Whether to absorb or pass on Stripe processing fees for pickleball registration is a judgment call: passing fees to players keeps your headline registration price lower but can feel transactional at checkout, while absorbing fees into your price is cleaner from a player experience standpoint but means factoring the fee into your pricing upfront — either approach is valid as long as you're consistent.
Pickleball.com processes all player payments through Stripe, which charges a standard processing fee on each transaction (typically 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction in the US). This fee is a real cost of doing business and needs to be factored into your pricing model one way or another.
Adding the processing fee as a separate line item at checkout keeps your advertised registration price lower and more competitive-looking, since players see the base fee first and the small transaction fee added at the final step. Some players find this transparent; others find the added line item at checkout slightly off-putting, particularly if it's not clearly explained.
Building the processing fee into your advertised registration price creates a cleaner checkout experience — the price players see is the price they pay, with no surprise addition. This requires you to calculate the fee into your pricing before publishing, rather than adding it visibly at checkout.
NoteWhichever approach you choose, be consistent across all your events and communicate it clearly if you do pass the fee along. Switching back and forth between approaches from event to event creates confusion and makes it harder for returning players to know what to expect.
Both approaches are common, and there isn't a strong industry-wide standard. The right choice often depends on your specific audience's expectations and whether your competitive landscape (other local events) tends to pass fees along or absorb them.
Stripe's processing fee is typically non-refundable to you even when you refund the player's registration, meaning a full refund can leave you with a small net loss on that transaction. Factor this into your refund policy — some organizers offer credits toward future events rather than cash refunds for late cancellations partly for this reason.
Questions about pricing or revenue for your pickleball event? Email [email protected].