Summary

Flat Rate pricing is our Default priPcing model and is preferred for its predictability, simplicity, and transparency. Merchants pay a fixed percentage and/or amount per transaction. Default rates may vary by industry and brand, and custom rates can be offered based on past merchant statements and approval.

Availability

Available to all brands. No additional development needed.

Processor

Pricing

Merchants pay a simple, fixed percentage and/or a fixed amount per transaction, regardless of the card type or transaction amount. With IC+ there are hundreds of fees a merchant may pay at any given time whereas with Flat Rate, it’s much simpler. Instead, the merchant will pay one of three potential rates:

• Card Present. Unless the merchant received a custom rate, this is generally something like 2.80% + $0.10 (rates may vary across Brand).
• Card not Present. Unless the merchant received a custom rate, this is generally something like 3.19% + $0.30 (rates may vary across Brand).
• AMEX. American Express (AMEX) charges more than most of the other card brands and so the extra costs have to be passed on. Generally this means the merchant pays .49% on top of their Card Present or Card Not Present rates.

Fee and Rate Locations

Their current rates can be seen under the ‘Transactions Rate’ section in the Profile page of merchants that have been set up to utilize Flat Rate. The Profile page can be accessed under the account drop down in the payment portal for any selected merchant.

For Flat Rate merchants, processing fees are taken out of each transaction before they’re deposited. This is industry standard for flat rate so any merchants previously on this pricing model would be used to it working this way. Rarely 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.

For merchants who would like to see a breakdown of the fees they paid, it is visible on the Payouts report 48 hours after the transaction date by clicking on the drop down arrow to the left of the date.

Benefits

There are three main benefits of why we prefer to offer Flat Rate to our merchants whenever we can:

1. Predictability: Merchants know exactly what they will pay each month, making it easier to budget and forecast expenses.
2. Simplicity: The flat rate structure is straightforward, reducing confusion and simplifying accounting.
3. Transparency: Merchants appreciate the transparency of a single, consistent fee, avoiding hidden charges or complicated statements. This one is especially important for merchants coming from deceptive processors who use Interchange Plus pricing to take advantage of trusting merchant who may not be able to interpret a 30-page merchant statement to realize a bunch of hidden fees were added in without their consent.

Refund

When a refund happens, the original fees are not returned to the merchant but also no additional fees are charged.

This means if a merchant was refunding a $100 transaction that they had paid $2.90 in fees for, then they would not have to pay any additional fees on top of that.