Rates Vary By Industry Type

RETAIL

face to face vendors

MOTO

mail order or telephone order

ECOMMERCE

all internet based transactions

RESTAURANT

Including quick purchase, small ticket

SUPER MARKET

grocery stores with over 20% perishable

FUEL

gas, propane, incl. pay at pump

HOTEL

motel, lodging with deposit reservations

AUTO RENTAL

advanced deposit 
on reservations

EMERGING MARKETS

education, charity, government, utilities

In this case, if it seems to simple to be true, it is.
Oversimplification by Tier-ing rates is a CoverUp!

Tiers of Pain

Tricks of the Trade: Tier Billing

Do I have Tier Billing?

If you see “Non Qual” or “Non Qualified” on your statement, you have Tier Billing!

The only problem with this is...
There’s No Such Thing!

There is no "non qualified" credit card type from any association, so if you call Visa or MasterCard and ask them the true rate for NonQualified Visa cards, they will tell you there is no such card. It's a coverup for the actual card your customer used for the purchase.

When your customer pays with a basic vanilla, consumer card—be it Visa, MC, Discover— it should come through at the lowest rate (other than debit/checkcard). That is the only time you may pay a fair rate: Qualified. (hopefully)

However, if your customer pays with any other type of card—and you have absolutely no way of knowing which bank card it is—than you’re screwed!

This is because you are now disqualified into a high rate category for the transaction. If you are 2-Tier, it will be a Non-Qual(ified) transaction, and if you’re on 3-Tier it could be either a Mid-Qual(ified) OR Non-Qual(ified) transaction.

Example Statements: When you don’t know the actual card type, you have no way of knowing the true rate of the card and how much it’s been marked up or padded!

How It Works

What’s happening is your processor is lumping groups of cards which have very different rates into categories in which they suddenly have a single, arbitrary rate. This is why it is a Lose-Lose situation for Merchants.

If you call Visa or MasterCard, for example, and ask them what their Mid-Qualified, Qualified or Non-Qualified rate is, you’ll probably get a laugh. They will not know what these rates are because they don’t have such a thing.

What You Want

The Ideal situation is a Merchant Account where transactions are assessed based on the True Bank Cost of the transaction.

If your customer pays using a Visa Signature Preferred Card, that is exactly what you should be charged and see on your monthly Merchant Statement. example:

If You Want the Truth

Here’s where you can find the actual rates of every unique card type...

Visa Interchange

http://usa.visa.com/merchants/operations/interchange_rates.html

MasterCard Interchange

http://www.mastercard.com/us/merchant/support/interchange_rates.html

Discover Interchange
Discover does not list card rates, call them at 888-DISCOVER or email us.

American Express

Amex keeps much to itself and does all their own processing. Therefore, they set their own rates according to each of their merchants. To understand and negotiate for better rates and service, contact them directly at 800-528-5200