Merchant-Accounts.ca: The Demystifying Payments Blog

It's completely reasonable to revisit the fees that you pay once in a while. However, in fairness to the processor there has to be some reason why your rate should be lowered. In this video David explains when you should ask for a rate reduction, and how you should approach the conversation so that you can build a compelling reason and increase the likelihood that the processor will agree with your request.

In this quick video, David explains the simple math to help you figure out what your discount rate will be per month.

How much are credit card processing fees in Canada? Use our interchange chart and fee calculator to determine your exact processing costs.

Some merchants that use Shopify express frustration over the Shopify percentage based fees that are charged per transaction. In this video David explains why payment processors charge percentage based fees (because of interchange fees and chargeback risk), and why most shopping cart software providers charge a monthly fee, but don't charge percentage based fees. He also discusses some options that some merchants have used in an attempt to lower their Shopify processing costs.

Some payment processors have a 'standard practice' of raising credit card processing costs on merchants. This is dishonest and unethical. In this video David explains when rate increases are reasonable (which is very, very rarely), and how to fight back when it does occur.

Why do some businesses get lower credit card processing costs than others? In this video David explores the criteria that cause some businesses to get lower rates than others and techniques that you can use to reduce your processing costs.

David breaks down the current interchange rates for e-commerce merchants in Canada for 2023. These figures were taken directly from the Visa and Mastercard Canada interchange tables. These interchange rates apply not just to e-commerce transactions but also virtual terminal and other card-not-present type transactions.

Knowledge of credit card processing pricing models can save your business money. In this article we describe the Interchange Plus Pricing model for merchants. We'll compare it briefly to other models, state its advantages, disadvantages and give a practice example.

Visa and Mastercard charge a very small fee called a card brand fee (also sometimes called an assessment fee). We will explore these costs and explain when they are incurred.

It is extremely frustrating for merchants to be notified of an increase to your credit card processing rate. In many cases, these increases may be unfair and add unnecessary additional expense to your business. Fortunately, there are protections in place that can help protect your business should this happen to you.