What Is the “SureCart Application Fee,” and Why It’s Not an Extra Charge

When using Stripe with SureCart, you may notice a line item labeled “SureCart Application Fee” on subscription transactions. 

This document explains what these fees represent, why they are not additional charges, and how this setup actually benefits your subscription business. 

• If you sell subscriptions with Stripe, there is always a subscription fee involved, no matter what tool you’re using.
• With most platforms, that fee goes directly to Stripe.
• With SureCart, that fee appears as a SureCart Application Fee, because SureCart provides its own subscription management system.
• Your overall costs remain the same; you’re simply paying SureCart instead of Stripe for this part of your subscription business.

Why That’s Better for Your Reporting & Accounting

• No extra fees – The SureCart Application Fee replaces the subscription fee you would otherwise pay directly to Stripe.
• Transparency – Your Stripe payment processing fees remain visible in Stripe, while the subscription fee is shown separately under SureCart.
• Simplified bookkeeping – You can clearly distinguish which fees go to Stripe (payment processing) and which go to SureCart (subscription management).
• Supports ongoing innovation – This model allows SureCart to keep building and supporting features that make running a subscription business easier.

Comparison Table

Detailed Breakdown

Stripe’s Fee Structure

Whenever you sell subscriptions using Stripe, there are two types of fees involved:

• A standard processing fee (e.g., 2.9% + 30¢ in the U.S.), and
• A subscription-related fee for managing recurring payments.

With most platforms, both of these fees are charged directly by Stripe.

How SureCart Works Differently

With SureCart:

• You still pay Stripe’s standard processing fees, as usual.
• You do not pay Stripe’s subscription fee because SureCart manages subscriptions directly.
• Instead, you’ll see a SureCart Application Fee that reflects this same cost, just shown under SureCart rather than Stripe.

This means your total fees are the same, but the label is different. The difference is that SureCart reinvests this fee into giving you more flexibility and control over your subscription business.

Why SureCart Built Its Own Subscription System

Stripe is an incredible partner for global payment processing, and we rely on Stripe to power payments. But subscription businesses often need flexibility that Stripe itself doesn’t provide.

That’s why SureCart manages subscriptions inside our platform—so you can take advantage of Stripe’s reliability while unlocking features that wouldn’t otherwise be possible, such as:

• Reactivate canceled subscriptions – Bring a customer back without forcing them to start over.
• Switch payment methods, even across processors – For example, allow a customer to move from a credit card on Stripe to PayPal. Stripe doesn’t process PayPal, but SureCart makes this possible.
• No manual syncing of products and prices – Other systems require you to set up products and prices in Stripe and then sync them back to your store. With SureCart, everything lives in one place, your store, making management seamless.
• More flexibility for your business – Because SureCart manages subscription logic, we can keep improving with features like upgrades, downgrades, proration rules, and customer-friendly tools.

In short: the SureCart Application Fee exists because we replace Stripe’s subscription handling with our own system, designed to give you more options, less friction, and a better subscription experience for your customers.

Key Benefits

1. No extra cost – This is not an added fee. It’s the same type of subscription fee you’d pay anywhere else when selling with Stripe.
2. Designed for subscriptions – Our system makes running a subscription business easier by enabling features like reactivation, payment method switching, and seamless product management.
3. Transparency – You always see exactly what Stripe is charging for processing and exactly what SureCart collects for subscriptions.
4. Sustainable model – Supporting SureCart through this fee ensures we can keep innovating on subscription tools that work alongside Stripe’s world-class payment processing.

Summary

The “SureCart Application Fee” is not an extra charge. It is simply the subscription fee you would always pay when selling subscriptions with Stripe, only shown under SureCart instead of Stripe.

You still:

• Pay Stripe for payment processing, and
• Pay SureCart the equivalent of Stripe’s subscription fee, as the SureCart Application Fee.

The result: your overall cost is the same as it would be with any other platform, but you gain the added benefit of SureCart’s powerful subscription features, flexibility, and ease of use.