Stax merchants receive a monthly statement detailing fees and assessments. Below is a breakdown of the various fees you might see on your merchant statement.
Interchange Fees & Assessments
Interchange is a fee set by card brands like Visa and Mastercard. Interchange is the cost for accepting credit cards at your business, and interchange rates vary. Card Brands (Visa, MC, Discover, etc.) publish their interchange rates every year on their websites.
Assessments are a percentage fee charged by Card Brands on every transaction. Assessments apply to both debit and credit transactions and different assessments can apply in different circumstances, such as whether the card was a debit or credit card or if it was an international purchase. Assessments are subject to change, but card brands do announce these changes.
These assessments cannot be negotiated with your credit card processor as they are set by the Card Brands and are the same for all merchant service providers. For more information check out our blog post detailing all the information on Interchange Fees
Transaction Fees
Transaction fees are fees charged by the card companies for every transaction you run. These are always a set amount per transaction, such as $.10 per sale . These are sometimes referred to as an “auth fee” or “authorization fee.”
Effective Rate
Your effective rate is expressed as a percentage on your statement. Your effective rate is calculated as your total processing fees divided by your total sales volume. This helps you see at a glance how much your payment processing costs compared to your sales. Calculating an effective rate allows a fair comparison between processors that have different pricing structures, such as comparing Stax's subscription model to another processor's flat rate or interchange-plus model.
Surcharging Fees (only applicable for surcharging accounts):
Credit Card Surcharge Fee is the fee passed along to the customer at the time of sale. You as the business receive 100% of the base sale amount. When customers choose to pay with a debit card, they do not pay the fee as the business is charged a fee for all debit card processing fees.
To view your statement, please follow the instructions based on your MID from Accessing Statement