On a $100 card sale, PayKings’ Starter tier adds 1.10% of the sale plus a flat $0.25, or $1.35, on top of whatever interchange that card costs. That $1.35 is PayKings’ markup, and under interchange-plus pricing it is the one part of the cost the provider sets for itself.
Interchange passes through at the card networks’ cost, so the markup is the number to compare from one provider to the next. It still isn’t the whole bill. Monthly fees, reserves, and dispute fees all fall outside the rate, and together they can cost more than a small gap in markup.
What interchange-plus pricing means
Interchange is the fee the bank that issued the card gets on every sale. Visa and Mastercard publish the rates, and the networks add their own fees, called dues and assessments, on top. Interchange-plus pricing passes both through at cost and shows the provider’s markup as its own line, usually a percentage plus a fixed amount per sale.
Blended and tiered pricing fold all of this into one rate or a few. A merchant on those plans still pays a markup but can’t see it or tell whether it has changed.
Most high-risk providers give the markup only after underwriting, since the type of business, its chargeback history, and its volume all move it. A few post it, either as a firm number or as a typical range, and a posted number gives a merchant something to check a quote against.
Interchange is usually higher for online and phone orders than for cards read at a terminal, and a separate line keeps that difference out of the markup.
| Provider | Pricing model stated | Markup published | Other fees stated |
| Durango Merchant Services | Interchange-plus | Typical discount-rate range only | Authorisation 0.15-0.25, monthly 15-60 |
| PayKings | Interchange-plus | Yes, by volume tier | No setup fees, monthly fee waived from Growth tier |
| SoarPay | Interchange-plus | No, quoted per merchant | Monthly fees charged, amounts not published |
| Finix | Interchange-plus | Standard plan only | Monthly membership fee |
| SecureGlobalPay | Interchange-plus | No, quoted per merchant | No setup or closure fees |
| Corepay | Flat rate, Interchange++ or custom | No, quoted per merchant | No setup fees, no monthly minimums |
| Payline | Interchange-plus for standard accounts | Standard program only | Terminal rental |
Durango Merchant Services
Durango Merchant Services gives a typical discount rate of 1.95% to 4.95%. On top of that come authorisation fees of $0.15 to $0.25 per sale and a monthly fee between $15 and $60.
Durango prices on interchange-plus, so the model is known before a merchant applies. It works on behalf of Fifth Third Bank and quotes each account after underwriting.
Durango doesn’t say whether 1.95% to 4.95% is the markup alone or the full rate with interchange in it. That is the first question to ask about a Durango quote, because the answer changes the math.
Applying is free, and it’s worth asking whether Durango charges anything for leaving early.
PayKings
PayKings publishes its markup by monthly volume. Starter, for merchants who process up to $100,000 a month, is interchange plus 1.10% plus $0.25 per sale. Growth, from $100,000 to $300,000, is interchange plus 0.80% plus $0.10.
Growth also waives the monthly fee, and the Enterprise tier above $300,000 a month is priced one account at a time. There are no setup fees.
Final rates still depend on the type of business, volume and underwriting, so one file can be quoted differently from the tier on its website.
The Starter tier’s monthly fee isn’t posted, so a smaller merchant should get that number in writing before signing.
SoarPay
SoarPay gives each merchant its own quote, with no markup on its website, but it says each fee is the interchange rate set by the card networks plus a fixed SoarPay markup.
It looks at rates again after three to six months of processing, and it may match a competing offer that the merchant can back up.
Monthly fees come out in the first week of each month, though SoarPay doesn’t give the amounts up front. When a reserve is needed, it usually runs 5% to 10% of volume and is looked at again every 60 to 90 days.
What falls outside the rate
Monthly fees are the most common cost that never shows up in the markup. Finix sells payment processing with transparent pricing, and its standard plan still has a $250 monthly membership fee. Spread across 1,000 sales a month, that fee adds $0.25 to each one.
With a rolling reserve, the bank keeps a cut of each day’s sales for a fixed stretch of time in case chargebacks follow. That money comes back when the time is up, but until then the merchant can’t spend it, and high-risk accounts often have a reserve.
Chargeback fees come per dispute, and some providers also charge for the inquiry that comes before a chargeback. A merchant with a steady dispute rate pays these every month, whatever the markup.
Setup, gateway, compliance and early-exit fees make up the rest. Each can look small on its own, and each belongs in writing next to the markup before anything is signed.
Finix
Finix’s standard plan for direct merchants has a firm markup that anyone can look up. Interchange, dues and assessments pass through, and the plan adds 0.00% plus $0.15 per Visa, Mastercard and Discover sale, with American Express at 0.30% plus $0.15. High-risk accounts are quoted one at a time, and CBD accounts are priced on interchange-plus too.
The fixed fee applies to every attempt to run a card, whether it goes through or is declined. A store hit by card testing or frequent declines pays that fee on attempts that never become sales.
SecureGlobalPay
SecureGlobalPay uses interchange-plus and gives the markup in the quote. It has no long-term contracts and charges no setup, closure or hidden fees, which removes several costs outside the rate.
SecureGlobalPay signs merchants up on behalf of several clearing and settlement firms, so the bank it pairs a merchant with also affects the final terms.
Corepay
Corepay quotes every merchant under one of three models: custom pricing, a flat rate it pitches to lower-volume merchants, and Interchange++, which passes interchange through at cost plus a fixed markup. There are no setup fees and no monthly minimums.
The markup for each model comes in the quote. Corepay calls Interchange++ the best value for high-volume merchants, so a smaller merchant may need to ask for it by name.
Payline
Payline’s interchange-plus table runs from interchange plus 0.35% plus $0.10 for merchants under $50,000 a month down to interchange plus 0.15% plus $0.08 above $1 million. That table is for its standard program. Payline places high-risk accounts with partner providers, and those partners set the pricing and the reserve, so the table’s rates don’t apply to a high-risk file.
How to compare two interchange-plus quotes
Put both quotes in theon the same month. Multiply the expected card volume by each quote’s percentage, multiply the expected number of sales by its fixed fee, and add the two results. At $50,000 across 1,000 sales, a markup of 1.00% plus $0.20 comes to $700, while 0.60% plus $0.30 comes to $600.
Then add that month’s costs outside the rate. These include the monthly or membership fee and any gateway fees, plus expected chargebacks times the per-dispute fee and any fee charged on declined attempts. Last, compare the reserve percentage and how long the money is kept, since together they decide how much of that month’s sales reach the bank account.
