Interchange++ is one of two ways WooCommerce stores get charged for card processing — the other being flat rate. Where flat rate bundles everything into one blended percentage, interchange++ breaks the fee into its real components and passes them through at cost, plus a disclosed markup. This guide covers how interchange++ works, what’s inside the fee, and who it genuinely suits. If you’re still deciding between the two models for your store, see Flat Rate vs Interchange Plus: Which Pricing Model Is Right for You? for the full side-by-side comparison.
The Three Components of Every Card Transaction Fee
Every card transaction involves three fee components:
| Card Type | Approximate Interchange |
|---|---|
| Basic US debit card | ~0.05% + $0.22 |
| Standard Visa credit card | ~1.80% + $0.10 |
| Premium travel rewards card | ~2.70% + $0.10 |
| Corporate purchasing card | ~2.65% + $0.10 |
Interchange (paid to issuing bank): Largest component, set by Visa/Mastercard, varies by card type as shown above.
Scheme fee (paid to card network): ~0.14% for Visa. Non-negotiable, same for all processors.
Processor markup: The only component that varies between processors and can be negotiated.
On flat-rate pricing, all three components are bundled. You pay the same regardless of card type. On interchange++, you pay actual costs — and benefit when customers pay with lower-interchange cards.
How Interchange++ Pricing Works
Interchange++ itemizes each of those three components on your statement instead of folding them into one number. You pay the issuing bank’s actual interchange rate for each card, the network’s scheme fee, and a fixed markup that the processor discloses upfront. Nothing is estimated or averaged — if a customer pays with a low-interchange debit card, you pay less on that transaction; if they use a premium rewards card, you pay more, but you can see exactly why.
That transparency is the entire value of the model. It doesn’t make card processing cheaper by itself — it makes the cost visible, and visibility is what lets a high-volume, favorable-mix merchant negotiate or benchmark their rate with confidence.
Who Interchange++ Genuinely Suits
- High volume. The disclosed markup only beats a blended rate once volume is large enough to make tracking the difference worthwhile.
- A favorable card mix. Stores with a debit-heavy or lower-interchange mix benefit most; a mix skewed toward premium rewards or corporate cards narrows or erases the advantage.
- Finance resource to reconcile it. Itemized statements mean itemized reconciliation. Someone needs to own that.
- Tolerance for a minimum invoice. Some interchange++ providers require a minimum monthly processing volume or fee to make the itemization work on their end.
What to Look for in a WooCommerce Interchange++ Processor
- Genuine transparency. You should see interchange cost, scheme fees, and processor margin as separate line items.
- Competitive processor margin. Typically 0.20%–0.50% plus a small per-transaction fee for mid-market WooCommerce merchants.
- No minimum invoice. Some processors (including Adyen direct) require a minimum invoice that can eliminate savings for lower-volume merchants — confirm this before signing.
- Native WooCommerce integration. A well-maintained plugin reduces operational overhead and integration risk.
- 3DS and fraud controls included. The total cost of payments includes chargeback costs, not just the processing rate.
Not Sure Interchange++ Is Right for You?
Interchange++ isn’t automatically the cheaper option — it depends on your volume, your card mix, and whether you have the resource to reconcile itemized statements. See Flat Rate vs Interchange Plus: Which Pricing Model Is Right for You? for the break-even framework and a direct comparison of both models.
Where ConvesioPay Fits
ConvesioPay runs on flat 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, with no monthly fees and no minimum invoice, on Adyen’s infrastructure. For stores that want predictable pricing without modeling their card mix every month, that’s the case for us.
It’s also honest to say where it isn’t: merchants at genuine scale with a favorable card mix — heavy debit, light on premium rewards and corporate cards — may do better on interchange++ pricing elsewhere. That’s a real trade-off, and we’d rather you know it going in than find out after switching.
What flat-rate doesn’t have to cost you is fraud protection. With 3DS active, ConvesioPay merchants see up to 81% lower chargeback rates — a 5.1x improvement (ConvesioPay Q1 2026 data).
The Bottom Line
Interchange++ pricing isn’t complicated, it’s just itemized — you pay actual card network costs plus a disclosed markup, instead of a blended rate. Whether that beats flat rate for your store depends on your volume and card mix, not on which model sounds more sophisticated. Run your own numbers before you decide.