Author: Maria Sparagis

Maria Sparagis is President of DirectPayNet, where she's spent over 20 years helping businesses scale to six-, seven-, and eight-figure revenue through optimized payment processing. She works hands-on with business owners to solve merchant account challenges, reduce processing costs, and implement payment strategies that support real growth. Maria is a regular speaker at fintech conferences and writes about practical approaches that help businesses break through revenue plateaus.

What Is the Best Stripe Alternative? Shopify, Square, PayPal Compared

Comprehensive comparison of Stripe alternatives including Shopify Payments, Square, and PayPal. Learn how each platform differs from Stripe, which offers the best fees and features for your business type, when to choose dedicated merchant accounts over payment aggregators, and how to select the right payment processor for your transaction volume and industry.

Square Payment Processing: Complete Merchant Guide

Complete guide to Square payment processing: understand how Square works as a payment facilitator, why accounts get frozen, what the transaction fees actually cost for each plan tier, how long Square holds funds, and when your business has outgrown Square’s PayFac model

The Ultimate Guide to Payment Processing Fees

Payment processing fees are a necessary cost of doing business in today’s digital economy, but they can quietly erode your profit margins if you don’t understand them. Every transaction comes with a price—interchange fees paid to card-issuing banks, assessment fees paid to card networks, and processor markups. These fees vary based on card type, transaction method, merchant category, and your pricing model. This guide breaks down the different types of fees, explains pricing structures like flat-rate and interchange-plus, shows you how to read your merchant statement, and provides actionable strategies to reduce costs and protect your bottom line.