Payment Pricing and Fees
Account Updater Fee
An account updater fee is charged for network services that refresh expired or replaced card credentials on file.
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Payment Pricing and Fees Terms
Interchange, MDR, scheme fees, FX markups, and other payment-cost terminology for merchants and researchers.
Educational information only. ShouldEye does not provide legal, banking, or individualized financial advice. Dispute rights, deadlines, and outcomes depend on your payment method, card network, issuer, processor, jurisdiction, and the facts of your case. Legal Disclaimers
40 published definitions in this topic.
Payment Pricing and Fees
Assessment Fee
An assessment fee is a card-network charge, often a small percentage of volume, paid through the acquirer.
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Authorization Fee
An authorization fee is a per-attempt or per-approved charge for sending an authorization request to the issuer.
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Basis Point
A basis point (bp) is one hundredth of one percent (0.01%), used to express fee and rate differences.
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Blended Pricing
Blended pricing quotes a single merchant rate that averages interchange and other costs across card types.
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Capture Fee
A capture fee is a charge for capturing a previously authorized amount for clearing and settlement.
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Cost of Payments
Cost of payments is the all-in expense of accepting and settling payment volume.
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Cross-Border Fee
A cross-border fee applies when the merchant, issuer, or transaction geography crosses defined country or region borders.
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Currency Conversion Fee
A currency conversion fee is charged when a payment amount is converted from one currency to another.
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Decline Fee
A decline fee is a charge for authorization attempts that are not approved.
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Effective Processing Rate
Effective processing rate is total payment acceptance costs divided by processed volume for a period.
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Flat-Rate Processing
Flat-rate processing charges a single simple percentage (and often a fixed fee) for card acceptance.
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Foreign Exchange Markup
Foreign exchange markup is the margin added above a reference FX rate when converting payment currencies.
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FX Spread
FX spread is the difference between the rate a party receives and a reference mid-market or wholesale rate.
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Gateway Fee
A gateway fee is charged for using payment gateway connectivity, APIs, or hosted checkout technology.
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Gross Payment Volume
Gross payment volume (GPV) is a volume metric similar to TPV, often used by platforms for total payments facilitated.
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Interchange Downgrade
An interchange downgrade occurs when a transaction fails to qualify for a preferred interchange category and is priced at a costlier one.
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Interchange Fee
An interchange fee is the network-set fee typically paid by the acquirer to the issuer on a card transaction.
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Interchange Pricing
Interchange pricing structures merchant rates around network interchange rather than a single opaque blended percentage.
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Interchange Qualification
Interchange qualification is meeting the data, timing, and industry criteria required for a given interchange rate category.
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Interchange-Plus Pricing
Interchange-plus (IC++) pricing passes through interchange and scheme fees and adds an explicit processor markup.
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International Card Fee
An international card fee is a merchant-side charge for accepting cards issued outside the merchant’s domestic market.
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Level 1 Card Data
Level 1 card data is the basic card transaction data set (such as amount and primary account data elements) without enhanced commercial fields.
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Level 2 Card Data
Level 2 card data adds commercial fields (such as tax amount and customer code) that can qualify transactions for better interchange.
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Level 3 Card Data
Level 3 card data includes detailed line-item commercial data used for the most enhanced interchange qualification tiers.
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Merchant Discount Rate
Merchant discount rate (MDR) is the overall percentage (and sometimes fixed) fee a merchant pays to accept card payments.
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Minimum Processing Commitment
A minimum processing commitment is a contractual promise to process at least a stated volume or fee level.
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Monthly Minimum
A monthly minimum is a contracted floor on processing fees; if volume fees fall short, the merchant pays the difference.
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Network Fee
A network fee is a cost charged by a card network for routing, clearing, or brand participation.
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Payout Fee
A payout fee is charged when settled funds are paid out to the merchant’s bank account.
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PCI Compliance Fee
A PCI compliance fee is a processor-charged amount related to PCI program administration or non-compliance penalties.
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Per-Transaction Fee
A per-transaction fee is a fixed amount charged for each payment event, often alongside a percentage rate.
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Processor Markup
Processor markup is the acquirer or PSP’s own margin on top of interchange and scheme fees.
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Refund Fee
A refund fee is a processor or network-related charge for processing a refund or credit to the customer.
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Scheme Fee
Scheme fees are charges levied by card networks (schemes) for using their brand and processing systems.
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Settlement Fee
A settlement fee is a charge related to clearing funds from captured transactions into merchant payout.
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Take Rate
Take rate is the share of payment volume a platform or processor retains as revenue.
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Tokenization Fee
A tokenization fee is charged for storing or using payment tokens instead of raw card data.
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Total Payment Volume
Total payment volume (TPV) is the sum of payment amounts processed over a period on a platform or processor.
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Volume Pricing
Volume pricing reduces unit processing costs as the merchant’s processed volume crosses defined tiers.
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