What percentage applies?
Understand the merchant-facing rate and where it changes by transaction or pricing category.
Processing pricing models
Understand the structure.
Compare the full cost.
Five ways processing fees can be presented. See how each works before comparing your options.
01 / Understand the structure
Five models, at a glance.
Start with the short version. Open any model for its explanation.
Interchange-Pluscost + markup
Underlying interchange and network costs are shown separately from an explicit processor markup.
Flat Rate / Blendedsimplified pricing
Eligible transactions are presented through a simplified merchant-facing rate or pricing structure.
Tiered / Bundledpricing buckets
Transactions are grouped into pricing categories such as qualified, mid-qualified, or non-qualified.
Membership / Subscriptionrecurring fee + processing costs
Pass-through processing costs are paired with recurring membership, subscription, or transaction fees.
Custom / Hybridtailored structure
A negotiated mix of percentage, per-item, fixed, or program economics.
A simpler structure does not automatically mean a lower total cost.
02 / Look beyond the rate
The advertised rate is not the total cost.
Two proposals can present pricing differently and still produce very different monthly results.
What is charged per transaction?
Small transaction fees can add up when transaction count is high.
What shows up every month?
Review applicable monthly, gateway, software, equipment, PCI, and other fixed charges.
What sits beneath the pricing model?
Card type, channel, ticket size, and transaction details can affect the underlying cost.
03 / Make a useful comparison
Bring it back to your business.
Use these three checks when reviewing a proposal.
- 1
Compare the numbers
Total processing cost. Compare the full monthly expense, not just the headline percentage.
Effective rate. Use total processing fees divided by total card sales as a high-level comparison.
- 2
Use your restaurant’s activity
Transaction mix. Card type, acceptance channel, ticket size, and transaction count shape the result.
Statement clarity. Make sure you can understand what changed and why each month.
- 3
Check the fit and tradeoffs
Business requirements. Technology, billing workflow, customer experience, and support still matter.
Tradeoffs. Simpler pricing is not automatically cheaper, and detailed pricing is not automatically better.
Learn the cost underneath
Understand interchange.
Interchange is one underlying component of card-processing cost and can vary with transaction details.
Measure the outcome
Calculate effective rate.
Turn total processing expense into one comparable percentage, then use the statement to understand why.
Compare your current pricing
Start with the actual statement.
Kuhudu can help identify your current pricing model, calculate what you are paying overall, and explain which differences are worth evaluating.
Review my pricing