Predictika · Payments pricing quotes

An AI sales agent's PayPal merchant fee quote, checked before it goes out

An AI sales agent prepares a monthly processing-fee quote for a merchant taking payments through PayPal in US dollars: payment types, transaction counts, volumes, international buyers and chargebacks. Before it goes out, the agent sends it to Predictika, which checks it against a declarative model of the published commercial rates and returns a verdict, every reason, a line-item quote and the figures it computed.

Scope: monthly US-dollar processing-fee quotes for PayPal commercial transactions, with the published rate for each payment type, the international add-on and chargeback fees. See everything this validator covers

This validator models monthly US-dollar fee quotes built on the commercial transaction rates PayPal publishes, not just the scenarios shown below.

  • Rates by payment type — PayPal and Venmo checkout (3.49% + $0.49), credit and debit cards (2.99% + $0.49), PayPal Pay Later (4.99% + $0.49), QR code payments (2.29% + $0.09) and micropayments (4.99% + $0.09), each applied to its own volume and transaction count and added into a line-item quote.
  • International add-on and chargebacks — a further 1.50% on international volume and $20.00 per chargeback, with checks that international volume cannot exceed total volume and chargebacks cannot exceed transactions.
  • Consistency and approval — volume and transaction counts must agree for each payment type, the quote must be in US dollars, and the stated monthly total must equal the computed one. Micropayments are available by application and negotiated rate schedules are not published, so both go to a person.

Any US-dollar PayPal commercial fee quote that touches these rules is in scope — not only the scenarios pictured here. Not covered: other currencies (the fixed fee differs by currency), the Online Payment Services products, payouts, invoicing, donations and charity rates, withdrawals, currency conversion, dispute fees and negotiated or volume-tier pricing. Assumptions: fees are applied to each transaction as listed, the monthly total is a list-rate estimate, and volumes are entered in whole hundreds of dollars.

The AI sales agentBuilds the processing-fee quote from the conversation and says it is ready.
Predictika validatorChecks every rule at once and returns the verdict, each finding, the line-item quote and the computed figures.

8 scenarios in 3 groups · each group runs from the agent’s first attempt to the outcome · click one to switch

What the agent proposes

The AI sales agent says

Illustrative agent statement. The validator receives the structured request below.

Proposing agent: AI sales agent (scripted)

Before sending, the agent must call Recorded run

Predictika validator


      

        
        
        
      

      
Waiting for the call.

      
    

  

  
  

    
Where rules-based CPQ gets it wrong
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Our assessment of what a typical rules-based CPQ (product rules, price rules and validation rules, as in Salesforce CPQ) does with the same cases. It is a judgment about effort and reliability, not a claim that nothing can be built.

    
What the validator caughtTypical rules-based CPQPredictika
Stated monthly fees that must equal what the published rates giveOnly with care
A stated figure is a free-entry field; a rule can compare it with a computed total, but the total depends on five payment types, their fixed fees, the international add-on and chargebacks, all kept in step with the fee pages.		The stated total travels with the quote and is compared with the computed total on every call.
A different percentage and fixed fee for each payment typeOnly with care
A price rule per payment type. It works, but every rate change is another rule to maintain.		Each payment type is priced from its own volume and transaction count and totaled together.
An international add-on that cannot exceed the total volumeOnly with workarounds
The add-on is a share of volume spread across several lines, so a rule has to add the lines up and compare the sum with a separate figure.		The total volume is computed across all payment types and the international volume is checked against it.
Volume and transaction counts that must agree for every payment typeOnly with workarounds
A cross-field rule for each payment type, usually added one at a time and easy to miss for one of them.		The same check runs on every payment type on every call.
Every problem returned in one answerOnly with workarounds
Rules tend to fire as the quote is saved or a step is completed, so a rep often fixes one error and meets the next.		All findings come back together, whatever order the choices arrived in.

  

  

    
What this validator catches: findings from its test cases
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Every rule is checked on every call, in any order the choices arrive; one problem never hides another. Blocking findings stop the quote; approval findings need a person to sign off; everything else is computed.

    
1The quote has $790,100 of international volume but only $790,000 of total monthly volume.
2The quote expects 13,501 chargebacks on only 13,500 transactions a month.
3The quote has 0 transactions a month; at least 1 is needed to price processing.
4The quote is in a currency other than US dollars; the fixed fee per transaction differs by currency and only the US dollar rates are modeled.
5A payment type has transactions with no dollar volume, or dollar volume with no transactions.
6The micropayments rate is available by application with PayPal; a person should confirm the merchant has it.
7A negotiated rate schedule is not published; a person should confirm it.
8The quote states monthly fees of $33,535.99; the published rates give $33,536.00.

