DEV Community: Kabir Jain

Razorpay Works Great in India… But What Happens When You Go Global?

Kabir Jain — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 11:33:34 +0000

If you’re building a SaaS or digital product from India, Razorpay is one of the first payment gateways you’ll come across.

And for good reason.

It’s reliable, well-documented, and supports a wide range of payment methods like cards, UPI, net banking, and wallets. You can get up and running quickly without dealing with too much infrastructure complexity.

But the real question isn’t whether Razorpay works.

It’s whether it works once you start scaling globally.

What Razorpay actually does

Razorpay is a payment gateway.

It sits between your application and the banking system, handling:

Payment collection
Transaction authorisation
Fraud checks
Settlement to your bank account

A typical flow looks like this:

Customer selects Razorpay at checkout
Enter payment details (card, UPI, etc.)
Razorpay processes and validates the transaction
Funds are settled into your account

From an engineering standpoint, it’s a clean abstraction over payment rails.

Why developers like Razorpay

There’s a lot to like, especially early on.

Multi-payment support

Cards, UPI, wallets, and net banking — all in one integration.

Developer-friendly APIs

Well-documented APIs and SDKs make integration straightforward.

Subscription support

You can handle recurring billing without building everything from scratch.

Quick go-live

No heavy compliance setup required initially.

For India-first products, this is a strong foundation.

The part most teams underestimate

When evaluating payment platforms, most founders focus on transaction fees.

But the higher cost is what the platform doesn’t handle.

Things like:

Tax compliance
Failed payment recovery
Chargeback handling
Local payment methods across countries

These are not edge cases. They become core problems as you scale.

Where Razorpay starts to show limits

1. It’s not a Merchant of Record

Razorpay is just a gateway.

That means:

You are the legal seller
You handle invoicing
You manage VAT/GST across regions
You deal with compliance and filings

For global SaaS, this becomes operational overhead very quickly.

2. Global coverage is limited

Razorpay works best in India and a few supported markets.

If you’re targeting:

Europe
LATAM
Southeast Asia

You’ll need additional systems to handle:

Local payment methods
Regional compliance
Currency behaviour

3. Cross-border tax is on you

Selling internationally means:

Registering for VAT/GST in multiple countries
Filing taxes in each jurisdiction
Staying compliant with changing regulations

Razorpay doesn’t abstract this away.

4. Pricing is predictable… but layered

Typical structure:

~2% for domestic payments
~3% for international payments
+18% GST on top

At scale, this matters.

Not because the fees are hidden, but because:

Taxes stack on top
International transactions cost more
Margins get tighter with global expansion

5. Mobile and platform constraints

If you’re building for iOS or Android:

App Store policies can restrict third-party payment flows
You may need alternative billing setups
Integration can become non-trivial depending on your product

The real shift: payments → infrastructure

Early-stage thinking:

“We just need to accept payments.”

Scaling-stage thinking:

How do we handle global tax?
How do we stay compliant in multiple regions?
How do we reduce operational overhead?
How do we support different pricing models globally?

At this point, Razorpay alone is not enough.

What teams do next

As complexity increases, teams start layering additional systems:

Tax tools
Billing systems
Compliance workflows
Payment method aggregators

Or they move toward a different model entirely.

A different approach: Merchant of Record

Instead of stitching multiple tools together, some teams use a Merchant of Record (MoR).

An MoR handles:

Payments
Tax collection and filing
Compliance
Invoicing
Legal responsibility of the sale

This simplifies global expansion significantly.

Platforms like Dodo Payments follow this model, allowing SaaS and AI companies to sell internationally without setting up entities or managing tax registrations in every country.

Final thoughts

Razorpay is a solid payment gateway.

It’s reliable, developer-friendly, and works extremely well for India-first businesses.

But it’s not designed to solve global monetisation.

And that’s where most teams hit friction.

The key question is not:
“Does Razorpay work?”

It’s:

“Is Razorpay enough for where we’re going?”

If you want a deeper breakdown

If you’re evaluating Razorpay and want a detailed review of its features, pricing, and limitations, read this:

https://dodopayments.com/blogs/razorpay-review

TL;DR

Razorpay is a strong payment gateway for India with solid APIs, multiple payment methods, and easy integration. But it’s not a Merchant of Record, which means you’re responsible for global tax, compliance, and invoicing. As you scale internationally, these gaps become significant, and many teams start looking for more complete monetisation solutions.

PayPal Fees Look Simple… Until You Model the Real Cost

Kabir Jain — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 11:11:23 +0000

If you search for “PayPal business fees,” you’ll usually see one number.

Something like 2.99% + $0.49.

It looks straightforward. Easy to reason about. Easy to plug into a spreadsheet.

But if you’re running a SaaS or digital business, that number is incomplete.

And in many cases, misleading.

The problem with “headline pricing”

Most teams think in terms of: “What percentage does PayPal charge?”

But the real question is: “What do I actually keep after everything?”

Because PayPal fees aren’t just one layer. They’re a stack.

That stack typically includes:

Base processing fees
Fixed per-transaction fees
International surcharges
Currency conversion spreads
Disputes and chargebacks
Payout fees

Once you combine these, the effective rate looks very different from the advertised one.

The fixed fee problem (why AOV matters more than you think)

The $0.49 fixed fee seems small until you look at it relative to order value.

$10 order → ~4.9% just from the fixed fee
$20 order → ~2.45%
$50 order → ~1%

If you’re selling:

low-ticket SaaS plans
templates
digital downloads

This alone can compress margins significantly.

