Processing & Fees
Interchange, Markup & Your Effective Rate, Explained Simply
The one number that makes any two processing offers comparable.
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Interchange, markup, effective rate — the jargon is designed to make comparing processors hard. Here's the plain-English version.
Interchange is fixed
Interchange is the fee the card networks (Visa, Mastercard) charge, and every processor pays the same interchange. Nobody can 'beat' it — so if a rep promises a magically low rate, be skeptical about where the savings really come from.
Markup is negotiable
The markup is what the processor adds on top of interchange. That's the part that actually varies from provider to provider, and it's the part we shop hard on your behalf. Interchange-plus pricing shows you both numbers separately, which is why we usually prefer it — you can see exactly what you're paying for.
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Find your effective rate first. Everything else follows from it.