How do Merchant Account Pricing Models Work?

Merchant Account pricing models explain how your processing costs are calculated and billed for card transactions. In most cases, pricing includes:

• Interchange: fees associated with the card type and how the transaction is processed

   

• Card network assessments: fees set by the card networks
• Processor and service provider fees: additional charges for processing services, risk oversight, and infrastructure

Two common pricing approaches are:

• Interchange-plus pricing: your cost is interchange and assessments, plus a clearly defined additional amount

   

• Tiered pricing: transactions are grouped into pricing tiers, and each tier has a different rate

Which model you are offered can depend on your business type, transaction volume, how customers pay, and the requirements identified during Underwriting. We help you understand how your pricing is structured and what each fee category represents. Final pricing and eligibility are determined by banking partners, and we do not set interchange rates.