Summary

Interchange Plus (IC+) is less preferred by Quilt and our subsidiaries and has a more complex fee structure, but can benefit larger merchants or those in specific industries where price matching is challenging. It offers potential savings for high transaction volumes, detailed cost breakdowns, and flexibility with lower interchange rates.

Availability

Available to all brands. No additional development needed.

Processor

Benefits

While not as simple or transparent as Flat Rate or Cash Discounting, IC+ can offer some positive benefits when offered through a trustworthy processor:

• Potential Savings: Merchants with high transaction volumes or lower-risk profiles might save money compared to flat rate pricing.
• Detailed Breakdown: Merchants receive a detailed breakdown of costs, providing greater visibility into fees paid to card networks versus the processor’s markup.
• Flexibility: This model can be more flexible, allowing merchants to take advantage of lower interchange rates.

<aside> 💡 Note: One really important distinction with IC+ over Flat Rate or Cash Discounting is how the fees work differently. This shouldn’t be something we go out of our way to advertise but it’s important to understand how it works in case it’s asked.

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IC+ Fees

With IC+, we still charge a volume fee and a per transaction fee but it’s in addition to whatever interchange fees are assessed. Interchange and assessment fees are the costs the card brands charge for processing the transaction. IC+ is where we pass along those fees directly to the merchant and add a small margin on top to remain profitable. There is an additional Interchange fee that we pass on which is applied monthly to a merchants account, this is typically a small fee between $2 and $10.

Example: If a merchant processed a $100 transaction, the interchange fees may be around $1.90. If we charge an IC+ rate of .10% + $0.05 then our fees would be another $0.15 which would mean the total cost to the merchant would be $2.05

For IC+ merchants, processing fees are taken out of each transaction before they’re deposited. This is NOT industry standard so any merchants previously on this pricing model may have to adjust to it working this way. Some merchants may request fees be taken out at the end of the month rather than from each transaction- there is no way to do this.

Fee and Rate Locations

Their current rates can be seen on the Profile page of merchants that have been set up with IC+ rates. To get here, go to ‘Account’ in the menu at the top-right of the Portal, then select ‘Profile’ and scroll down until you see the ‘Transaction Rates’ section.

The total fees charged on each transaction is visible on the Payouts report of merchants that have been set up to use IC+ rates.

Authorizations