  

  

    
Scenarios and results
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The recorded result of the validator for each scenario on this page: the request the AI agent sent, the verdict, and every finding, in the order they appear above.

    
1. Micropayments and negotiated rates: Pay Later volume with no transactions, plus micropayments and negotiated rates

    
The agent's request. Please quote monthly PayPal merchant processing fees for US dollar payments: 15,000 transactions and $900,000 of PayPal and Venmo checkout; 30,000 transactions and $2,100,000 of credit and debit card payments; 0 transactions and $300,000 of PayPal Pay Later; and 40,000 transactions and $120,000 of micropayments. Of the total volume, $400,000 comes from international buyers, and we expect 80 chargebacks a month. The customer is asking for a negotiated rate schedule. The quote states monthly fees of $148,408.00. It is ready to send.

    
Verdict: Blocked.

    
    
      
  • Volume and transaction count disagree. A payment type has transactions with no dollar volume, or dollar volume with no transactions.
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  • Micropayments rate is by application. The micropayments rate is available by application with PayPal; a person should confirm the merchant has it.
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  • Negotiated rates to confirm. A negotiated rate schedule is not published; a person should confirm it.
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2. Micropayments and negotiated rates: The agent resubmits after fixing the errors

    
The agent's request. Please quote monthly PayPal merchant processing fees for US dollar payments: 15,000 transactions and $900,000 of PayPal and Venmo checkout; 30,000 transactions and $2,100,000 of credit and debit card payments; 2,000 transactions and $300,000 of PayPal Pay Later; and 40,000 transactions and $120,000 of micropayments. Of the total volume, $400,000 comes from international buyers, and we expect 80 chargebacks a month. The customer is asking for a negotiated rate schedule. The quote states monthly fees of $145,788.00. It is ready to send.

    
Verdict: Blocked.

    
    
      
  • Stated total does not match. The quote states monthly fees of $145,788.00; the published rates give $149,388.00.
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  • Micropayments rate is by application. The micropayments rate is available by application with PayPal; a person should confirm the merchant has it.
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  • Negotiated rates to confirm. A negotiated rate schedule is not published; a person should confirm it.
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3. Micropayments and negotiated rates: The agent resubmits after fixing the errors

    
The agent's request. Please quote monthly PayPal merchant processing fees for US dollar payments: 15,000 transactions and $900,000 of PayPal and Venmo checkout; 30,000 transactions and $2,100,000 of credit and debit card payments; 2,000 transactions and $300,000 of PayPal Pay Later; and 40,000 transactions and $120,000 of micropayments. Of the total volume, $400,000 comes from international buyers, and we expect 80 chargebacks a month. The customer is asking for a negotiated rate schedule. The quote states monthly fees of $149,388.00. It is ready to send.

    
Verdict: Needs approval.

    
    
      
  • Micropayments rate is by application. The micropayments rate is available by application with PayPal; a person should confirm the merchant has it.
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  • Negotiated rates to confirm. A negotiated rate schedule is not published; a person should confirm it.
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  • Order summary. 87,000 transactions and $3,420,000 of volume a month, estimated monthly fees of $149,388.00 at published rates.
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4. International volume and stated fees: Fees stated without the international add-on, and more international volume than total volume

    
The agent's request. Please quote monthly PayPal merchant processing fees for US dollar payments: 2,500 transactions and $150,000 of PayPal and Venmo checkout; 7,000 transactions and $420,000 of credit and debit card payments; and 8,000 transactions and $120,000 of QR code payments. Of the total volume, $900,000 comes from international buyers, and we expect 15 chargebacks a month. The quote states monthly fees of $27,296.00. It is ready to send.

    
Verdict: Blocked.

    
    
      
  • International volume exceeds total volume. The quote has $900,000 of international volume but only $690,000 of total monthly volume.
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  • Stated total does not match. The quote states monthly fees of $27,296.00; the published rates give $39,716.00.
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5. International volume and stated fees: The agent resubmits after fixing the errors

    
The agent's request. Please quote monthly PayPal merchant processing fees for US dollar payments: 2,500 transactions and $150,000 of PayPal and Venmo checkout; 7,000 transactions and $420,000 of credit and debit card payments; and 8,000 transactions and $120,000 of QR code payments. Of the total volume, $80,000 comes from international buyers, and we expect 15 chargebacks a month. The quote states monthly fees of $27,296.00. It is ready to send.

    
Verdict: Blocked.

