How do PayFacs and platforms price card payments?
They buy acquiring on interchange++ from their acquirer (the buy rate) and sell it to merchants on blended or interchange++ terms (the sell rate). The margin is the difference per transaction, which is why they need per-transaction cost data from settlement files to price each merchant segment correctly.
In detail
They buy acquiring on interchange++ from their acquirer (the buy rate) and sell it to merchants on blended or interchange++ terms (the sell rate). The margin is the difference per transaction, which is why they need per-transaction cost data from settlement files to price each merchant segment correctly.
What are the three layers of a card fee?
Interchange is paid by the acquirer to the card issuer on every transaction. The schemes publish the tables; the rate depends on card type, region, channel and merchant category.
Buy rate, sell rate and the margin in between
A platform that sells blended at 1.5% and buys IC++ earns 1.1% on a 0.2% debit card and loses money on a 2.5% premium corporate card. Pricing per merchant, per card type and per channel is what makes payment revenue predictable rather than accidental, and it requires the PayFac or ISO to see the acquirer’s cost on each transaction, not a monthly total.
Is interchange++ worth it in 2026?
For any merchant above small volume, yes: it is the only model where the price tracks the cost, and where falling interchange or rising scheme fees reach the invoice instead of the provider’s margin. For a PSP, PayFac or platform, the question is different.
More detail in our #PayDecoding episode on Interchange++.