There is no monthly fee whatsoever to have an account. Behind the scenes we incur a small cost to maintain your account. If your account is dormant for an entire month with no transactions we charge a $15 dormancy fee to cover our costs. All discount rate fees paid during the month count towards the $15 dormancy fee.

Example: you have a seasonal business and process a single $150 transaction during the entire month. This transaction costs $3.75 in discount rate fees. ($150 x 2.5% discount rate = $3.75).

$3.75 is credited towards your dormancy fee. At the end of the month you are billed a dormancy fee of $11.25. $15 (dormancy fee) - $3.75 (credit for fees paid during month) = $11.25 dormancy fee.

Once you achieve $600 or more in sales per month the account is totally free. We want you to use and benefit from the service, but even if your account is totally dormant for an entire month the worst case scenario is a $15 dormancy fee. It takes very little trading activity to satisfy. Most of our clients pay no dormancy fee at all.

Chargebacks occur when a cardholder contacts their card issuing bank and requests that the transaction is forcibly reversed. Do not confuse a chargeback with a refund. Refunds are a normal part of day to day business and there is no penalty for doing a refund. A chargeback is not, and can only happen when there is a serious dispute between a merchant and a cardholder. (For example, in the case of fraud). If a chargeback occurs a fee of $25 will apply.

Visa and MasterCard assess cross border fees when international credit cards are processed.

This is an important point that most merchants are unaware of. Many payment processors will mark up and earn extra revenue from cross border fees. At Merchant Accounts.ca we do NOT engage in this practice. We pass through cross border fees at cost directly from Visa and MasterCard. For clarity, a credit card processor cannot stop a cross border fee from being assessed, but they can and should pass the cost through without marking it up.

Each time a transaction is processed Visa and MasterCard look at two things.

1. What country is your business based in?
2. What country is the bank that issued the credit card to your customer based in?

If your business and the card issuing bank are not in the same country Visa and MasterCard will assess a cross border fee on the transaction.

How Much Do Cross Border Fees Cost?

The cross border fee from Visa and MasterCard is 0.40% when you charge a foreign cardholder in a non-local currency.

The cross border fee is 0.80% if you charge a foreign cardholder in their local currency.

Example 1: Canadian merchant processes a transaction for an Australian customer. The card is billed in Canadian dollars. The cross border fee is 0.40%. Cardholder was charged in a non-local currency.

Example 2: Canadian merchant processes a transaction for an Australian customer. The card is billed in Australian dollars. The cross border fee is 0.80%. Cardholder was charged in their local currency (AUD).

Charging foreign customers in a local currency incurs a higher cross border fee, so why use multi-currency processing? Although the cross border fee is slightly higher when billing in a local currency, it is still highly desirable because the customer will have much more confidence when purchasing. This allows you to market more effectively and significantly improve your conversion rates when selling to foreign customers.

For our clients that target international customers we are able to consult and offer advice to minimize cross border fees. Although a payment processor cannot stop Visa and MasterCard from assessing a cross border fee, we can help you establish business entities in multiple countries so that transactions in your major markets do not cross borders. If you need assistance with this contact us.

With the Advanced program all pricing is based from true interchange cost as set by Visa and MasterCard. Interchange fees are charged to all credit card processors each time a transaction is processed. It starts at 1.52% for e-commerce payments.

This is by far the best and most transparent method of pricing for businesses that process a high volume of credit card sales. In using this pricing method you learn the margin earned above interchange by your payment processor. It provides absolute cost certainty to business owners.

It is known as "interchange plus" or "cost plus" pricing. An example of an interchange plus pricing is 'Interchange + 0.30%'. In this example the business will pay a rate of 0.30% above true interchange cost on each transaction processed.

The rate that is quoted is based upon your monthly trading volume and product risk. We offer significant volume pricing discounts and commit to further reductions as your monthly credit card processing volumes increase.

Complete an application to receive a quotation, or contact us by phone or email to discuss your project. We do not dictate rates to our prospective clients. Instead, if you help us to understand your estimated monthly trading volume, desired payment currencies and the goals you have in mind, we will attempt to provide the rates that you are looking to receive. It may sound like a novel concept, but listening to our customers works for us! Our success occurs when our clients achieve their goals, and pricing is a big part of that process.

The Advanced program is intended for businesses that process a higher volume of credit card transactions each month. If your account is dormant for an entire month with no transactions we charge a $20 dormancy fee. All discount rate fees paid during the month count towards the $20 dormancy fee.

Example: you have a seasonal business and process a single $150 transaction during the entire month. For this example we will pretend the merchant has a discount rate of 2%.

$150 x 2% (discount rate) = $3 in fees.

The $3 in fees you've paid is credited towards your dormancy fee. At the end of the month you are billed a dormancy fee of $17.

$20 (dormancy fee) - $3 (credit for fees) = $17 dormancy fee.

Most merchants on our advanced program should never be paying the dormancy fee because they are usually active and processing transactions every month. We want you to use and benefit from the service, but even if your account is totally dormant for an entire month the worst case scenario is a $20 dormancy fee. It takes very little trading activity to satisfy.

Chargebacks occur when a cardholder contacts their card issuing bank and requests that the transaction is forcibly reversed. Do not confuse a chargeback with a refund. Refunds are a normal part of day to day business and there is no penalty for doing a refund. A chargeback is not, and can only happen when there is a serious dispute between a merchant and a cardholder. (For example, in the case of fraud). If a chargeback occurs a fee of $25 will apply.

Visa and MasterCard assess cross border fees when international credit cards are processed.

This is an important point that most merchants are unaware of. Many payment processors will mark up and earn extra revenue from cross border fees. At Merchant Accounts.ca we do NOT engage in this practice. We pass through cross border fees at cost directly from Visa and MasterCard. For clarity, a credit card processor cannot stop a cross border fee from being assessed, but they can and should pass the cost through without marking it up.

Each time a transaction is processed Visa and MasterCard look at two things.

1. What country is your business based in?
2. What country is the bank that issued the credit card to your customer based in?

If your business and the card issuing bank are not in the same country Visa and MasterCard will assess a cross border fee on the transaction.

How Much Do Cross Border Fees Cost?

The cross border fee from Visa and MasterCard is 0.40% when you charge a foreign cardholder in a non-local currency.

The cross border fee is 0.80% if you charge a foreign cardholder in their local currency.

Example 1: Canadian merchant processes a transaction for an Australian customer. The card is billed in Canadian dollars. The cross border fee is 0.40%. Cardholder was charged in a non-local currency.

Example 2: Canadian merchant processes a transaction for an Australian customer. The card is billed in Australian dollars. The cross border fee is 0.80%. Cardholder was charged in their local currency (AUD).

Charging foreign customers in a local currency incurs a higher cross border fee, so why use multi-currency processing? Although the cross border fee is slightly higher when billing in a local currency, it is still highly desirable because the customer will have much more confidence when purchasing. This allows you to market more effectively and significantly improve your conversion rates when selling to foreign customers.

For our clients that target international customers we are able to consult and offer advice to minimize cross border fees. Although a payment processor cannot stop Visa and MasterCard from assessing a cross border fee, we can help you establish business entities in multiple countries so that transactions in your major markets do not cross borders. If you need assistance with this contact us.