Some months ago a colleague asked me how much FastSpring was taking from each sale I was making. The answer? I had no idea.

Sure, I should know this but the truth is that when you are not making any money (as I was at the time) it doesn’t really matter the percentage of your revenue that providers like FastSpring will take (it does matter that they don’t charge a fix monthly fee that you must pay whether you sell or not).

When starting a business, focus on what’s important (generating some revenue) and choose the providers that will make your life easier regardless how much they will charge. It’s far better to use a payment processing system that takes X% of each sale than having no online sales option in place because it is taking you too long to develop/integrate your own.

Focus on sales, and then, maybe, if some day you sell a lot, a one percent difference between two providers will be significant. Until then, don’t waste your time and choose the one that will bring you to market sooner.