E-commerce payment processing on interchange-plus pricing

What does it cost to take payments online?

Interchange, card network fees and your processor's markup, and the interchange part runs higher than in a store. On Visa's US interchange schedule effective April 18, 2026, a Traditional Rewards card costs 1.65% plus 10 cents tapped in person and 2.04% plus 10 cents online. The online rate also assumes your sale meets Visa's data requirements: in a card-not-present sale, its lower-cost programs may require the cardholder's address to be verified (Visa), and a consumer credit sale that misses a program can drop to the non-qualified rate of 3.15% plus 10 cents.

On an $85 order, that's $1.83 at the online rate against $2.78 non-qualified. If 300 orders a month fell to non-qualified, you'd pay about $283 more, before markup, so ask your processor whether your checkout sends the billing address and ZIP code.

The pricing model matters more online, too. A flat rate charges every card the same percentage. Interchange-plus pricing passes each sale's actual interchange and network fees through with a disclosed markup, so debit and basic cards stay cheap, and depending on your card mix and volume it can cost less than one flat rate. If you sell through Stripe today, our comparison page sets the two models side by side.

When should an online store charge the card?

Authorize when the order is placed and capture when it ships. Visa's dispute guide tells card-absent merchants not to deposit a sale until the merchandise ships. In the meantime, the authorization holds the amount on the customer's card, because the issuer typically reduces what's available to the cardholder when it approves one (Visa). If an order is canceled, reverse the authorization that day rather than leaving the hold for the issuer to drop.

What should your site show before you apply?

Everything a cautious customer would look for: the business name that will appear on card statements, a way to contact you, product descriptions with prices, delivery terms, and refund and privacy policies. A "coming soon" page, prices that say "contact us" or policies copied from another store slow an application down. Visa adds a rule of its own: an online merchant has to display the country it processes from on the checkout screen or within the checkout steps, and a link to a separate page doesn't count (Visa).

Your checkout choice also sets your PCI paperwork. SAQ A, the shortest self-assessment, is written for card-not-present merchants that fully outsource card handling to PCI DSS validated providers (PCI SSC), which is what a hosted checkout does. A card form you build yourself usually puts you in SAQ A-EP instead. Clearo provides PCI compliance support either way, and our guide to the hosted payment page compares the options.

How Clearo works with online stores

Clearo's online payments give you a hosted checkout or gateway integration, with fraud screening by AVS, CVV checks and velocity rules, plus a virtual terminal for phone and email orders. You get interchange-plus pricing, a dedicated rep, and no long-term contract or cancellation fee. Request a free statement review and we'll show you your effective rate and how many of your online sales landed in costlier categories. Our guides to the ecommerce merchant account and ecommerce fraud prevention go further.