[haploid]

Well, the convenience sure does sound nice, but the rates are staggeringly high:

V/MC Non-Qualified: 2.89% + $.30

Cybersource+WFB clocks in at roughly half that for V/MC( although Amex rates are around that level ), with per-transaction at 10 cents or less.

[bryanjohnson]

If that’s the case, they’re losing money on your account because that pricing is below the wholesale bank costs (which is the same for everyone). You probably want to check the fine print or your monthly statement.

Our (Braintree) pricing is actually very competitive. It may look higher because we disclose all our fees. Nearly every provider we know obscures fees both during the sales process and in the monthly reporting statements so merchants never really understand what they're paying. Here's an example of pricing trickery http://www.braintreepaymentsolutions.com/blog/Costco-your-ma...

[seanharper]

There is no way that Cybersource + Wells Fargo is charging 1.45% for non-qual transactions. More likely they are doing something called Marking Up the Downgrades http://feefighters.com/blog/marking-up-the-downgrades/ where they quote a low "qualified" rate that only applies to a small minority of transactions.

The wholesale rates for credit card processing (called interchange rates) are available online at visa and mastercard's websites (search for "visa interchange rates"). Without getting into details, all card-not-present transactions, regardless of card type, are more than 1.45%.

Braintree's pricing is not the lowest, but I bet if you looked carefully at your statement from Wells you would find that it is worse than Braintree - some of the worst processing deals I have ever seen are from Wells Fargo.

If you want to make sure that your processor is not pulling funny business with downgrades, insist on Interchange Plus pricing (http://feefighters.com/blog/interchange-plus/). Or just a completely flat rate with no downgrades.

And then monitor it closely, this is one of the most crooked industries on the planet.