What payment processing actually costs
You won't find a rate on this page, and that's deliberate. A real processing price depends on what you sell, how much you sell, and how a bank reads your risk. Anyone publishing a number before asking those questions is quoting you a lure, not a price. So here's the honest version: what the cost is made of, why a high-risk category changes it, and what to ask any processor before you sign with them.
What is a processing price actually made of?
Every card payment price, from an aggregator to a high-risk specialist, is built from the same parts. Once you can see the parts, you can compare two quotes that are dressed up to look nothing alike.
Interchange
The card networks set this, and it goes to the bank that issued your customer's card. Nobody negotiates it, and no processor discounts it. It moves with the card type, so a rewards credit card costs more to accept than a debit card.
Processor markup
What the processor keeps on top of interchange. This is the negotiable part, and it is the part a quote should show you plainly. When a price is quoted as one blended number, the markup is the thing being hidden inside it.
Monthly and per-transaction fees
Account fees, gateway fees, statement fees, batch fees, PCI fees and per-item charges. Individually small, collectively not. These are where surprises live, and they belong on the quote by name.
Hardware and software
Terminals, readers, scanners and the register software behind them. Bought outright, leased or bundled into the processing price. Leases in this industry are often the most expensive way to buy the cheapest device.
Risk terms
High-risk accounts can carry a reserve, a rolling reserve or chargeback fees. These are not line items on a rate sheet, but they affect your cash flow more than the rate does. Ask about them before you sign.
Your own risk profile
Your category, monthly volume, average ticket, chargeback history and how long you have been in business all move the price. Two CBD stores on the same block can get very different quotes for exactly these reasons.
Why does a high-risk category cost more?
Not because your business is worse. Because fewer banks will underwrite it, and the ones that do carry more work and more exposure to do it.
A hemp or CBD account gets reviewed by a person. Someone reads your lab reports, your labels, your product claims and your website. That review costs money and it takes time. On top of it, the sponsor bank is accepting the risk that a product rule changes, or that a regulator moves, or that your chargebacks climb. Fewer competing banks means less pressure on price.
The flip side is what you get: your own merchant ID, an account someone actually approved, and a processor who knew what you sold on the day they boarded you. That's the whole difference from an aggregator, and it's covered in what makes CBD high risk and how high-risk processing works.
How do interchange plus and flat rate compare?
Flat rate charges you the same way on every card. It's simple to read and it's the model the aggregators use. Interchange plus passes through the card networks' actual cost and adds a stated markup on top, so you can see what the processor is keeping.
Flat rate is easier. Interchange plus is more honest, because it separates the part nobody controls from the part you're actually negotiating. Which one costs you less depends on your volume and your card mix, and no page on the internet can answer that for your business without your statements in front of it.
What should you ask any processor before signing?
Ask us these. Ask our competitors these. A processor who answers all of them plainly and in writing is worth talking to, whoever they are.
- Is this interchange plus or a flat blended rate, and what exactly is your markup?
- List every recurring fee by name: monthly, gateway, PCI, statement, batch and annual.
- How long is the contract term, and is there an early termination fee?
- Is there a reserve on this account, and if so, what type and for how long?
- What is the chargeback fee, and what happens if my chargeback ratio rises?
- Do I own the hardware, or is this a lease, and is that lease cancellable?
- Who is the sponsor bank, and have they boarded my product category before?
- What would cause this account to be shut down, and how much notice would I get?
- Are my funds held before deposit, and how many business days until I get paid?
- Can I have all of this in writing before I sign anything?
If a salesperson gets vague on any of them, that's your answer. The vague part is always the expensive part.
How we quote it
We ask what you sell, where you sell it, roughly what you process, and what your current statements look like. Then we put the structure in writing for your business: what's interchange, what's markup, what recurring fees apply, what the hardware costs and what the risk terms are.
You see all of it before you commit to anything. If a line doesn't make sense, we explain it until it does or it comes out. What we won't do is guess a number on a web page and call it pricing.
Get your numbers in writing
Tell us what you sell and what you process today. We put the full cost structure on one page, with nothing hiding inside a blended rate.