Restaurant card processing fee calculator
The only rate worth comparing is the effective rate, and it is the one nobody quotes you.
Your effective rate is total card fees divided by total card volume. It is the only figure that lets you compare two processors honestly, because advertised rates exclude assessments, monthly fees, PCI fees and per transaction charges. Take the two numbers off your last statement, enter them below, and compare against any rate you have been quoted.
Compare two effective rates on your own volume
Effective rate is total fees divided by total card volume from your merchant statement, not the rate you were quoted. Use three months if you can.
Arithmetic on the figures you entered. It assumes your volume holds steady and does not account for contract terms, hardware ownership or early termination fees, all of which can outweigh a rate difference.
“We are not mosquitoes. You will not be swatting us away. But we are not disappearing after the install either.”
How do you find your effective rate?
Take your merchant statement. Find total fees charged for the month and total card volume processed. Divide the first by the second. That is your effective rate, and it is almost always higher than the rate you were quoted when you signed.
Do this for three consecutive months if you can. A single month can be distorted by an annual PCI fee or a chargeback, and you want the figure that reflects a normal month.
Why does the advertised rate mislead?
Because it usually describes one component of a bill with several. Interchange is set by the card networks and is passed through by everyone. Assessments are the networks' own charges. On top of those sit your processor's markup, monthly fees, statement fees, PCI compliance fees, gateway fees and per transaction charges.
A quote of a low headline rate that arrives with a long list of separate line items can easily produce a higher effective rate than a plainer looking offer. This is not usually deception. It is just that the headline number answers a narrower question than the one you were asking.
Ask any processor, including us, for a written effective rate on your actual volume and card mix. If a rep will not put that in writing, that itself is the answer.
What difference does a small change actually make?
Enter your own figures below and see. The reason this calculator exists is that the gap between two effective rates looks trivial expressed as a percentage and stops looking trivial expressed as an annual figure.
This is also the honest argument against jumping straight to a credit card surcharge programme. Owners often find the rate difference is worth more than a surcharge would have been, and it costs nothing at the table.
A real person calls you back within two hours, Monday to Saturday, 8am to 7pm Central.
Questions restaurant owners ask
What counts as total fees on my statement?
Everything the processor charged you that month: interchange, assessments, markup, monthly and statement fees, PCI fees, gateway fees and per transaction charges. If it left your account and went to the processor, include it. Excluding fees is how a rate ends up looking better than it is.
Is a lower effective rate always the better deal?
Not automatically. Weigh it against contract length, early termination terms, whether you own the hardware, and what support you actually get. A rate a fraction lower is poor value if you are locked in for three years with equipment you cannot take with you.
Will you give me an effective rate in writing?
Yes. Ask for it on the first call and we will put it in writing against your actual volume and card mix. We think any processor who will not do that has told you something important about how the quote was built.