CPS Supermarket is an interchange category used to determine the fee for Visa cards used at grocery stores when the card is present and a customer’s signature is obtained.
CPS Supermarket is the first part of several interchange categories that determine the fees a supermarket will pay for accepting a basic consumer card.
There are CPS Supermarket categories for in-person credit, debit, and prepaid card transactions. There are no “card not present” categories.
Let’s take a look at the eligibility requirements for the categories and what you can expect to pay if you’re running a supermarket.
- CPS Supermarket Interchange Rates
- CPS Supermarket Criteria
- CPS Supermarket Threshold 1, 2, 3
- Debit and Regulated Debit
- CPS Supermarket on Statements
CPS Supermarket Interchange Rates
There are different rates and fees depending on whether the customer uses a credit card, debit card, or prepaid card. Additionally, the credit card category has subcategories based on variables such as annual volume and number of transactions.
| Volume Rate | Per-Transaction Fee | |
| CPS Supermarket | 1.22% | $0.05 |
| Threshold 1 | 1.15% | $0.05 |
| Threshold 2 | 1.20% | $0.05 |
| Threshold 3 | 1.22% | $0.05 |
| CPS Supermarket Debit | 0% | $0.30 |
| CPS Supermarket Debit Reg | 0.05% | $0.22 |
| CPS Supermarket Prepaid* | 1.15% | $0.15 |
*This category is capped at $0.35.
These rates come directly from Visa’s published interchange schedule. However, rates are subject to change at Visa’s discretion.
Keep in mind that these are not the only rates that can apply to supermarkets. Some cards, like rewards cards, will receive different rates. Additionally, if you don’t meet requirements for one of the above categories, your transaction can “downgrade” to a more expensive category.
Check out our article on interchange rates and fees for more information.
Supermarket Rewards Card Rates
Visa doesn’t create separate categories for rewards card rates for supermarkets. Instead, you’ll simply be charged the CPS Rewards 1 rate or 1.65% + $0.10 for some eligible cards. The most expensive rewards cards will cost 2.10% + $0.10.
CPS Supermarket Criteria
There are several eligibility requirements to receive CPS Supermarket interchange rates. Most criteria apply across all categories but card type and authentication method are specific to individual categories. Additionally, the size of a supermarket affects which “tier” applies.
First, the criteria that applies to all CPS Supermarket categories.
Eligible Business Type (Supermarket)
This one is obvious. In order to be eligible for supermarket interchange rates, your business has to be, well, a supermarket. That is determined by your merchant category code (MCC) not by whether you personally call your business a supermarket. The eligible MCC is 5411 – Supermarkets.
If you run a supermarket that doesn’t receive supermarket interchange rates, you’ll need to check with your processor about your MCC or other factors.
Specific Cards
These rates only apply to basic consumer credit, debit, and prepaid Visa cards. They do not apply to rewards cards, nor to corporate, purchasing, or government cards.
Card Present
The transaction must be run through a credit card machine. That can include swiped magstripe payments, dipped chip card payments, or tapped contactless payments. Any other method of acceptance, including hand-keying card details, is not a card-present transaction.
Settlement Time
The transaction must be settled within 24 hours of the authorization. For most businesses, batching once per day makes sense. (In fact, many credit card machines and POS systems will allow you to set automatic batching.) However, if you choose to manually batch transactions for settlement, you’ll need to make sure you’re doing so at the correct intervals to ensure transactions are settled within 24 hours.
Otherwise the transaction will “downgrade” to a more expensive interchange category.
CPS Supermarket Threshold 1, 2, 3
Large supermarkets receive CPS Supermarket Threshold 1, 2, or 3 interchange rates, depending on their transaction totals and volume. The minimum amount of transactions is 15.2 million Visa transactions per year to qualify for threshold 3 (the lowest threshold) and it goes up from there. You’ll also need a minimum Visa purchase volume of $840 million to qualify for threshold 3.
| Transaction Totals | Volume | |
| Threshold 1 | 95.5 million | $5.82 billion |
| Threshold 2 | 58.2 million | $3.31 billion |
| Threshold 3 | 15.2 million | $840 million |
In addition to the transaction and volume criteria, the supermarket will need to have fewer than 0.20% disputes and be PCI compliant.
Debit and Regulated Debit
To qualify for either of the CPS Supermarket Debit categories, the card needs to be a Visa debit card that the cardholder authorizes by signature. Debit cards authorized with a PIN will not qualify for these rates. Instead, those transactions will be charged according to the PIN debit network fees.
Additionally, the authorization amount and settlement amounts much match.
Beyond that, the difference between the two categories is whether the transaction occurs with a regulated or an unregulated debit card.
A “regulated” debit card is a card issued by a bank that has $10 billion or more in assets. Regulated debit card fees are capped at the interchange level. Criteria for qualifying is the same between the two categories with the exception of whether the card is regulated or unregulated.
CPS Supermarket on Statements
On monthly credit card processing statements, you may see CPS Supermarket listed with one of its abbreviations or aliases.
Those include:
- VI SUPRMKT (CPS Supermarket)
- SUPRMKTTR1 (CPS Supermarket Threshold 1)
- SUPRMKTTR2 (Threshold 2)
- SUPRMKTTR3 (Threshold 3)
- SM CHK D (CPS Supermarket Debit)
- SPMKT D R (CPS Supermarket Debit Regulated)
- SPMKT PP (CPS Supermarket Prepaid)
You may also see SPMKTMAXPP if you hit the cap on prepaid debit interchange.
