Quick answer
Retailers should model card mix, average basket size, ecommerce gateway fees and any lost surcharge recovery across all stores and channels. The key question is not just “what is my headline rate?” but “what is my total annual cost after percentage fees, fixed fees and implementation changes?”
Retail worked example
A retailer with $180,000 monthly sales, 70% card sales and a mix of in-store and online orders may have different payment costs by channel. Card-present terminal transactions can price differently from ecommerce or card-not-present payments, and gateway fees can make online orders more expensive than the headline merchant rate suggests.
Storefront checks
- Terminal rental and per-transaction fees.
- Store-by-store card mix and average basket size.
- Receipt, signage and POS surcharge wording.
Ecommerce checks
- Gateway, fraud, chargeback and platform fees.
- Card-not-present pricing by provider.
- Checkout messaging and payment-method options.
Category and margin planning
If surcharge recovery changes, a broad price adjustment may affect products differently. Low-margin or high-card-share categories may need closer review than high-margin discretionary items. FeeReady’s required average price adjustment is a planning signal, not a final pricing recommendation.
Retailer preparation steps
- Export merchant fees by store and online channel.
- Calculate current effective payment rate: total card fees divided by card sales.
- Estimate surcharge revenue currently collected in-store and online.
- Ask providers for written post-October pricing for card-present and card-not-present transactions.
- Run FeeReady scenarios for current rates, negotiated rates and provider-switching costs.
- Update POS, ecommerce checkout, receipts and staff guidance before launch.
Provider questions for retailers
- Are online and in-store rates changing differently?
- How are gateway, platform and fraud fees treated?
- Can settlement reporting separate network fees, provider margin and fixed charges?
- Are there volume tiers or lower-cost plans for our transaction mix?
Model this in the FeeReady calculatorUse the small-business checklist