Credit card processing statements are full of confusing acronyms and opaque fees. We can help you figure out what they are and how to lower your costs if your fees are adding up to an expensive processing solution.
What is a POS WATS Fee?
As mentioned above, the pos wats fee is a fee you'll see each time the credit card equipment dials the processor's toll-free 800 number to get or give information. Most processors hyphenate the term and write it in all capital letters on a merchant processing statement. (i.e., POS-WATS.) The acronym POS stands for point of sale, and the acronym WATS stands for wide-area telephone service. When taken together POS-WATS stands for point of sale wide-area telephone service (fee). While several processors refer to the communication fee as a wats fee, First Data (now Fiserv) uses POS-WATS. Being the largest processor in the United States, Fiserv provides processing services for a number of different companies. The pos-wats fee is a credit card transaction fee that is often charged in addition to other transaction fees such as authorization fees, return fees, and AVS fees. This is what gives the pos-wats fee the potential to make quite an impact on a business' credit card processing fees. Basically, it's a fee on top of other fees you're paying.WATS Fee in Practice
For example, an interchange plus quote of 0.25% plus a $0.10 authorization fee looks pretty competitive at first glance. However, the processor can effectively double the transaction fee by burying a pos wats fee of $0.10 in the fine print. Since the pos wats fee is charged each time the business's credit card machine calls the processor's toll-free 800 number, it will be assessed along with any additional transaction fees. In this case, the processor will charge $0.10 per transaction as an authorization fee and another $0.10 per transaction for the pos wats fee for a total of $0.20.Lowering Costs
If POS-WATS fees are causing your credit card processing costs to eat into your bottom line, you can secure lower cost processing by comparing rates and fees from processors. Try CardFellow's free, private quote comparison tool to get started finding the most competitive solution for your business.
Ben Dwyer began his career in the processing industry in 2003 on the sales floor for a Connecticut‐based processor. As he learned more about the inner‐workings of the industry, rampant unethical practices, and lack of assistance available to businesses, he cut ties with his employer and started a blog where he could post accurate information about credit card processing. As the blog gained in popularity, Ben began directly assisting merchants in their search for a processor. Ben believes in empowering businesses by providing access to fair, competitive pricing, accurate information, and continued support. His dedication to transparency and education has made CardFellow a staunch small business advocate in the credit card processing industry.
