Gross and net pricing modes
Choose whether taxes are included in your displayed price or added at checkout.
Each store applies pricing to products in either Gross Pricing Mode or Net Pricing Mode. Gross Pricing Mode has three variants (Gross Worldwide, Standard Gross, and the legacy Gross with Pseudo Net) that differ in which countries get tax-inclusive pricing and how currency conversion affects tax.
Depending on your settings, FastSpring automatically calculates taxes for each order and remits them to the appropriate taxation authorities. If a customer enters a valid ID for tax exemption, FastSpring does not charge the customer tax; this does not impact your income.
Note: By default, FastSpring applies Net Pricing Mode to new stores.
The sections below explain the logic, deductions, and customer experience for each mode. Select a card or use the TOC on the right to jump ahead.
Check the comparison table to find out.
See how Gross and Net treat your price differently, with worked examples for each.
Round converted prices to match your source price's cents.
Learn how to request a pricing mode switch for your store.
Which mode is my store on?
Your account team or FastSpring Support configures pricing mode at the store level. You can't self-serve this change. If you're not sure which mode or variant your store uses, ask FastSpring Support to confirm before you build integration logic around a specific behavior.
| Mode | Which countries get tax-inclusive pricing | Currency conversion behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Gross Worldwide | All countries, no exceptions | Not applicable (prices are always tax-inclusive) |
| Standard Gross | All countries except US and Canada | Not applicable (auto-converted prices still don't add tax on top) |
| Gross with Pseudo Net (Legacy) | All countries except US and Canada, and even then it depends on currency (see below) | Auto-converted and non-native currency prices add tax on top; prices you set explicitly in that currency stay tax-inclusive. US and Canada get Net treatment regardless of currency. |
| Net Pricing Mode | None (tax is always added at checkout) | Not applicable |
Pricing logic and examples
Pick your mode below to see how it changes the price your customer sees and what you get paid.
Note: The tables below break price, tax, and proceeds into separate rows for clarity; that's not necessarily how your checkout displays them. US and Canadian buyers see tax itemized as its own line (Subtotal + Tax = Total); buyers elsewhere typically see a single total with a note that tax is included. Gross vs. Net describes how that total is calculated, not how it's displayed.
Every price includes tax in every country, with no exceptions. FastSpring folds the local tax into the price you set instead of adding it on top, so the price you display is the price your customer pays no matter where they're buying from.
Example
Here's the same $10.00 price sold to a buyer in Germany and a buyer in Seattle, WA. Both get Gross treatment: only the tax math changes.
| Germany | United States, Seattle WA | |
|---|---|---|
| Price displayed to buyer | € 10.00 | $ 10.00 |
| Tax rate | 19% (Germany VAT) | 10.62% (combined WA state and local rate) |
| Tax amount | € 1.60 | $ 0.96 |
| Your net proceeds | € 8.40 | $ 9.04 |
| Total buyer pays | € 10.00 | $ 10.00 |
Note: Compare this to Standard Gross, where this same Seattle buyer would get Net treatment instead, with tax added on top. Gross Worldwide has no such exception for any country. Your net proceeds here also don't yet reflect commissions, split shares, or FastSpring processing fees.
Gross treatment applies everywhere except the United States and Canada. US and Canadian buyers get Net treatment instead: FastSpring adds tax to your list price rather than folding it in. That's true no matter what currency the price shows in. Auto-converted prices for non-US/CA buyers still don't add tax on top.
Example
A customer in France gets Gross treatment: tax is already in the price. A customer in the United States or Canada gets Net treatment instead: tax gets added on top, even though the store is in Gross Pricing Mode. The three columns below come from separate test orders at different list prices, not the same product priced identically everywhere.
| France (Gross treatment) | United States, Seattle WA (Net treatment) | Canada, Toronto ON (Net treatment) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price displayed to buyer | € 9.00 | $ 10.00 | $ 10.00 |
| Tax rate | 20% (France VAT) | 10.60% (combined WA state and local rate) | 13% (Ontario HST) |
| Tax amount | € 1.50 | $ 1.06 | $ 1.30 |
| Your net proceeds | € 7.50 | $ 10.00 | $ 10.00 |
| Total buyer pays | € 9.00 | $ 11.06 | $ 11.30 |
Note: France's 20% VAT and Canada's 13% Ontario HST are fixed rates. The 10.60% figure for the US isn't a flat "US rate": it's what a Seattle, WA billing address returned in testing. US sales tax varies by state, county, and city, so a different address gives you a different percentage, and some states or product categories return $0.00 tax entirely.
Warning: If you limit a checkout's available currencies to a single option (say, USD only), Standard Gross still bases tax treatment on the buyer's country, not the currency they're charged in. A France-based buyer checking out in USD still gets Gross (tax-inclusive) treatment. Restricting the currency doesn't switch them to Net.
Warning: This is a legacy variant, and FastSpring doesn't recommend it for new stores. Its currency-based rules, especially around "Auto" price conversion, have caused real pricing confusion in the past. If you're not already on this variant, use Standard Gross or Gross Worldwide instead.
