If you take a Discover card that was issued outside the US, you’ll be subject to international processing fees. Discover Assessments Assessment fees are a non-negotiable component of credit card processing costs. Assessments are set by the card brands and are the same for everyone. Therefore, it is not possible to negotiate lower assessment c...

As of 2018, the International Assessment carries a rate of 0.40% of the total transaction volume. Let’s break that down further and take a look at when this fee is charged. OptBlue Pricing Model Firstly, the International Assessment applies on the Amex OptBlue pricing model for businesses. OptBlue is a pricing program that more closely fol...

Let’s break that down a little further. Defining Card Not Present The term “card not present” can be a little tricky. It covers any transaction where you don't run the card through a credit card machine using the magnetic strip or EMV chip. This means that in addition to ecommerce transactions, any transaction where you “key in” card details is...

However, processors may or may not charge it, and may or may not list it as the "data usage fee." What are assessment fees? Assessment fees are a component of credit card processing costs. Unlike interchange fees (which go to the banks that issue credit cards to consumers) assessments are charged by and paid to the card brands themselves. Visa,...

Let’s take a look at when you'll be charged, how much, and how to locate the fee. What is the Digital Enablement Fee? Mastercard’s Digital Enablement Fee is an assessment charge that Mastercard implemented in January 2015. The fee applies to all “card-not-present” transactions (typically ecommerce sales) including credit and signature debit car...

First Data (now owned by Fiserv) and its sales channel Ignite Payments first began this practice back in 2017. It’s called the Commercial Card Interchange Service, and the goal is to help you reduce interchange fees on certain transactions made with a commercial credit card. In exchange for helping you save money on commercial transactions, Fise...

It doesn’t matter how big or small your business is – if you take business credit cards, you can qualify for better rates. B2B transactions don’t have to cost more. Note: Unfortunately, in October 2017, Visa raised its rates for some commercial transactions and businesses won't save as much by providing Level 2 or Level 3 data as they did before...

Stay Informed We've updated this article several times and will continue to do so. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook for the latest news. Please let us know in the comments how you've been charged this fee. What is a Merchant Location Fee? Mastercard imposes a Merchant Location Fee for each business location that accepts its cards. Mastercar...

In order to understand CPS, you need to understand the fundamentals of interchange and interchange qualification. I’ll briefly cover them in this article. If you’re interested in learning more, which I encourage, check out related articles on the topics of interchange and processor pricing models on CardFellow’s blog. Note: As of summer 2023,...

It’s pretty clear from our Wells Fargo Merchant Services review that we don’t hold the company’s credit card processing services in the highest regard. We formed this opinion over many years of reviewing quotes, applications, and statements that push opaque, overly aggressive pricing. One of our least favorite tactics in Wells Fargo’s arsenal of...