Card vs ACH vs Check Cost Calculator for Convenience Store House Accounts
If your convenience store bills contractors, farms, fleets, or local organizations on a monthly house account, each payment method costs you something different in fees, counter and office time, and days before the money is in the bank. Enter your own numbers below to see what your current mix costs and what changes if fewer accounts pay by check.
What getting paid costs you
Side by side, per month
| Per month | Card | ACH | Check | Total |
|---|
Estimates are based on published industry averages and are not a quote. Actual rates depend on card mix, ticket size, industry, and underwriting.
Scenario: move part of your check volume
Estimates are based on published industry averages and are not a quote. Actual rates depend on card mix, ticket size, industry, and underwriting.
Your payment-mix report
Four scenarios run on your numbers
| Scenario | Direct cost | Carrying cost | Total / month | Cash tied up | Days to cash | vs. current mix |
|---|
ACH-first moves 50% of your check share to ACH. Paperless moves all of it to ACH. Card for speed moves 25% to card and 50% to ACH. Card-heavy moves all of it to card. The highlighted row has the lowest estimated total monthly cost; ties go to the option with less cash tied up.
Illustrative interchange-plus card estimate
Invoice wording templates
Customers pay the way your invoice makes easiest. Put the electronic option first and the mailing address last. Replace everything in brackets.
Version 1: full invoice footer
Amount due: $[amount] by [due date] Pay online by ACH/eCheck or card in about a minute: [secure payment link] Paying by bank transfer? Use the ACH remittance details on file and include invoice #[number] in the payment reference. We will never change our bank details by email alone; call [phone] to confirm any change. Paying by check? Make it payable to [legal business name] and mail to [remit-to address]. Write invoice #[number] on the check.
Version 2: one line for the invoice email
Invoice #[number] for $[amount] is due [date]. Pay by ACH or card here: [secure payment link]. Checks are still accepted at [remit-to address].
Version 3: for customers with an AP department
Payment options (in order of preference): 1. ACH / eCheck (preferred): [secure payment link], or ACH to the account on file. Email remittance advice to [ar@yourcompany.com]. 2. Card (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express): [secure payment link]. [If you apply any card fee, describe it here exactly as your card program and state rules require.] 3. Check: payable to [legal business name], mailed to [remit-to address]. Please reference invoice #[number] with every payment.
Setup checklist: ACH/eCheck and a virtual terminal
- Decide the order you will list payment options on invoices, with ACH/eCheck first if lower cost and faster cash is the goal.
- Confirm the deposit account and who at your company can see and change payment settings.
- Set up ACH/eCheck acceptance with your bank or processor. If you will pull funds from customer accounts (ACH debits), get each customer's authorization and keep a record; ask your provider which authorization format they require.
- Set up a virtual terminal for card and eCheck payments taken by phone, with a separate login for each staff member.
- Create a secure payment link or hosted payment page and add it to your invoice template and invoice emails.
- Require the invoice number in the payment reference field so payments match to invoices without manual lookups.
- Connect deposits to your accounting system and set a daily or weekly reconciliation routine.
- Write a call-back rule for any request to change bank details, using a phone number you already have on file.
- Never write down or email full card numbers. Key them directly into the virtual terminal.
- Email your customers' AP contacts with the new options and the date they start.
- Track the share of payments by method each month and rerun this comparison with the new mix.
Questions to ask any processor about pricing
- How do you quote card pricing: interchange-plus, tiered, or flat rate? Can I see a sample monthly statement?
- What fees apply beyond the rate: per-transaction, monthly, gateway, PCI, batch, or statement fees?
- What does each ACH/eCheck payment cost, and is it a flat fee, a percentage, or a percentage with a cap?
- How many business days until card and ACH funds reach my bank account?
- How are refunds, returns, and chargebacks charged?
- Which interchange categories will my business, corporate, and purchasing card payments fall into, and how does that change by card type?
- Do you support passing Level 2 and Level 3 data (tax amount, customer code, line-item detail)? From which entry points: virtual terminal, gateway, payment links, invoices?
- Is Level 2 and Level 3 data filled in automatically, or does my staff have to type it for each payment?
- Do large single payments trigger extra review, holds, or reserves, and how are those handled?
- Will my quote show interchange separately from your markup so I can see what changes on large tickets?
Passing card costs to customers
Some sellers add a surcharge to card payments, run a cash discount or dual pricing program, build card costs into prices, or offer early-pay terms for ACH. The rules for surcharges and cash discounts vary by card brand and by state, can include notice, disclosure, registration, and cap requirements, and may treat debit cards differently from credit cards. Confirm the current rules with the card brands and your state before changing how you price card payments. This report does not determine whether any practice is allowed for your business.
A lower-friction first step is to make ACH the easiest option on the invoice, using the templates above, rather than adding a fee to card payments.
Estimates are based on published industry averages and are not a quote. Actual rates depend on card mix, ticket size, industry, and underwriting.
Bring these numbers to the conversation. A specialist can walk through ACH, virtual terminal, and card options for your invoices. Nothing on this page is a quote.
Where invoices actually show up in a convenience store
Most of your sales happen at the register, where the customer pays on the spot. This tool is not about those sales. It covers the money you bill and then wait for: house or charge accounts for landscapers, builders, farms, and delivery fleets; monthly statements for schools, churches, or offices that pick up ice, coffee, or supplies; bulk and event orders; and wholesale sales to other operators if you run that side of the business. Enter only that invoiced revenue as your monthly volume.
