardless of tier. This per-transaction cost covers BitPay’s operational overhead including payment routing, currency conversion, and settlement infrastructure.
Higher fees may apply for merchants operating in high-risk industries. BitPay determines risk classification during the underwriting process, and affected merchants should expect customized rate quotes from sales representatives.
When cumulative paid invoices exceed the current tier threshold mid-month, the reduced rate applies immediately to subsequent transactions. There is no retroactive adjustment period or grace window.
Settlement Options and Network Costs
BitPay settles funds daily into merchant bank accounts in local fiat currency or cryptocurrency. Supported settlement currencies include USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD, NZD, MXN, and major stablecoins such as USDC. Merchants can split settlements between fiat and crypto in any combination.
Understanding Bitcoin Network Cost Fees
Network costs represent a separate charge from processing fees and affect only Bitcoin payments. When customers pay with BTC, BitPay incurs miner fees to aggregate received UTXOs into sweep transactions destined for exchanges. If the estimated miner fee exceeds $0.01, BitPay passes this cost to the purchaser as a Network Cost fee displayed separately on the invoice.
No network cost fees apply to Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, ERC-20 tokens, or XRP payments. The Network Cost fluctuates with blockchain network congestion and uses Bitcoin Core’s Conservative 2-block fee estimate as its baseline calculation method.
Customers who pay BitPay invoices already cover their own miner fee when broadcasting the initial transaction. The Network Cost is distinct — it compensates BitPay for the additional on-chain activity required to consolidate and settle those funds.
Refund Fees and Payment Exceptions
Issuing refunds through BitPay involves additional fee considerations beyond the standard processing charge. When a merchant processes a full or partial refund on a completed invoice, BitPay deducts the miner fee associated with the refund transaction from the merchant’s ledger balance. This appears as a separate line item after the refund executes.
For BitPay Inc. merchants (US-based), the miner fee is deducted from the cryptocurrency amount refunded to the shopper by default, meaning the customer bears the refund mining cost. Merchants can elect to cover this fee themselves instead. For BitPay B.V. merchants (European entities), the miner fee always appears as a separate ledger deduction charged to the merchant.
Refund fees for payment exceptions — underpayments and overpayments — are deducted directly from the invoice balance and paid by the customer rather than the merchant. These exception handling fees ensure merchants receive expected settlement amounts even when shoppers send incorrect values.
Passing Processing Fees to Customers
BitPay allows merchants to pass processing fees onto shoppers by adjusting invoice totals before issuance. The platform provides a formula to calculate the correct gross charge amount:
invoiceTotal = (settlement + flat fee) ÷ (1 - rate)
Using a 2% percentage-based fee and $0.25 flat fee as an example, if a merchant wants to net $100 from a transaction, they would charge the customer approximately $102.55 rather than simply adding $2.25 to the original amount. Simply adding the fee percentage to the invoice total does not work because increasing the invoice also increases the fee collected by BitPay.
Flat fees are always calculated in USD cents regardless of invoice currency. Merchants issuing non-USD invoices must convert the flat fee using the applicable exchange rate. For instance, at a 1.1 EUR-to-USD rate, a €1,000 invoice would carry a €0.23 flat fee rather than €0.25.
BitPay automatically displays network fees to shoppers based on their chosen payment currency. These fees are added to the final invoice amount and deducted before crediting the merchant account, so merchants factoring fees into customer charges can safely ignore them in calculations.
Integration Features Included at Every Tier
All pricing tiers unlock the same feature set. BitPay does not gate core functionality behind higher price brackets. Available tools include:
- Ecommerce integrations for Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento 2, and BigCommerce
- Donation buttons and hosted payment pages
- REST API access for custom integrations
- Email billing tools for invoicing
- Automatic payment exception handling
- QuickBooks IIF file downloads
- iOS and Android checkout applications
- In-store retail payment solutions
- Crypto payouts and payroll services
Unlimited monthly transactions are included across all tiers. There are no caps on invoice volume, number of active webhook endpoints, or API calls.
Comparing BitPay to Card Processing Rates
Traditional credit card processors typically charge 2.9% to 3.5% plus $0.30 per transaction for online payments. Many additionally impose monthly statement fees, chargeback fees ranging from $15 to $50, and long-term contract penalties. BitPay’s highest tier rate of 1% + 25¢ represents substantial savings for high-volume merchants compared to these legacy rates.
Even at the entry-level 2% + 25¢ rate, BitPay undercuts standard card processing costs for most transaction sizes. The absence of chargebacks provides additional financial protection — cryptocurrency payments cannot be disputed or reversed once confirmed on chain, eliminating the fraud-related losses that card merchants routinely absorb.
However, cryptocurrency volatility introduces a different risk profile. BitPay’s instant conversion mechanism shields merchants from price swings by converting received crypto to fiat before settlement, but merchants who opt for crypto settlement still bear exposure to asset depreciation between customer payment and fund liquidation.
Getting Started with BitPay
Merchants sign up through BitPay’s business portal and complete identity verification during onboarding. No monthly subscription fee exists for any plan tier. Processing fees begin deducting from ledger balances on the first paid invoice.
New merchants accepting less than $500,000 in monthly volume start at the 2% + 25¢ rate and move down automatically as cumulative transaction volume grows throughout the calendar month. Contacting BitPay sales is recommended for enterprises processing over $1 million monthly or those in regulated industries requiring custom compliance arrangements.