How does an interchange fee work?
When a card payment settles, the acquirer pays the issuer a fee set by the card scheme’s interchange tables. Adyen describes it as the fee the acquirer pays to the card issuer, which the merchant ultimately bears through its card fees. Rates depend on the card type (debit, credit, prepaid, commercial), where the card and merchant are, whether the payment is domestic or cross-border, how it was authenticated and the merchant category. Stripe notes that merchant category codes are used, among other things, for calculating interchange fees.
Why does interchange matter for routing and cost?
It is usually the largest part of a card payment’s cost, and it varies by segment more than merchants expect. As an illustrative example: an online store sends 10,000 card payments of 50 euros a month. If 60% are consumer debit cards in a capped market at 0.2% and 40% are cross-border or commercial cards at an assumed 1.5%, interchange is 600 euros plus 3,000 euros, 3,600 euros a month. Shifting the mix, for example by acquiring more cards domestically, changes the bill more than haggling over the provider’s markup.
What makes interchange hard to manage?
It is set by the schemes, not by the merchant or its provider, and the tables are long and change. On blended pricing, the merchant cannot see it at all. Comparing providers fairly means separating interchange and scheme fees from each provider’s own markup, which needs fee data per transaction.
Where does Omno use it?
Interchange is charged within each PSP’s or acquirer’s pricing; Omno does not set it. Omno records every transaction in one structure across providers, with reporting and data export that finance teams can match against each provider’s fee lines.