For business type, most stores should choose Retail. If wholesale or distribution is a large part of what you invoice, B2B may fit better. If you leave the card rate blank, the tool uses a placeholder industry average for the type you choose. That figure is an assumption, not your rate, so entering the effective rate from your own statement gives a more useful answer.
House account payments are often handled differently from register sales. Some customers stop in and tap or dip a card at the counter. Others call in a card number, pay through an emailed link, or mail a check with the statement. Phoned-in and online card payments are generally card-not-present and are often priced higher than in-person transactions. Many contractor and fleet customers also pay with business, purchasing, or fleet cards, which typically cost more to accept than consumer cards. Your effective rate on house account payments may therefore differ from your rate at the register.
Worked example: a convenience store with $30,000 a month in house accounts
These numbers are hypothetical. Imagine a store that bills $30,000 a month across 50 house account statements averaging $600 each. Twenty percent is paid by card, 20% by ACH, and 60% by check. Assumptions: a 2.55% card rate (the Retail placeholder), $0.50 per ACH payment, $3.00 out of pocket per check, staff at $22 an hour, 4 minutes per card payment, 3 per ACH payment, 12 per check (logging it, matching it to the statement, endorsing it, and adding it to the deposit), 5 days to cash for card, 10 for ACH, 35 for check, and an 8% annual cost of cash.
With these inputs, the tool shows about $406 a month in fees and staff time, plus about $160 a month in carrying cost on roughly $24,000 tied up in receivables. That is about $566 a month, or around $6,800 a year. Weighted days to cash come out to 24. Card is the most expensive method per payment at about $16.77, compared with about $7.40 per check and $1.60 per ACH payment. Card is also the fastest.
If the scenario slider moves half of the check share to ACH, the mix becomes 20% card, 50% ACH, and 30% check. Total monthly cost falls to about $429, a modeled saving of roughly $137 a month. About $7,500 in cash is freed up, and weighted days to cash drop to 16.5. Because check share starts at 60%, the gated report would add the ACH and virtual terminal setup checklist.
Estimates are based on published industry averages and are not a quote. Actual rates depend on card mix, ticket size, industry, and underwriting.
What's different for convenience stores: deposits, seasons, and statement fees
Count check days from the statement date to the day the funds are available in your bank account, not the day the check arrived. In many stores, checks wait in the safe until the next bank run with the cash deposit. A check that arrives on Tuesday and gets deposited on Friday has added three days. Returned checks add more time, plus the work of following up with the customer.
House account activity often follows the local economy. Construction and landscaping accounts may run heavy in warmer months. Farm accounts may track planting and harvest. School and event accounts follow the calendar. If your check share or days to cash change a lot by season, run the tool once for a busy month and once for a slow month instead of averaging them together.
When you work out your card effective rate, divide total card fees by total card volume for the month, and include everything on the statement, not just the percentage rate. Look for line items such as PCI non-compliance fees, statement fees, batch fees, monthly minimums, and annual fees. Small fixed fees can raise your effective rate noticeably when card volume on house accounts is low.
Some owners consider passing card costs on to house account customers through a surcharge or cash discount. The tool does not model that, and the rules vary. Confirm the requirements with the card brands and your state before changing how you price card payments.
What a good result looks like for a convenience store
A good result does not mean moving every account to card. For most stores, it means fewer accounts paying by paper check, lower weighted days to cash, and a clear sense of what each card payment costs you so you can decide which accounts to steer where. ACH is often the low-cost option for regular monthly accounts. Card can be worth its cost for slow payers if it gets the cash in weeks sooner.
The free results show your current cost and one scenario. The full report runs four recommended mixes against your baseline and identifies which one has the lowest total cost. It also includes an illustrative interchange-plus card estimate based on placeholder pricing assumptions, which is not a quote and not TouchSuite's actual rates. If your average statement is $1,000 or more, the report adds questions to ask about large-ticket and commercial card pricing, including Level 2 and Level 3 data. If your days to cash run long, it links to the Merchant Funding Payback Estimator.
If you want help reading your statement or setting up ACH, eCheck, or a virtual terminal for phoned-in payments, talk to a payments specialist.
Frequently asked questions
Should I include fuel and register sales in monthly invoiced revenue?
No. Register and pump sales are paid at the time of purchase and are not waiting on an invoice. Include only house account statements, bulk or event orders billed after the fact, and wholesale invoices. Mixing in register sales will understate your days to cash and give a misleading cost per invoice.
Many of my contractor and fleet accounts pay with business or fleet cards. Is the default card rate close enough?
Probably not. The default is a placeholder industry average and is labeled as an assumption. Commercial and fleet cards often cost more to accept, especially when the payment is keyed in over the phone. Take the effective rate from a recent statement, using total card fees divided by total card volume, and enter it in the card rate field.
Some house account customers pay their statement at the counter when they stop in. How do I count days to cash for card?
Count from the statement date to the day the card deposit reaches your bank account. That includes however long the customer waits before coming in, plus your normal settlement time. If counter payments and phoned-in payments take very different amounts of time, use a blended average.
Checks sit in our safe until the weekly bank run. Does that matter?
Yes. Those days count as cash tied up, so add them to your check days to cash. Seeing the cost of that delay is often what convinces store owners to offer ACH or eCheck on monthly statements.
Can I charge house account customers extra for paying by card?
Rules on surcharges and cash discounts vary. Confirm with the card brands and your state before adding any fee. The calculator shows what card payments cost you now, which is useful to know whichever way you decide.