Interchange++ vs blended pricing: how to read a PSP quote

Two payment providers send you quotes for the same business. One says 1.2% plus 20 cents per card payment. The other says “interchange++ plus 0.40% and 10 cents”. The first looks simple and the second looks cheaper, but they are not measuring the same thing, and neither number on its own tells you what you will pay in a normal month.

This article explains the three layers inside every card price, how interchange++ and blended pricing package them, what the EU caps on interchange actually cover, which other fees to look for in a quote, and how to compare offers on your own payment mix. For why foreign cards cost more in the first place, see our article on local vs cross-border acquiring; for the wider list of questions to put to providers, see the payment orchestration RFP.

What are the three layers in a card price?

Every card payment carries three costs, and only one of them belongs to your provider.

Layer	Who sets it	Who receives it	Published?	Negotiable?
Interchange	The card network, within any legal cap	The card issuer	Yes, Visa and Mastercard publish rate sheets for regions such as the EEA	No
Scheme fees	The card network	The card network	Generally not, according to Stripe	No
Markup	Your acquirer or payment provider	The provider	In its price list or contract	Yes

The European Commission’s fact sheet on the Interchange Fee Regulation describes the first layer plainly: the retailer’s bank pays the interchange fee to the bank that issued the card, and retailers have no way to influence its level. Scheme fees are the networks’ own charges for using their rails. The markup is everything your provider adds for processing, risk, support and margin.

What is the difference between interchange++ and blended pricing?

The difference is whether the first two layers are shown to you or hidden inside one rate. Stripe’s pricing policy defines both. Under an IC+ model, which it says may also be called interchange++, Stripe attributes the underlying network costs to you and adds its own fee as a markup. Under a blended model, you pay an agreed fee per transaction regardless of differences in network costs such as interchange and scheme fees.

	Interchange++	Blended
What you pay	Actual interchange + actual scheme fees + agreed markup	One agreed rate, often percentage plus fixed fee
Cost of a cheap domestic debit card	Low, because interchange is low	Same as any other card in its band
Cost of a foreign credit card	High, because interchange and scheme fees are high	Same rate, or a separate international band
Predictability	Varies with card mix and network billing	Known in advance
Transparency	Each layer visible per payment	Only the total
Who carries the risk of cost changes	You	The provider, which prices in a buffer

Adyen is a common example of IC++ in a public price list: its pricing page shows Visa and Mastercard at a fixed processing fee of $0.13 plus “Interchange+ + 0.60%”, with interchange passed through at cost. Stripe’s public price list for Ireland is blended by card band: 1.5% + EUR 0.25 for standard EEA cards, 2.8% + EUR 0.25 for premium EEA cards, 2.5% + EUR 0.25 for UK cards and 3.15% + EUR 0.25 for international cards. Stripe lists IC+ as a custom pricing option for businesses with large volumes.

What do the EU interchange caps say?

They put a ceiling on the largest layer for most consumer cards. According to the European Commission, the Interchange Fee Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2015/751, caps interchange at 0.2% of the transaction value for consumer debit cards and 0.3% for consumer credit cards, and the caps have applied since December 2015. The same fact sheet says acquirers must specify their fees individually in merchant contracts, listing merchant service charges, interchange fees and scheme fees for each category and brand of card.

Cards issued outside the EEA are a separate case. The Commission’s 2019 press release says the Regulation does not reach them, so it accepted binding commitments from Mastercard and Visa instead, cutting these inter-regional fees by about 40% on average. The caps for consumer cards issued outside the EEA and used at EEA merchants are:

Inter-regional consumer card	Card present	Card not present (online)
Debit	0.2%	1.15%
Credit	0.3%	1.50%

Visa’s published inter-EEA rate sheet shows the same four figures, effective 19 October 2019. The commitments were due to lapse in November 2024; FStech reported in July 2024 that the Commission had announced their extension until November 2029, at the same levels.

For an online shop in the EEA the practical point is the gap: a foreign consumer credit card can carry five times the interchange of a domestic one (1.50% against 0.3%) before any scheme fee or markup is added.

What are scheme fees and cross-border fees?

Scheme fees are the networks’ charges, and they are the hardest layer to predict. Stripe’s support page on IC+ fees says card networks generally do not publish scheme fees, and that networks can bill fees for a payment up to two months after it was processed. Its pricing policy also allows network costs to be adjusted retroactively once the final figures arrive.

Cross-border fees are the extra charges when the card and the merchant sit in different regions. Under IC++ they reach you as part of the network costs; under blended pricing they appear as a higher band, which is why Stripe’s Ireland list charges 3.15% for international cards against 1.5% for standard EEA cards.

Which other line items should you look for?

