How to lower online credit card processing fees
Securing online processing rates in the 2% range is difficult for business owners who want to absorb fees rather than pass them to customers. While finding another processor is the usual advice for lowering costs, owners hesitate to switch because they fear losing the comprehensive features provided by platforms like Square.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Negotiating custom rates directly with current payment aggregatorsDid this help you?
- 2Switching to direct merchant accounts with interchange-plus pricingDid this help you?
- 3Using flat monthly subscription-based processors like StaxDid this help you?
- 4Pairing dedicated payment gateways like Authorize.net with wholesale processorsDid this help you?
- 5Switching to a processor with interchange-plus pricing to reduce fees on premium rewards cards.Did this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Was honestly hoping to get a 2.x rate for online pay but not sure if that's wishful thinking or if others have been able to get that with some negotiation?”source ↗
“Just trying to help lower costs as I don't forward the fees to the customers.”source ↗
“Suggestions, please for the lowest cost option thank you”source ↗
“I’m in the same boat here. Everyone talks about finding another processor, but do they provide everything square does?”source ↗
Where this came up
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