Payment processing fees explained: interchange, markups and total cost

Last updated 19 October 2026

Educational overview of how processing fees are typically built, plus an explicit note that this product does not collect prices.

Fee stack anatomy

Use this checklist when reading a tariff. Values stay “Not collected” here because Payment Market Radar does not store commercial schedules.

Interchange: Not collectedUsually tied to the card issuer under network rules
Scheme / network assessments: Not collectedNetwork charges beside interchange
Acquirer or PSP markup: Not collectedPercentage, fixed amount, or both
FX and payout line items: Not collectedConversion, payout speed, and related fees
Platform minimums and extras: Not collectedMonthly minimums, PCI, disputes, idle accounts

Why “the processing fee” is usually several fees

A card transaction typically incurs more than one charge. Networks, issuers, and the acquirer or PSP each take a component. Local payment methods (account-to-account, wallets, cash) use different schemes and often different commercial models. Mixing those into one percentage without saying so makes vendors hard to compare.

Interchange

For cards, interchange is commonly the amount associated with the issuing bank (the customer’s card issuer), set under network rules. It varies by country, card product, consumer vs commercial, and how the payment was authenticated (for example whether a 3-D Secure flow applied). Networks publish interchange documents; this radar does not mirror those files.

Scheme or network assessments

Card networks also charge their own assessments or scheme fees. These sit beside interchange. Exact names and schedules differ by region and are defined by each network.

Acquirer or PSP markup

The processor or acquirer adds its own margin — sometimes as a percentage, sometimes a fixed amount per transaction, often both. Gateway, tokenization, payout, or fraud tools may be billed separately. Markup is a commercial choice; it is not an interchange rate.

Blended vs interchange-plus (and similar)

Blended / flat pricing wraps several components into one rate. It is simple to read and opaque to audit.

Interchange-plus (and related IC+ / IC++) structures usually pass through network costs and add a disclosed markup. Whether that lowers your total cost depends on your card mix. This site does not compute that mix.

Total cost of payments

When you compare providers, ask for more than the headline rate:

authorization vs captured vs refunded volumes
chargebacks, retrievals, and dispute fees
FX conversion if you settle in one currency and sell in others
payout speed and payout fees for marketplaces or platforms
monthly minimums, PCI, and idle-account fees

Those line items are still outside Payment Market Radar. Use provider profiles for documented capabilities and what to compare besides price, then request a tariff from each vendor.

What the radar is for instead

Capability changes — a new local method, a new processor integration, a newly documented API — often affect cost later (new schemes, new markets) but they are not prices. Track them on documented changes and on pairs such as the published comparisons.

Explore providers

Stripe — Global PSP / payments platform
Adyen — Enterprise PSP / acquiring
Checkout.com — Global PSP / enterprise payments
Worldpay — Enterprise acquiring / global payments

Related comparisons

Frequently asked questions

What is interchange?

Interchange is a fee typically paid toward the card-issuing side of a card transaction. It is set by card-network rules and varies by region, card product, and how the payment is authenticated. Exact rates are published by the networks, not by this radar.

Why doesn’t Payment Market Radar list processing fees?

The collector copies fee terms only from monitored public pages, and only the words and figures on those pages. Providers without a public fee page stay “not collected”. It does not invent a rate card or a personalised quote.

Is blended pricing the same as interchange-plus?

No. Blended (or flat) pricing wraps several cost components into one rate. Interchange-plus usually shows network costs plus a stated acquirer markup. Which is cheaper depends on your mix of cards and countries; it is not something this site calculates.

All guides