> payouts will be higher due to increases in network costs (in recent years, major card networks have introduced several new fees and increased existing fees), as well as increases in underlying service costs.

Can someone from the industry offer more colour on what this actually means?

It strikes me that pricing for companies like Stripe should go down, not up in the long run. They're fairly well insulated from inflation (as pricing is % of transaction value), so the only reason I can think of for price _increases_ would be increased regulatory burden or some sort of structural industry change.

The vagueness with which Stripe justifies the price increase makes me think this is not supported by actual cost increases, but by a desire to increase profits. (which, hey, if you can put prices up and customers won't leave, then great - but it would be good to know the actual reason)