What is Interchange++?

Interchange++ is a type of interchange pricing model offered to businesses that accept card payments from their customers. Interchange++ gives merchants full transparency by offering a breakdown of the costs incurred for each card transaction.  

How do Interchange fees work?

Each time a card payment is processed through an acquirer (i.e. a payment processor such as Airwallex) the merchant pays a fee, which covers:

• The interchange fee from the card issuer (the customer’s bank or credit card company)

• The scheme fee from the card network (e.g. Visa, Mastercard, Discover or American Express)

• A processing fee from the acquirer (such as Airwallex) 

The amount charged by the card issuer and card network for each transaction varies depending on a number of factors, including where the customer’s card was issued, the Merchant Category Code, the transaction location and more. You can learn more about how interchange fees work here.  

Merchants that use the Airwallex Payments solution to process customer payments will either use our Blended or Interchange++ pricing model. Here’s how both pricing models work. 

Interchange++ pricing model explained

If you use the Interchange++ pricing model, Airwallex will pass the cost incurred from processing each card transaction directly on to you, plus a fixed mark up. This means the rate for each transaction will differ depending on the many variables that affect the cost of interchange. You will see a breakdown of the fees incurred for each card transaction on your bill, giving you full visibility of the amount that was paid to the card issuer, the card network and to Airwallex. 

Because you are always charged the “real” interchange rate, you have the opportunity to save money on transactions where the card issuer and card network fees are low. The flip side is that you may pay more for transactions which incur high card issuer and card network fees.  

Please note, the Interchange++ pricing model is only applicable to card payments. If your customers pay via an alternative payment method such as PayPal or Klarna, you will be charged a Blended rate. 

Blended pricing model explained

If you use the Blended pricing model, you will be charged a fixed variable rate for each card transaction. You can view this rate on our pricing page.

The Blended pricing model is less transparent than the Interchange++ model, but is designed to be fair and competitive. The Blended pricing model may make it easier to forecast how much you will pay in interchange fees each month. 

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We designed our payment gateway to make it easier and more cost-effective for businesses to collect customer payments globally. Click here to learn more about our Payments solution, to see a demo or to get in touch with our team.