Putting two quotes side by side, so the numbers mean something.
Most merchant services quotes are built so they cannot be compared with each other. Getting them into a comparable shape takes one worksheet and five questions, and it is the single highest-value hour in this whole process.
What this page settles.
Three questions, in the order most people ask them.
Why quotes are not comparable by default
Put two merchant services proposals next to each other and you will usually find they do not share a single field.
One quotes a qualified rate and a surcharge schedule. One quotes a flat percentage. One quotes markup over interchange. One quotes a monthly subscription plus interchange at cost. Two mention a per-item fee, one does not. One lists a monthly fee, one lists none and has a PCI fee instead, and the gateway is on a separate page of the third.
None of that is necessarily dishonest. The models genuinely differ. But the effect is that the numbers on the page cannot be held against each other, and the merchant ends up choosing on the largest font.
The fix is to stop comparing the quotes and start comparing what each quote would have cost on a month you actually had.
The one question that fixes most of it
Ask every provider, in writing, the same sentence:
“On my last full month — this volume, this transaction count, this card mix — what would my total have been with you, including every fixed charge?”
Attach the statement. Then read the replies for two things: the number, and how willing they were to produce it.
A provider on transparent pricing can answer in an afternoon, because the arithmetic is interchange plus their stated markup plus their stated fees. A provider whose pricing depends on you not being able to do that will tend to answer a different question — the rate, the savings percentage, what the competitor is doing wrong.
That reluctance is information. You are buying a relationship in which you will have to ask awkward questions again.
The worksheet
Five lines, for each quote, using one real month. Do it on paper.
1. Your actual month. Card volume, transaction count, and total fees as billed. From your statement. On the worked example used across this site: 48,500.00 across 1,240 transactions, costing 1,687.50.
2. Interchange and network charges. On an itemized statement, read them off. If your current pricing is tiered and you cannot see them, ask the new provider to estimate them from your card mix — and ask both providers, so you are using the same figure for each.
3. The markup. Quoted percentage × your volume.
4. The per-item fee. Quoted per-item × your transaction count, not your volume. This is the line most often skipped and it is the one that decides the answer for any business with a low average ticket. At 1,240 transactions, a dime is 124.00 a month and a nickel is 62.00.
5. Every fixed monthly charge. Monthly fee, monthly minimum, statement fee, PCI fee, gateway fee, annual fee divided by twelve, equipment lease or rental. All of it, including the ones that were on a different page.
Add 2 through 5. That is the quote’s real monthly cost on your real month, and it is comparable with any other number produced the same way.
The arithmetic takes twenty minutes and it routinely reverses the ranking. The quote that looked cheapest at the top of the page frequently is not, and the reason is almost always line 4 or line 5.
Four things that make a quote look cheaper
A rate that steps up. An introductory rate with a review date in the agreement. Ask directly: does any rate on this quote change after a period, and where does the contract say so?
A low percentage with a high per-item fee. Perfectly honest, and perfectly misleading if your average ticket is small. Line 4 catches it.
Fixed charges on a different page. The gateway, the PCI program fee, the monthly minimum. Line 5 catches them, but only if you asked for the complete list — so ask for it explicitly: is this every charge I will see?
Free equipment. Occasionally genuinely free. Frequently a lease, which is the most expensive thing in this whole category and does not end when the processing agreement does. Ask whether the hardware is a purchase, a rental or a lease, and what the total is over the term.
And a fifth that is not about the quote at all: a savings percentage with no arithmetic behind it. “We’ll save you 30%” is a claim about a number you have not been shown. Ask what the 30% is of.
What to get in writing
Six things, and a provider who will not put them in an email is answering you.
- Markup over interchange, as a percentage and a per-item fee.
- Every fixed monthly and annual charge, as a complete list.
- Whether interchange and assessments are passed through at cost.
- The contract term, the notice period, and any early termination fee.
- Whether the hardware is purchased, rented or leased, and the total over the term.
- Whether any rate on the quote is subject to review, and when.
Keep the email. When a charge appears in month seven that nobody mentioned, that email is the entire conversation.
The things price does not capture
Having got the numbers, weigh the rest honestly, because some of it is worth more than a few basis points.
Whether your money can be stopped. An aggregator onboards you in minutes and manages risk afterwards, sometimes by holding a payout while it reviews. A merchant account underwrites you up front, which is slower to open and much less likely to interrupt your cash flow later. The comparison in full.
Who answers the phone, and whether they know your business.
What happens when hardware fails on a Saturday.
How hard it is to leave. The cheapest quote with a four-year lease and a termination fee is not the cheapest quote.
Get the numbers first, though. Most merchants never do, and end up weighing everything except the price.
What we charge
Interchange + 0.50% + 10¢ in person, interchange + 0.75% + 25¢ keyed. No contract, no monthly fee, no monthly minimum, no PCI fee, no statement fee, no annual fee. Interchange and the network charges pass through at cost.
That is deliberately short enough to put through the worksheet above in about two minutes. Send us your statement and any competing quote and we will run both through it, ours included. If somebody else comes out cheaper on your numbers, we will tell you so.
While we are on the subject
What if a provider will not quote markup over interchange?
That is an answer in itself. A provider who will not state their own margin is asking you to buy on a number that does not describe what you will pay. You can still compare them by pricing your real month through their stated rates, but you will not be able to see what they earn.
Should I just pick the lowest number?
Not automatically. Funding speed, support, hardware, contract terms and whether your account can be frozen are all worth money. But you should know the numbers before you weigh anything else, and most merchants never get that far.
How many months should I use?
One complete month is enough to compare. Two is better, because it shows whether your card mix moves, and a provider quoting on your quietest month is quoting on a flattering one.
Do I have to give a competitor my statement?
You do not have to give anyone anything. But a quote produced without seeing a statement is a guess, and a provider who produces one anyway is telling you how the rest of the relationship will go.