Interchange
Usually the underlying transaction fee associated with the issuing bank, card type and transaction details. The exact rate varies, and the quoted interchange total may be combined with other fees.
INDEPENDENT FEE EXPLANATIONS
Decode a fee on your merchant statement.
Search common card-processing fee descriptions and learn what they generally mean. No upload, account number, or sign-in required.
This is a general glossary, not an audit of your bill. Labels and amounts vary between payment providers. Seeing a fee does not automatically mean it is excessive or incorrect.
Showing 16 terms
Network assessment
A fee associated with the card brand or network, separate from the processor’s own markup. Exact amounts and billing labels differ.
Processor markup
The fee charged by a processor or reseller above underlying card and network costs. It may appear as a percentage, per-transaction amount or part of an all-in rate.
Discount rate
A term for the percentage applied to card sales. Depending on the pricing model, it may not capture all account, network, per-item and monthly charges.
Authorization fee
A per-attempt charge associated with seeking approval for a transaction. Whether and how it is billed depends on your contract.
Batch fee
A charge some providers apply when payment transactions are settled or grouped into batches.
Gateway fee
A fee for access to technology used to pass online or keyed payments securely to the processor. The service may be billed separately.
PCI non-compliance fee
A provider-imposed charge tied to incomplete PCI DSS validation or compliance requirements. Review the contract and confirm the required validation steps.
Statement fee
A recurring charge some processors apply for preparing or delivering statements. It is not necessarily a card-network fee.
Chargeback fee
A charge connected with handling a payment dispute. It may be imposed in addition to the disputed payment amount.
AVS fee
A fee that some providers charge for Address Verification Service checks. AVS helps check certain billing-address details.
Non-qualified surcharge
An additional charge on tiered pricing when a transaction falls outside a processor’s preferred qualification category. The classification rules vary by agreement.
Early termination fee
A contract charge that may apply if a merchant cancels before the agreed term. Check the actual agreement rather than relying on the quote.
Monthly minimum
A charge or top-up that can apply if processing fees do not reach a contractual minimum within the month.
Cross-border fee
An additional cost that may apply when cards are issued in another country or a transaction meets the network’s cross-border rules.
Effective rate
The total processing-related fees for a period divided by the corresponding card-processing volume, expressed as a percentage. It is not itself a quoted processor price.
No exact glossary match. Try a shorter term, or check the label in your processor agreement.
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