How Singapore SMEs Can Reduce Payment Fees

Most fee creep doesn't come from a single expensive provider — it comes from accumulation. A card gateway here, a separate FX account there, a payouts tool bolted on, a POS terminal from a different vendor. Each one charges its own monthly fee, its own per-transaction rate and sometimes a setup cost on top. By the time you add them up, the total is well above what a single integrated platform would cost.

There are also structural reasons SMEs overpay. Small transaction volumes mean providers charge the higher end of their rate tiers. Currency conversion costs are often buried inside a rate rather than quoted separately, so the markup is invisible until you check the interbank reference. And without clear reporting across channels, it's hard to see where the money is going. The first step to reducing payment fees is getting a full picture of what you're currently paying — not just the card rate, but every layer: FX, transfers, monthly fees and any hardware costs. Once you can see the total, the fixes tend to be obvious.

The single biggest lever most SMEs have is consolidation. If you currently use separate services for online payments, in-store sales, foreign currency and payouts, each one carries its own fee structure and — often — its own monthly or account fee. Replacing them with one all-in-one platform removes those duplicate charges immediately.

With one.ooo there is no setup fee and no monthly fee. You only pay per transaction: domestic card payments are 2.7% plus USD 0.50, and international cards add 0.7% on top. Online and in-person payments, multi-currency accounts, batch payouts and payment links all run under the same dashboard. That means one reconciliation, one fee schedule, and no overlap between services. For most SMEs, the saving isn't a lower percentage rate — it's the removal of three or four parallel monthly costs that didn't need to exist. If you want to run the numbers for your business, Talk to the one.ooo team with your current volume and they can walk you through what consolidation would look like.

FX fees are one of the most overlooked costs for Singapore SMEs that deal in multiple currencies — whether that's collecting from overseas customers, paying international suppliers, or operating across markets. The cost isn't just the conversion rate; it's also how often you convert and which currencies you hold.

With one.ooo, FX conversion is charged at 1.00% above the interbank rate. That benchmark is transparent and easy to check. A local outgoing transfer costs USD 2.00. Where businesses can save significantly is by reducing unnecessary conversions: hold funds in the currency they arrive in and pay out in the same currency where possible. The multi-currency business account supports 13 currencies — SGD, USD, AUD, CAD, CHF, CNY, EUR, GBP, HKD, JPY, NOK, NZD and SEK — so there is good coverage across the markets Singapore SMEs typically trade in. Receiving in USD from a US customer and paying a USD-denominated supplier without converting in between means the 1.00% FX fee simply doesn't apply to that flow. For international bank transfers where you do need to move funds, using local rails where available (USD 2.00) rather than SWIFT (USD 28.00 flat) makes a material difference at any meaningful volume.

Not every payment method costs the same to accept, and for a Singapore-focused business with local customers, the choice of method can reduce your blended fee rate meaningfully.

For customers paying locally, PayNow is a strong option. It lets customers pay directly from their banking app — it's widely used in Singapore and familiar to most consumers. Alongside cards, offering PayNow means local customers have a lower-friction alternative that doesn't carry the same per-transaction structure as a card payment. Card acceptance remains important for the breadth of customers it covers — Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB and UnionPay, plus Apple Pay and Google Pay — but for a business where a significant share of customers are Singapore-based, routing as many of those to PayNow as makes sense for your checkout flow is a practical way to reduce your average per-transaction cost. Payment links and hosted checkout give you flexible ways to accept both, without requiring custom integration, which also avoids any additional development overhead for smaller teams.

Payment providers set their standard rates for a broad range of business sizes. As your volume grows, the economics shift — higher throughput makes you a more valuable merchant, and most providers have custom rate structures available for businesses that process meaningful volumes.

With one.ooo, volume discounts are available — contact sales to discuss. The right time to have that conversation is before you assume the standard rate is fixed. Even a fraction of a percentage point reduction on card processing compounds quickly when you're running significant monthly volume. It's worth coming to that conversation with your numbers: average monthly card volume, your mix of domestic vs international cards, and your typical transaction size. That gives the sales team what they need to put a realistic package together. As your business grows, revisiting your payment pricing annually — in the same way you'd review any operational cost — is a straightforward habit that keeps fees proportionate to what you're actually processing. See the See one.ooo pricing page for the starting-point rates, then reach out when you're ready to discuss volume.

Regulated payment services are provided by Airwallex (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., a MAS-licensed Major Payment Institution under the Payment Services Act 2019. ONE Payments acts as a technology provider and merchant service facilitator.

ONE Payments Pte. Ltd. (UEN 202324291R) is registered in Singapore and operates as a technology and merchant services platform. The cost-reduction strategies, fee structures and multi-currency capabilities described on this page are provided by ONE Payments. Payment processing, fund holding and settlement of regulated payment activities are carried out by the licensed regulated partner named above. Information on this page is provided for general guidance only and does not constitute financial, legal or regulatory advice. Fees quoted are current at the time of writing — please confirm the latest pricing and the services available for your specific business when onboarding. Individual results will vary based on transaction mix, currencies and volume. Contact the ONE Payments team for details about your specific setup.