Pseudo Net bases tax treatment on currency, not country, with one exception: the United States and Canada always get Net treatment, regardless of currency. Everywhere else, set an explicit price for a currency, and that price is treated as tax-inclusive (Gross). Let FastSpring auto-convert your price into a currency you haven't explicitly priced, or use a currency that's otherwise "non-native" to that price, and tax gets added on top instead (Net), even though the store is in Gross Pricing Mode.
Example
Here's the same product, priced two ways for the same Swedish buyer. Currency, not country, drives the outcome:
| SEK priced explicitly (native currency, Gross treatment) | Price auto-converted from EUR (non-native currency, Net treatment) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price shown to buyer | 92.00 kr | 115.00 kr |
| Tax rate | 25% (Sweden VAT) | 25% (Sweden VAT) |
| Tax amount | 18.40 kr | 23.00 kr |
| Your net proceeds | 73.60 kr | 92.00 kr |
| Total buyer pays | 92.00 kr | 115.00 kr |
Note: Both columns start from the same 92.00 kr. Set it explicitly, and it becomes the tax-inclusive total the buyer pays (Gross). Reach it through auto-conversion instead, and it becomes the tax-exclusive base that tax gets added to (Net), which pushes the buyer's total 23.00 kr higher for the same underlying price.
Note: The United States and Canada are the exception to the currency rule above. A Canadian buyer explicitly priced at 10.00 CAD (native currency), which would normally get Gross treatment, still gets Net: 10.00 CAD plus 13% HST (1.30 CAD), for a total of 11.30 CAD. For these two countries, country overrides currency.
In Net Pricing Mode, you get the same base price for your product no matter what taxes apply. Your price excludes tax. Price a product in a non-USD currency, and FastSpring adds tax to the total and shows it at checkout. That total varies by region.
How it works
- Display: FastSpring shows your base price (for example, €10.00).
- Addition: We calculate the local tax rate and add it to the total.
- Payout: You get your full base price.
- Result: Your customer pays a total that varies by region, but your margin stays stable.
Example
Say you price a product at € 10.00. A customer in Germany buys it. FastSpring applies Germany's 19% VAT (€ 1.90), adds it to the order, and shows a total of € 11.90. You get the full € 10.00 before fees and deductions.
| Description | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Net Price | The base price you set | € 10.00 |
| Tax Amount | Net Price * 0.19 | € 1.90 |
| Total Price | Net Price + Tax Amount | € 11.90 |
Note: FastSpring processing fees, commissions, and split shares come out of your € 10.00 Net Price.
Price Decoration
Price Decoration rounds an auto-converted price's cents to match the pattern of your source price, instead of displaying whatever value the raw currency conversion produces. For example, if your source price ends in .99, an auto-converted price can round up to also end in .99, rather than landing on an arbitrary value like .38. It's available only for stores in Gross Pricing Mode, not under Net Pricing Mode. It only rounds pennies up: it doesn't otherwise change your pricing logic or tax treatment, and it works the same way regardless of which Gross variant your store uses.
| Setting | Values | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Price Decoration | Disabled - No decoration / Enabled - Round pennies up to match source | Turns cents-matching on or off for auto-converted prices. |
| Minimum Rounding Price | Any amount (default: 0) | Compares against your product's source price, not the converted amount. If the source price is below this threshold, FastSpring skips rounding for that conversion, even when Price Decoration is enabled. |
Example
Source price: $9.99. Here's how that converts for a buyer in Sweden, with Price Decoration off and on.
| Decoration disabled | Decoration enabled | |
|---|---|---|
| Price shown to buyer | 99.38 kr | 99.99 kr |
| Tax amount | 19.88 kr | 20.00 kr |
| Your net proceeds | 79.50 kr | 79.99 kr |
Raw conversion lands on 99.38 kr, an arbitrary-looking number. With Price Decoration enabled, FastSpring rounds it up to 99.99 kr instead, matching the .99 pattern of the $9.99 source price. Auto-converted prices also carry a currency markup on top of the exchange rate, separate from Price Decoration; see Markup rates for details.
Note: Setting Minimum Rounding Price to $50 on this same $9.99 product skips rounding entirely, even with Price Decoration enabled, because the threshold compares against the $9.99 source price, not the converted 99-kr total. Set your Minimum Rounding Price in the same terms as your source price, not your customers' converted totals.
Change pricing mode
To change your store's pricing mode, please contact FastSpring Support. Since Gross Pricing Mode has three variants, tell your Support contact which one you want: Gross Worldwide, Standard Gross, or Gross with Pseudo Net, rather than just "Gross Pricing Mode."
- Impact: This change applies to new orders only.
- Subscriptions: Changing the mode will not affect active subscriptions. Existing recurring charges will continue to use the pricing mode that was active when the subscription began.
Payout deductions
Regardless of the pricing mode selected, the amount you receive from FastSpring is the Net Price minus the following standard deductions:
- Store discounts
- Affiliate commissions
- Split shares
- FastSpring's processing fee
- Currency conversion markup for auto-converted prices
Updated 14 days ago