    
    
      
  • Stated total does not match. The quote states monthly fees of $27,296.00; the published rates give $27,416.00.
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6. International volume and stated fees: The agent resubmits after fixing the errors

    
The agent's request. Please quote monthly PayPal merchant processing fees for US dollar payments: 2,500 transactions and $150,000 of PayPal and Venmo checkout; 7,000 transactions and $420,000 of credit and debit card payments; and 8,000 transactions and $120,000 of QR code payments. Of the total volume, $80,000 comes from international buyers, and we expect 15 chargebacks a month. The quote states monthly fees of $27,416.00. It is ready to send.

    
Verdict: Allowed.

    
    
      
  • Order summary. 17,500 transactions and $690,000 of volume a month, estimated monthly fees of $27,416.00 at published rates.
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7. Currency and chargebacks: Quote in another currency, with far more chargebacks than transactions

    
The agent's request. Please quote monthly PayPal merchant processing fees for non-US-dollar payments: 6,000 transactions and $360,000 of PayPal and Venmo checkout; 12,000 transactions and $900,000 of credit and debit card payments; and 800 transactions and $120,000 of PayPal Pay Later. Of the total volume, $150,000 comes from international buyers, and we expect 99,999 chargebacks a month. The quote states monthly fees of $2,056,904.00. It is ready to send.

    
Verdict: Blocked.

    
    
      
  • Not a US dollar quote. The quote is in a currency other than US dollars; the fixed fee per transaction differs by currency and only the US dollar rates are modeled.
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  • More chargebacks than transactions. The quote expects 99,999 chargebacks on only 18,800 transactions a month.
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8. Currency and chargebacks: The agent resubmits after fixing the errors

    
The agent's request. Please quote monthly PayPal merchant processing fees for US dollar payments: 6,000 transactions and $360,000 of PayPal and Venmo checkout; 12,000 transactions and $900,000 of credit and debit card payments; and 800 transactions and $120,000 of PayPal Pay Later. Of the total volume, $150,000 comes from international buyers, and we expect 35 chargebacks a month. The quote states monthly fees of $57,624.00. It is ready to send.

    
Verdict: Allowed.

    
    
      
  • Order summary. 18,800 transactions and $1,380,000 of volume a month, estimated monthly fees of $57,624.00 at published rates.
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Narration transcript
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The text of the narrated walkthrough, step by step.

    
    
      
  1. Welcome to a demo of Predictika's Validator. An AI sales agent prepares a monthly processing-fee quote for a merchant taking payments through PayPal in US dollars: payment types, transaction counts, volumes, and more. Before it goes out, the agent sends it to Predictika, which checks it against a declarative model of the published commercial rates and returns a verdict, every reason, a line-item quote and the figures it computed.
    2. 
      
  2. I will start with the first request by the agent.
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  3. The agent says. Please quote monthly PayPal merchant processing fees for US dollar payments: 15,000 transactions and $900,000 of PayPal and Venmo checkout; 30,000 transactions and $2,100,000 of credit and debit card payments; 0 transactions and $300,000 of PayPal Pay Later; and 40,000 transactions and $120,000 of micropayments. Of the total volume, $400,000 comes from international buyers, and we expect 80 chargebacks a month. The rest of the request is on screen. The quote states monthly fees of $148,408.00.
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  4. Before it goes out, the agent calls the validator.
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  5. Blocked, with one finding and two approvals, all in one answer. A payment type has transactions with no dollar volume, or dollar volume with no transactions.
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  6. The validator returned one blocking finding and two approvals in one answer. A check that reads one field at a time would pass most of this; it shows only when the choices in the quote are checked against each other.
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  7. What this shows: for volume and transaction counts that must agree for every payment type, a rules-based CPQ can do this only with workarounds.
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  8. Now the agent resubmits.
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  9. The corrected request. It changes the PayPal Pay Later: transactions a month to 2,000 and the stated monthly fees to $145,788.00.
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  10. It calls the validator again.
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  11. Still blocked, with one finding and two approvals, all in one answer. The quote states monthly fees of $145,788.00; the published rates give $149,388.00.
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  12. One finding cleared, but the change brings a different blocking finding: stated total does not match.
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  13. The agent resubmits once more.
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  14. The revised request. It changes the stated monthly fees to $149,388.00.
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  15. It calls the validator once more.
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  16. Not blocked, but held for a person.
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  17. The validator also returns the line-item quote. It starts with PayPal and Venmo checkout: 3.49% of volume (quantity in dollars) and PayPal and Venmo checkout: fixed fee per transaction ($0.49); the other eight lines are on screen.
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  18. The one blocking finding is cleared; two approvals remain for a person: micropayments rate is by application and negotiated rates to confirm.
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  19. Three problems caught in one call, fixed in two passes, and the corrected quote now goes to a person for approval. That is the value of Predictika's validator: catching mistakes before they reach the customer.
    20.