Merchant Account Rates

When searching for merchant services, you want to look at all the rates.  Some merchant account providers will charge three types of fees:

  • Qualified Discount Rate (qual)
  • Mid-Qualified Discount Rate (mid-qual)
  • Non-Qualified Discount Rate (non-qual)

If a merchant account provider charges all three of these fees, you might be spending more than you realize.  Usually, when a transaction is downgraded to a non-qualified transaction, you will be charged all three rates. 

For example, we found some merchant account providers might display 1.89% for a Qualified Discount Rate.  Their mid-qual rate was 1.58% and their non-qual was 1.99%.  Since a lot of transactions will be downgraded (due to consumers using rewards cards), that means you are paying 5.46% for that transaction.

At LoudestCommerce, we do no charge a mid-qual rate and only 1% for the non-qual rate.  So your e-commerce non-qual is only 3.09%. 

Retail Merchant Account Fees

  • Qualified / Swiped Visa / MasterCard / Discover Card Transactions: 1.65% plus 20¢ transaction
  • Non-Qualified1 / Swiped Visa / MasterCard / Discover Card Transactions: 1.00% plus 10¢ transaction
  • Visa / MasterCard ATM Debit Transactions:  Interchange plus 30¢
  • Batch Fee / ACH Fee: No Charge
  • Monthly Fee: $8.00
  • American Express2:
    • $7.95 per month and 0% discount up to the first $5,000 in annual sales
    • If $5,000 is met, American Express charges a discount rate based on business industry and volume.
  • EBT Transactions: 79¢ (the merchant is responsible for contacting the appropriate government agency to be eligible to accept these types of transactions)
  • Non-Bank Card Transactions (some example: AmEx, JCB, etc): 25¢
  • Terminal Replacement Program3: $79.00 per year
Sign Up for a Retail Merchant Account

Internet Merchant Account Rates

Unlike some websites that require you to e-mail or call for rates, we post them on our website (rates are for an Internet merchant account with the QuantumGateway):

Sign Up for an Intenet Merchant Account
  • Discount Rate (Visa / MasterCard / Discover Card):  2.09%
  • Transaction Fee:  20¢
  • Monthly Statement / Customer Service Charge: $8.00
  • ACH Fee:  Free (most charge a transaction cost - this will save you about $5.00 a month)
  • Batch Fee:  Free (most charge a transaction cost - this will save you about $7.50 a month)
  • Virtual Terminal:  Free (also accessible via a WAP-enabled phone)
  • American Express *:
    • $7.95 per month and 0% discount up to the first $5,000 in annual sales
    • If $5,000 is met, American Express charges a discount rate based on business industry and volume.
  • Non-Qualified Rates - Unlike most other companies, we do not have a mid-qualified rate, saving you more money.
    • Discount Rate Surcharge: 1.00% - most companies charge 2% or more on non-qualified rates, bringing your discount rate to over 4%!  Take a look at your merchant account statement to see how many transactions are downgraded.  If you have fifty $100 transactions downgraded to non-qualified, this merchant account can save you at least $50.00 a month!
    • Transaction Surcharge:  10¢

  • Fraud Prevention Tools

     (No Extra Charge)
    • Verified by Visa (VBV) / MasterCard Secure (MSC)
    • MaxMind
    • DialVerify
    • All these features are at no extra charge to the merchant to help prevent fraudulent transactions and chargebacks while saving you time and money
Sign Up for an Intenet Merchant Account

Wireless Merchant Account Fees

  • Initial Set-Up Fee: $35.00
  • Monthly Wireless Service Fee: $20.00
  • Qualified / Swiped Visa / MasterCard / Discover Card Transactions: 1.65% plus 25¢ transaction
  • Wireless Per Transaction Pass-Through Fee: 5¢
  • Non-Qualified1 / Swiped Visa / MasterCard / Discover Card Transactions: 1.5% plus 10¢ transaction
  • Batch Fee: 35¢
  • Visa / MasterCard ATM Debit Transactions:  Interchange plus 30¢
  • American Express2:
    • $7.95 per month and 0% discount up to the first $5,000 in annual sales
    • If $5,000 is met, American Express charges a discount rate based on business industry and volume.
  • Yearly Terminal Fee3: $79.00
Sign up for a wireless merchant account today!

1.  Non-qualified transactions might include consumers using a credit card issued by a foreign bank or rewards / business / corporate cards.
2.  Amex Per Transaction Fee:  This is our network fee for processing 3rd party (non-Visa/MC) cards.  Other fees may be assessed from these 3rd party companies as well.
3.  If you have a compatible terminal, the yearly $79.00 fee does not apply.  We are compatible with most terminals.