Percentage debates become less relevant. Fixed fees dominate.

International payments: where things get expensive

Most SaaS businesses are global by default.

And this is where PayPal’s cost structure becomes layered.

For international transactions, you typically get:

+1.50% international surcharge
~3.00% currency conversion spread

So a transaction that started at ~3% can quickly move toward 6–8% effective cost depending on geography and conversion.

This is where many teams underestimate their actual payment costs.

Real-world scenario (what this looks like)

Let’s say:

100 transactions/month
Mix of domestic and international customers
Moderate refunds/disputes

At a $25 average order value:

Effective cost ≈ ~8%

At $75 AOV:

Effective cost ≈ ~5.8%

At $150 AOV:

Effective cost ≈ ~5.3%

The key takeaway is simple:

The “listed fee” is not the “operating fee.”

The second cost layer: disputes and refunds

Most models ignore failed or reversed payments.

But in reality:

Disputes can cost $15–$30
Chargebacks add ~$20
Refunds often don’t return processing fees

So every problematic transaction doesn’t just lose revenue.

It adds cost.

What PayPal doesn’t solve (for SaaS teams)

PayPal is a payment processor.

But running a global SaaS business requires more than processing.

You still need to handle:

Tax and compliance:

VAT, GST, and sales tax across regions are not fully abstracted away.

Billing logic:

Retries, usage-based billing, lifecycle events, and invoicing still require additional systems.

Operational overhead:

Support, disputes, reconciliation, and reporting remain your responsibility.

So while PayPal simplifies checkout, it doesn’t eliminate complexity.

When PayPal actually makes sense

To be fair, PayPal is still a good choice if:

You are mostly domestic
Your billing is simple
You are an early-stage
You want fast setup over optimisation

For these use cases, it works well.

When teams start rethinking it

The shift usually happens when:

International revenue grows
Margins start tightening
Billing complexity increases
Finance needs predictability

At this point, teams move from:

“Let’s just accept payments” to “Let’s optimise monetisation infrastructure”

A different way to think about payments

Instead of focusing only on processing fees, more teams are looking at:

Total cost of ownership
Global payment coverage
Billing flexibility
Compliance automation

This is where Merchant of Record models come in.

Platforms like Dodo Payments approach this differently by combining payments, billing, and tax into a single system with more predictable cost structures for global businesses.

The shift is subtle but important:

From payment tool → monetisation infrastructure

Final thoughts

PayPal is not “expensive” in isolation.

It’s incomplete.

And once you start operating globally, incomplete systems become expensive.

The real cost isn’t just the percentage.

It’s everything around it.

If you want a deeper breakdown

If you want a full cost breakdown with scenarios and comparisons, this is worth reading:

https://dodopayments.com/blogs/paypal-business-fees-hidden-costs-2026

TL;DR

PayPal’s headline fees look simple, but real costs include fixed fees, international surcharges, conversion spreads, disputes, and payout behaviour. For global SaaS and digital businesses, this can push effective costs much higher than expected. It works well early on, but as complexity increases, many teams start exploring more integrated and predictable alternatives.

Stripe vs Merchant of Record: What Should You Choose?

Kabir Jain — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 11:45:42 +0000

If you're selling globally, choosing between Stripe and a Merchant of Record (MoR) isn't just about payments; it's about how much operational complexity you want to handle.

The Core Difference:

Stripe → You are the merchant

You handle taxes, compliance, chargebacks, and legal responsibility.

Merchant of Record (MoR) → They are the merchant

The MoR handles global taxes, compliance, fraud, and regulations for you.

When Stripe Makes Sense?

Stripe is a solid choice if:

You’re selling in one country or region
You have internal resources to manage taxes and compliance
You want full control over your checkout and payments stack

But as you expand globally, things get messy fast, especially with VAT, GST, and regional laws.

When a Merchant of Record Wins?

An MoR is better if:

You’re selling across multiple countries
You want to avoid tax registrations and filings
You don’t want to deal with compliance headaches
You prefer a plug-and-play global setup

Instead of managing 10+ tax systems, the MoR abstracts it all.

The Real Tradeoff:

Stripe → Lower fees, higher operational burden
MoR → Higher fees, significantly lower complexity

You’re essentially choosing between saving money vs saving time and risk.

Final Take:

If you're early-stage and local, Stripe works great.
If you're scaling globally, an MoR becomes almost necessary.

For a deeper breakdown with examples and edge cases, read the full blog: https://dodopayments.com/blogs/stripe-vs-merchant-of-records

Building a SaaS was easy… payments, tax and compliance were not

Kabir Jain — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 09:56:07 +0000

So i’ve been building this product recently and honestly the coding part was the smoothest part of the whole journey

What actually slowed me down was everything around payments

Like:

setting up global payments
handling subscriptions vs one-time vs usage
figuring out taxes (vat, gst, all that mess)
dealing with compliance stuff i didn’t even know existed

Initially i tried setting things up with stripe, but onboarding and approvals took time and kind of delayed my launch more than expected

It started feeling like i was spending more time figuring out payments infra than actually building the product

That’s when i came across the whole idea of a Merchant of Record (MoR)

Basically instead of you handling payments + tax + compliance, the platform does it for you

I ended up trying out Dodo Payments and it simplified a lot of this:

Global payments just worked
Subscriptions + usage based billing in one place
Taxes handled without me digging into docs for hours

Still early, but it removed a lot of the non-building overhead

Curious how others are handling this

Are you managing payments + tax yourself or using something like MoR?