The rate is rarely the whole price. Using the public price lists as examples:

Line item	Published example	What to ask
Per-authorization fee	Stripe’s IC+ per-auth fee applies to every request, including declined authorizations	Is it charged on declines, voids and card checks?
Refund fee	Stripe Ireland: no fee for most methods, but original processing and conversion fees are not returned	Are any fees returned on a refund?
Dispute fee	Stripe Ireland: EUR 20.00 per dispute received	Is it refunded if you win?
FX markup	Stripe Ireland: 2% where currency conversion is required	What rate, and can you settle in the original currency?
Payout fee	Stripe Ireland: standard payouts free, instant payouts 1% with a EUR 0.50 minimum	What does settlement to your bank cost per currency?
Minimums	Adyen: a minimum invoice may apply depending on industry or business model	Is there a monthly minimum or a volume commitment?
Monthly and setup fees	Adyen: no setup, monthly, integration or closure fees, per its FAQ	Are there gateway, setup, closure or account fees?
Rolling reserve	Set per merchant, not in public price lists	What share is held, for how long, and when is it reviewed?

How is local payment method pricing different?

Most local methods are not priced as interchange plus anything. They usually carry a flat fee, a flat percentage or a combination, set by the provider. Adyen’s pricing page shows iDEAL at its $0.13 processing fee plus EUR 0.22, BLIK at $0.13 plus 1.5%, and Pix at $0.13 plus a fee based on transaction volume. Stripe’s Ireland list shows SEPA Direct Debit at EUR 0.35 and Klarna from 4.99% + EUR 0.40.

Two consequences follow. First, the IC++ versus blended choice applies to cards only; your local method costs need their own line in the comparison. Second, a method with a fixed fee per payment is cheap on large baskets and expensive on small ones, so the average order value in each market matters as much as the rate.

Worked example: one month priced two ways

Example figures, for illustration only.

An online fashion retailer in the EEA takes EUR 1,000,000 a month in 10,000 card payments of EUR 100 each. Quote A is IC++: interchange at the EU caps, scheme fees assumed at 0.10% on EEA cards and 0.60% on non-EEA cards, and a markup of 0.40% plus EUR 0.10 per payment. Quote B is blended: 1.2% + EUR 0.20 for EEA cards and 2.5% + EUR 0.20 for non-EEA cards. The scheme fee and both quotes are invented for this example; no provider is being described.

Card group	Volume (EUR)	Payments	Quote A, IC++ (EUR)	Quote B, blended (EUR)
EEA consumer debit	500,000	5,000	4,000	7,000
EEA consumer credit	300,000	3,000	2,700	4,200
Non-EEA consumer debit	80,000	800	1,800	2,160
Non-EEA consumer credit	120,000	1,200	3,120	3,240
Total	1,000,000	10,000	11,620	16,600

Quote A breaks down into EUR 4,620 of interchange (1,000 + 900 + 920 + 1,800), EUR 2,000 of scheme fees (800 on EEA cards, 1,200 on non-EEA cards) and EUR 5,000 of markup (4,000 at 0.40% plus 1,000 in per-payment fees). That is 1.16% of volume against 1.66% for Quote B, a difference of EUR 4,980 a month.

The saving comes almost entirely from EEA debit, where interchange is capped at 0.2%. On non-EEA credit cards the two quotes are within EUR 120 of each other, and if scheme fees on those cards turned out to be 0.70% instead of 0.60%, they would be equal. A merchant whose volume is mostly foreign credit cards would find the choice much closer. If Quote A’s EUR 0.10 per-authorization fee also applies to, say, 1,500 declined attempts, it adds EUR 150.

How do you compare quotes on your own mix?

Reprice your real traffic under each quote instead of comparing headline rates.

1. Export three months of transactions. Include declined attempts, refunds and disputes, not only approved payments.
2. Split cards by what drives cost. Issuing region (domestic, intra-EEA, inter-regional), debit or credit, consumer or business, and card brand. Your BIN data gives most of this.
3. Apply each quote line by line. Rate, per-transaction fee, per-authorization fee, refund, dispute, FX and payout fees.
4. Price local methods separately, by method and average order value.
5. Add the terms that are not fees. A reserve or a longer settlement delay costs working capital, even if it does not appear on the invoice.
6. Ask for a sample invoice. For IC++ quotes, ask to see real scheme fee lines for a comparable merchant.
7. Reprice once a year. Your mix changes as you enter new markets; our article on how many PSPs per market covers when a second provider earns its place.

What are the common mistakes?

• Comparing headline rates. A blended rate and an IC++ markup are different things. Compare total cost on the same traffic.
• Ignoring the card mix. IC++ rewards low-cost cards. If your growth is in foreign credit cards, the advantage you measured last year may shrink.
• Forgetting declines. Per-authorization fees on declined attempts, and on retries, add up in markets with low approval rates.
• Treating FX as free. A conversion margin on every foreign payment can be larger than the markup you negotiated.
• Budgeting IC++ on one month. Scheme fees can arrive up to two months late, so judge the model on a full quarter.
• Leaving reserves out. A reserve is cash you cannot use, and it belongs in the comparison.

How does Omno help with PSP pricing?

Omno is not an acquirer and does not set interchange, scheme fees or provider markups; you still negotiate each provider’s contract yourself. What Omno can do is let one integration reach several providers, so routing and PSP eligibility rules can send each country, method, currency and customer group to the provider whose terms suit it. The dashboard shows approvals and decline reasons by provider, method and country, and data export lets finance reprice real traffic under each contract. See smart routing and cascading.