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Whenever you accept a card payment from a traditional payment processor, you pay both an interchange fee and a gateway fee. The interchange fee is the direct ‘wholesale’ fee charged by card networks like Visa and Mastercard, while the gateway fee is what payment processors markup on top of that in order to generate revenue.
Even though most payment processors charge a fixed 2.9% rate, the interchange fee usually ranges between just 0.5% to 2.2% for most card types, allowing payment processors to make whatever the difference is between their fixed rate and the direct interchange fee. As you can see, you end up paying far more than you should since you’re essentially giving these payment processors additional percentages of your revenue.
Unlike traditional providers, Astrius eliminates the markup fee by giving you the wholesale rates in exchange for a fixed subscription (sort of like a Costco for payments).
Not only do we eliminate these variable markup percentages, but we also take advantage of something called Level III Processing Rates, which are special discounts that card networks offer for b2b transactions. These rates are made possible by providing card networks with additional merchant data powered by our financial partners, who charge a 0.20% fee in order to reduce your interchange fees by up to 1% for qualified providers.
So by choosing an Astrius subscription, you’ll be able to eliminate the gateway markup fee AND reduce the interchange fee, resulting in much lower credit card processing rates.
Interested in learning more about what the direct interchange rates are for each card network? Outlined below is a complete list of what the 4 most popular networks are currently charging merchants.
Visa:
https://usa.visa.com/dam/VCOM/download/merchants/visa-usa-interchange-reimbursement-fees.pdf
Mastercard:
https://www.mastercard.us/content/dam/public/mastercardcom/na/us/en/documents/merchant-rates-2022-2023-apr22.pdf
Discover:
https://servicecenter.discovernetwork.com/aac/exec/acqPricingVerifyFrame.do
American Express:
https://www.merchantmaverick.com/complete-guide-american-express-interchange-fees-processing-rates/#How_Much_Does_It_Cost_to_Accept_American_Express