Pricing Philosophy

 

There are two primary components to the processing industry’s cost; Interchange and Assessments (I&A).

 

Interchange is the portion of the discount rate that all processors must collect and pay to the cardholder’s issuing bank.  There are over 1,000 line items.  The Interchange rate changes depending on:

 

•  Card brand; American Express, Discover, MasterCard or Visa
• Type of card; Debit, Pre-Paid, Credit, Business, or Rewards
• Merchant industry
• How the card is processed; swiped, keyed, or includes enhanced data

 

Assessments are the fees that are collected and paid to the card brands; Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express.  Together (I&A) represents the wholesale cost to every processor in the country.

 

Our customers can choose their pricing method.  We have some clients who prefer Tiered Pricing to simplify their statement.  However, it is our opinion that Cost Plus a/k/a Pass Through pricing is better for merchants.

 

Cost Plus pricing shows each level of Interchange on the statement.  We educate our clients on the various levels of Interchange.  By doing so, they become more profitable as they can recognize when the right data is not entered..

 

Frankly, our industry is “crazy”.  There are so many rates and different pricing methodologies it is almost impossible for many merchants to know what they are actually paying.

 

Working with a Trusted Payments Partner insures you will receive competitive pricing and quality service.  CapitalQ has been a Trusted Payments Partner to our merchant family since 1992.