24 merchant statement fees to check for, and what each one means.

A processing statement has two kinds of cost on it. The first is interchange and card network fees: the rates Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover set, paid to the bank that issued the card. Every processor pays them, and nobody can negotiate them. The second is everything the processor adds. That second group is where statements get long, and where the fees below live.

Before you start, find two numbers on your statement: total card sales for the month, and total fees. Divide fees by sales and you have your effective rate. It's the single best number for comparing processors, and it's what our savings calculator asks for.

Monthly and annual fees

Flat charges that arrive whether you process one sale or ten thousand.

• 1. Monthly statement feeA charge for producing the statement you're reading. Statements are generated automatically, so this is pure margin.
• 2. Annual feeBilled once a year, often in a single month, which makes it easy to miss when you compare statements month to month.
• 3. Minimum monthly feeIf the processor's markup on your sales falls below a set minimum, you pay the difference. It hits hardest in slow months and seasonal businesses.
• 4. Monthly service feeA general account fee with no specific service attached to it. Sometimes listed as an account maintenance fee.
• 5. Paper statement feeA charge for mailing a statement. Switching to online statements sometimes removes it, and sometimes triggers the next fee instead.
• 6. Online reporting feeA charge for logging in to see your own transaction data.

Compliance and risk fees

These sound official, and some are tied to real requirements. Many are not.

• 7. PCI non-compliance feeCharged every month until you complete your annual PCI self-assessment questionnaire. The questionnaire is free to fill in, and a good processor helps you with it, so this fee should never appear.
• 8. Regulatory feeThere's no single regulator sending your processor this bill. Ask what it pays for; often the answer is vague.
• 9. Breach protection feeInsurance-style coverage added to your account, frequently without being requested.
• 10. Risk assessment feeA charge for the processor's own account monitoring, which is part of running a merchant account.
• 11. IRS reporting feeProcessors are required to file Form 1099-K for their merchants. Some charge you for doing what the law already requires of them.
• 12. Customer service feeA charge for being able to reach support.

Per-transaction fees

Small amounts that repeat on every sale or every batch, which is why they add up faster than the flat fees.

• 13. Batch header feeCharged each time your terminal settles the day's sales, usually once a day.
• 14. Gateway access feeA monthly or per-transaction charge for using the online gateway that connects your website or virtual terminal.
• 15. Non-qualified surchargeOn tiered pricing, cards that don't "qualify" for the lowest rate are charged a higher one. Rewards, business and keyed-in cards often land here, and they're a large share of what most businesses take.
• 16. Mid-qualified surchargeThe middle tier of the same system. If your statement shows qualified, mid-qualified and non-qualified rates, you're on tiered pricing.
• 17. Address verification feeA per-transaction charge for checking the billing address on online and keyed-in sales.
• 18. Technology feeA broad label for a monthly or per-transaction charge with no clear service behind it.

Card networks do charge their own small per-transaction fees, such as Mastercard's network access and brand usage fee. Those are real costs. The question is whether yours are passed through at cost or marked up.

Contract and equipment fees

These are usually in the agreement rather than on the monthly statement, so read both.

• 19. Early termination feeCharged if you leave before the contract ends. Some agreements calculate it as the fees you would have paid for the rest of the term.
• 20. Equipment leaseTerminal leases are often several years long and can't be cancelled, so the total paid can be many times the price of buying the same terminal.
• 21. Setup feeA one-time charge to open the account.
• 22. Account closure feeA charge for closing the account, sometimes on top of an early termination fee.
• 23. Account on file feeA fee for keeping an account open while it isn't being used.
• 24. Wireless access feeA monthly charge for the data connection on a wireless terminal.

How to check your own statement

1. Find the summary page and write down total sales and total fees. Work out your effective rate.
2. Find the fee detail section, sometimes called "other fees" or "account fees", and list every line that isn't interchange.
3. Check whether you're on tiered pricing (qualified, mid-qualified, non-qualified) or interchange-plus. Tiered pricing makes it hard to see what interchange actually cost.
4. Look at three months, not one. Annual and quarterly fees only show up in some months.
5. Pull out your agreement and find the term, the renewal date and the early termination clause.

You can also tick off what you find in our statement bingo card. It keeps your list and attaches it when you ask for a side-by-side.

What a clean statement looks like

On a Swipe Saver Premium plan, a statement has three lines that matter: your card sales, interchange and network fees at cost, and one flat membership. None of the 24 fees above appear on any Swipe Saver plan. See the plans and what they cost.