The rate your payment processor quotes in the sales call is the most attractive number in their fee structure, by design. The monthly statement tells a different story. These 15 fee categories appear regularly in payment processor contracts and rarely get discussed during the sales process. Knowing them before you sign protects your margin.
The 15 Hidden Fee Categories
1. Monthly Platform / Gateway Fee
A flat monthly charge for accessing the processor’s platform, separate from per-transaction fees. Ranges from $10 to $50+/month. At $25/month, that’s $300/year, before you process a single transaction.
2. PCI Compliance Fee
Charged annually or monthly for PCI compliance support and annual assessment. Ranges from $99 to $299/year. Sometimes framed as a “security fee” or “compliance maintenance fee.” Some processors include this; many don’t.
3. PCI Non-Compliance Fee
If you don’t complete your annual PCI SAQ on time, many processors charge a non-compliance fee, $20 to $50/month until you complete the questionnaire. This is a recurring charge for something you may not even know you were required to do.
4. Monthly Minimum Fee
If your processing fees for the month don’t reach a minimum threshold (typically $25–$100), you pay the difference. Seasonal businesses or new merchants are particularly exposed to this.
5. Batch Processing Fee
A small fee charged each time your daily transaction batch is submitted for settlement, typically $0.10 to $0.35 per batch. Adds up to $36–$128/year for merchants who process daily.
6. Statement Fee
A monthly fee just for receiving your processing statement — $5 to $20/month. Electronic statements may be free; paper statements almost always carry a fee.
7. IRS Reporting / 1099-K Fee
The processor is required to file a 1099-K with the IRS on your behalf annually. Some pass a nominal fee for this along ($5–$15/year). Small but worth knowing.
8. AVS (Address Verification Service) Fee
A per-transaction fee for address verification on card-not-present transactions, typically $0.01 to $0.10 per transaction. At scale, this adds meaningful cost.
9. Retrieval Fee
When a customer’s bank requests transaction documentation before deciding whether to file a formal chargeback, the processor may charge a retrieval fee, $10 to $25 per request, even if no chargeback follows.
10. Chargeback Fee
The per-dispute fee when a chargeback is filed, $15 to $50. Charged regardless of whether you win or lose the dispute. This is widely known but often higher than merchants expect.
11. Early Termination Fee (ETF)
If you signed a multi-year contract, leaving early triggers an ETF, typically $200 to $500 flat, or “liquidated damages” calculated as a multiple of months remaining times your average monthly fees. ETFs are often buried in the contract’s termination clauses.
12. Account Setup Fee
A one-time charge for account activation — $25 to $150. Most reputable processors have eliminated this, but it still appears in some ISO contracts.
13. Annual Fee
An annual renewal fee separate from monthly fees — $50 to $150. Sometimes waived for the first year, then charged at renewal.
14. Currency Conversion Fee
If you accept international cards, many processors charge a currency conversion or cross-border fee, typically 0.5% to 1.5% on top of the base transaction rate. Becomes significant for merchants with international customers.
15. Excessive Chargeback Fee / Monitoring Program Fee
If your chargeback rate exceeds 1% (Visa threshold) or 1.5% (Mastercard), you may be enrolled in a card network monitoring program, with associated fees of $50 to $100/month, paid to the card network through your processor. Distinct from individual chargeback fees.
How to Protect Yourself
- Ask for a complete fee schedule, every charge that can appear on your monthly statement
- Read the contract, particularly the sections on fees, termination, and rate change provisions
- Calculate your true effective cost by modeling total fees at your expected volume
- Choose processors with transparent, simple pricing structures, fewer line items means fewer surprises
ConvesioPay charges one rate: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. No monthly fee, no PCI fee, no batch fee, no statement fee, no early termination fee. What appears in the pitch is what appears on the statement.
Ready to get started? Learn more about ConvesioPay or view pricing.