SAVE 20% OF YOUR PROCESSING FEES!
Credit Card and Payment Processing Solutions for Today, Tomorrow and the Future!
“NEW”
Cost-Plus Pricing!
Chip/tap/swipe processing fees under 2% month total!
Keyed-in processing fees under 2.5% month!
FREE equipment! NO contracts!
We Integrate with QuickBooks!
Online, Desktop, POS
Bypass the high processing fees! YOU pick the processor!
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Since 2003, our wholesale credit card processing and electronic payment systems have been individually designed to meet your needs and not the needs of a standard, high-cost solution.
BBB A+ Rating – Never a complaint! Our customer first focus has always meant that we work for you, and not the processors!
Personal Service – Honest answers, lowest prices guaranteed and FREE equipment has made Advantage Card Services the number one choice for thousands of businesses nationwide.
On average, we save businesses 20% of their processing fees!
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Learn more about what we do
“Wholesale Plus” pricing – How it works
Credit card processing is a wholesale to retail markup, just like your business.
On the wholesale side, when a card is run, there are fees charged by the industry. These fees are a combination of a percentage of the sale and a transaction fee. ie: 1.67% + $0.12. There are also some monthly fees.
The processor then adds their markup, and that’s what the business pays to take each particular card.
There are literally thousands of classification of cards, all with different price points. These vary based on the type of card and the way it’s processed, meaning keyed-in or chipped.
We’ll get into that later.
Percentages are approximations for illustration purposes only.
Where do your credit card processing fees go?
The total credit card processing fees that a business pays goes to 3 different places, as illustrated in the chart above.
“Interchange” -These are the fees charged by the banks that issue the credit cards like, Capital one, Chase, etc. The credit or debit card is the banks product and they carry all the risk, therefore, they make the lion’s share of the money. For simplicity’s sake, let’s call it 90% of the total fees.
“Dues and Assessments” -These are the fees charged by the Networks; Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express. The networks have the brand, they move the money and they regulate everything. The networks carry no risk and they charge approximately .14% and $0.02 per transaction, plus some other fixed and variable fees. Lets just say 3% for them.
“Processor Markup” – Since businesses can’t deal directly with Visa and the other card brands, they need a credit card processor. The processor facilitates everything and also takes some risk, so they charge a markup, we’ll call it 7%.
Total credit card processing fees are typically billed as a percentage of the total sales, transaction fees, monthly fees and annual fees. It usually doesn’t matter what type of card you take, the markup is the same. Unless, of course, your processor cheats a little and adds extra on Debit cards or American Express, which happens.
How to read a Cost Plus pricing quote
A typical Cost-Plus quote for should look something like this:
-Interchange, dues and assessments + .25% and $0.05 per transaction
-10.00 Monthly Fee
In this example, this business would pay the processor a markup of only .25% of their total sales, ($2.50 cents per thousand), plus $0 .05 for each transaction and a $5.00 monthly fee!
That’s it. The rest of the fees make up the wholesale cost which can’t be changed.
The result?
-Most retail or chip read merchants pay less than 2% effective rate!*
Check it out! This business is 95% card present, chipped:
Statement 1.88%
-The average keyed-in business pays under 2.5% effective rate!*
Check it out! This business is 100% keyed-in:
Statement 2.49%
*The effective rate is the total monthly fees / total monthly sales
-This is the easiest way to monitor your fees in a couple seconds each month.
-Businesses running hundreds of cards each month should see this rate stay fairly consistent.
-Flat Rate programs like Square, QuickBooks, Paypal, etc. usually run over 3% effective rate!
-Do the math on your business and give us a call.
How can it cost so little compared to Square or QuickBooks?
Debit cards, that’s how. Since, 2010 the Durbin Amendment has regulated the wholesale cost of most debit cards at only .05% + $0.22! Sounds amazing right?
Let’s do the math on a “Durbin Regulated” debit card using the cost plus quote above:
.05% & $0.22 Interchange
.14% & $0.02 Dues & Assessments
.25% & $0.05 Processor markup
.44% & $0.29 Total fee!
That’s a lot less than Square at:
2.6% + .15 all swipe/chip/tap transactions (regardless of debit or credit)
3.5% +.15 all keyed-in transactions
2.9% + .30 for invoices.
Important: The Durbin regulated rate applies regardless of whether a debit card is keyed in or chip read, and also regardless of whether it’s run with a PIN number or without! That makes this rate 5 to 7 times cheaper than Square, Paypal, or any fixed percent program!
Read more on the Durbin Amendment
Enjoy the lowest cost credit card processing
YOU GET TO PAY WHOLESALE!
The most important thing to understand about the “Interchange, Dues and Assessments”, or, “Wholesale Costs”, is that everyone pays the same! These fees are regulated and no gets a “special deal”, regardless of their volume.
The Interchange, Dues and Assessments are regulated by the payment card industry and adjusted twice a year, per card type, to accurately reflect the cost for risk and overhead to handle the transactions.
While dues and assessments are mostly fixed per card type, the interchange fees vary dramatically depending on the type of card, and manner in which it was processed. There are literally thousands of price points because of all the different types of cards. ex: Credit, Debit, Rewards, Business, Purchase, Keyed-in cards, etc.
There is also special pricing for certain industries. ex: Retail, Small ticket retail, eCommerce, Grocery stores, Utilities, Charities, Large ticket, etc. Lastly, the way the card is processed, keyed or chipped, affects the risk and therefore the rate as well.
Click to see Visas interchange rates
Cost Plus means the wholesale costs are passed to the business with no markup. You get to pay wholesale, plus you pay your processor.
Below is a chart showing the breakdown and final cost for certain card types. This chart is based on a large business with a processor markup of .05% and $0.05.
How do the final costs with ACS compare with your current costs?
When you understand how the wholesale pricing works, it’s clear that Cost Pus is the best program and Advantage Card Services is the right company to trust with your processing.
Read more on Interchange
GET THE ADVANTAGE!
By focusing on cost plus and keeping markups to a minimum, Advantage Card Services is saving hundreds of businesses, tens of thousands of dollars each year in processing fees.
Our personal customer service is why our clients have trusted us with their payment processing for decades.
-On average, Advantage Card Services saves businesses 25% over Square, Paypal, and any fixed percent program.
-Businesses already on Cost-Plus pricing that switched to ACS in 2021 saved an average of 20% of their monthly fees.