By NUMUS editorial team
Two processing offers are comparable only when they price the same business activity and include the same categories of charges. A lower percentage can be offset by a larger per-payment amount, recurring charges or costs left outside the quote.
Start with the written offers, then give each provider the same sales assumptions. The result should be a comparison you can explain line by line, with unanswered questions visible beside the arithmetic. It is an estimate for a defined scenario, not a prediction of your next bill.
For the broader cost categories, use our credit card processing fees guide. To investigate charges you have already paid, use the merchant processing statement guide. This worksheet addresses a different task: comparing prospective offers before choosing an arrangement.
Give both providers one business profile
Create one dated profile and attach it to every request. Use representative records where available; label projections when you are planning a new business, channel or product.
| Shared assumption | What to record |
|---|---|
| Card sales | Monthly sales amount, currency and whether the figure is before refunds |
| Successful payments | Count and average payment size; identify unusually large payments |
| Sales channels | In-person, online and manually entered shares, with both amounts and counts |
| Card and customer mix | Available debit/credit, card-brand and domestic/international breakdowns |
| Additional events | Refunds, payment attempts, retries and disputes, using the provider's definitions |
| Business model | Products, recurring billing, payment-to-delivery timing and seasonality |
| Required services | Gateway, equipment, reporting and other functions the offer must cover |
Do not send an online-only profile to one provider and an in-person profile to another. If a provider uses different assumptions, keep its estimate in a separate scenario until the difference is reconciled.
Visa distinguishes interchange transfers between financial institutions from the merchant discount negotiated with the merchant's financial institution. A network interchange figure therefore does not, by itself, establish your complete merchant price. Visa: Rates, fees and rules.
Translate each offer into the same worksheet
Keep the provider's original wording and add your interpretation in a separate column. Ask for correction where the calculation basis is unclear.
| Charge or condition | Offer A | Offer B | Evidence or unresolved question |
|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage charge | Rate and eligible sales base | Rate and eligible sales base | Inclusive price or added to other costs? |
| Per-event amount | Amount and billable event | Amount and billable event | Successful payment, attempt, refund or something else? |
| Recurring charges | Monthly and annual amounts | Monthly and annual amounts | Per account, location, device or service? |
| Conditional charges | Trigger and amount | Trigger and amount | What scenario makes the charge apply? |
| One-time charges | Setup, equipment or other items | Same categories | Included in which comparison period? |
| Missing terms | Unconfirmed items | Unconfirmed items | Who will supply the written answer? |
“Transaction” needs a definition. Adyen, for example, describes its processing fees as applying when it receives a payment or refund request; its invoice documentation also identifies fees associated with some transactions that do not reach capture. Those are Adyen-specific examples of why successful sales count alone may not explain every billable event. Adyen: Invoice fee definitions.
For an offer with separate interchange or network charges, obtain the assumptions behind those estimates and keep them separate from the provider's markup. Do not add pass-through charges again if a quoted amount already includes them. Our pricing-structure guide explains the model labels; the written offer determines what belongs in this calculation.
A fictional comparison with identical inputs
Every rate and amount below is invented for this exercise. These are not available offers, typical market prices or NUMUS pricing.
Assume $50,000 in monthly card sales and 1,000 successful payments, for a $50 average payment. The channel and card mix are identical for both offers. For this simplified example, each percentage-plus-item charge is assumed to include the processing components for those payments; no additional pass-through amount is added.
The example excludes refunds, unsuccessful attempts, disputes, currency conversion, equipment, annual charges and other conditional costs. Its totals are modeled listed charges, not a complete cost estimate for a real account.
| Calculation | Fictional Offer A | Fictional Offer B |
|---|---|---|
| Assumed percentage | 2.60% | 2.30% |
| Percentage charge on $50,000 | $1,300 | $1,150 |
| Assumed per-successful-payment amount | $0.10 | $0.20 |
| Item charges for 1,000 payments | $100 | $200 |
| Assumed monthly fixed charge | $0 | $25 |
| Modeled listed charges | $1,400 | $1,375 |
The calculation is sales × percentage + successful payments × item amount + monthly fixed charge. Enter 2.60% as 0.026 when doing the arithmetic yourself. Offer B is $25 lower in this scenario; nothing in that result establishes which real provider would suit the business.
Use the comparison tool to change the shared sales and payment-count assumptions. Treat its result as the calculation of the fields included in the tool. Keep excluded or unconfirmed charges beside the result rather than silently treating them as zero.
Compare what is actually included.
Put two offers on the same footing. Enter the same card sales and transaction count, then include the known costs for each quote.
Your comparison month
USD · no business details needed
Check the rate scope first. Inclusive means interchange and network charges are already in your entered percentage. Markup-only means they must be estimated separately. If that estimate is unknown, the total stays incomplete.
Difference in entered costs for one month. This is not a provider recommendation or a savings guarantee.
| Component | Offer A | Offer B |
|---|---|---|
| Percentage-based charge | — | — |
| Per-transaction charges | — | — |
| Monthly fixed fees | — | — |
| Additional monthly costs | — | — |
| Interchange + network estimate | — | — |
What the estimate means: monthly card sales × quoted percentage, plus transaction count × per-transaction charge, fixed fees, additional monthly costs, and any separately entered pass-through estimate. Each component rounds to cents. The included-cost effective rate is this total divided by monthly card sales.
Keep the comparison consistent: include a known charge once, and use the same activity and fee categories for both offers. A blended rate is an assumption; actual charges can vary by card mix, transaction type and contract. Do not enter interchange or network costs again if the rate already includes them.
Not captured automatically: unknown, annual, one-time, minimum, equipment, refund, chargeback, or other conditional charges. Put applicable comparable monthly amounts in additional costs. Reserves, payout timing, contract terms and approval conditions are outside this cost comparison. A reserve can affect available cash even when it is not a processing fee.
Calculated in this page. This tool does not send or save your inputs.
Bring the written terms and the assumptions behind them to a processing conversation. Discuss your processing offers.
Change the payment count before drawing a conclusion
Keep sales at $50,000 but increase successful payments to 2,000, reducing the average payment to $25. Keep every other assumption unchanged.
- Offer A: $1,300 + $200 + $0 = $1,500.
- Offer B: $1,150 + $400 + $25 = $1,575.
Offer A is now $75 lower. The lower percentage in Offer B no longer offsets its larger item charge. This reversal comes entirely from the invented assumptions; it is not a finding about any actual provider.
Repeat the comparison with a realistic quieter month and a busier month. If your online share or international-card share changes, ask the providers to recalculate those scenarios rather than extending a rate beyond its stated scope.
Resolve exclusions and compare the same period
Refund treatment deserves its own answer. Stripe's standard-pricing FAQ, for example, distinguishes a fee for issuing a refund from fees on the original transaction that are not returned. Its custom-pricing refund charges can depend on the fee schedule. Ask each proposed provider what applies to your offer instead of copying Stripe's policy into both columns. Stripe: Refund pricing FAQ.
For annual or one-time charges, compare a stated period such as the first 12 months and show each amount explicitly. If you divide an annual charge by 12 for planning, label that as an allocation; it does not change when payment is due. Where a minimum applies, ask exactly which charges count toward it before adding any shortfall.
Keep funding timing, reserve conditions, support and closure terms alongside the price comparison. They need their own review, not an invented dollar adjustment that makes one offer appear cheaper. Use our merchant agreement questions to record them.
Finish with three findings: the modeled difference, the assumptions that could change it, and the written answers still needed. Share a business summary first and ask how to provide supporting offers securely if requested.