Hidden Fee Finder for eCommerce Stores: Check Your Merchant Statement

How this works: the assumptions behind your numbers

Every number above comes from the totals you enter plus the assumptions below. Assumptions are estimates, not verified rates.

• Industry average effective rate by segment: retail 2.55%, restaurant 2.75%, ecommerce 3.15%, services 2.90%, healthcare 2.65%, b2b 2.80%, high_risk 4.25%. Source: TouchSuite pricing assumptions file (estimates only; replace with verified figures before launch).
• Comparison tolerance band: ±0.25 percentage points counts as 'close to average'. Source: Tool design assumption to avoid flagging trivial differences.
• Last month is representative: Monthly fee amounts are multiplied by 12 to annualize. Source: Tool design assumption; seasonal businesses should treat annual figures as rough.
• Annual fee frequency: Annual fee entered as a once-a-year amount, multiplied by 1. Source: Tool design assumption.
• Early termination fee: Treated as a one-time cost, not annualized. Source: Tool design assumption.
• Fee classification tags: Interchange and card brand fees tagged 'typically pass-through'; listed account-level fees tagged 'typically processor-set'. Source: General industry structure; actual billing varies by processor and contract, so tags read 'typically'.
• Sanity check bounds: Warn if effective rate is above 15% or below 0.5%. Source: Tool design assumption to catch data-entry mistakes.

Estimates are based on published industry averages and are not a quote. Actual rates depend on card mix, ticket size, industry, and underwriting.

Why eCommerce store statements are harder to read

Nearly every sale an online store makes is card-not-present. Card-not-present transactions generally carry higher interchange than tapped or dipped cards, so an eCommerce store's effective rate will usually sit above a retail shop's even when nothing is wrong. That is why this page compares you to the eCommerce assumption in our pricing file (3.15%, labeled an assumption) and not to a general average.

The second complication is that fees often come from more than one place. Your payment gateway may bill a monthly fee and a per-transaction fee, your processor may add its own gateway or 'internet access' line, and your cart platform may charge separately. When you enter total fees, include every section of the processor statement plus any separate gateway invoice for the same month, or your effective rate will look better than it really is.

Cross-border and international card fees, address verification fees, and network fees on card-on-file transactions usually show up inside the card brand or network section. Tick 'Card brand / network fees' if you see them, and enter that section's total if your statement shows one.

Worked example: a hypothetical eCommerce store

These numbers are made up to show how the tool reads a statement. Say a store selling skincare online processed $40,000 in card sales last month across 800 orders and paid $1,380 in total fees. Effective rate: $1,380 / $40,000 = 3.45%. Cost per transaction: $1.73. Average ticket: $50.00. Compared with the 3.15% eCommerce assumption, that is 0.30 percentage points higher, which the tool labels 'Above the industry average.' Across a year, that gap works out to roughly $1,440 above the assumed average.

The store ticks interchange, card brand fees, gateway fee, PCI non-compliance, a monthly service fee, and chargeback fees. Three of those are typically processor-set, plus the gateway fee, so the tool flags four charges worth a question. If the owner also enters $820 for interchange and $90 for card brand fees, the full breakdown estimates $470 a month as markup, about 1.18% of volume and about 34% of total fees.

Estimates are based on published industry averages and are not a quote. Actual rates depend on card mix, ticket size, industry, and underwriting.

Fees eCommerce stores should look at first

Gateway fees: check whether you are paying for a gateway twice, once to the gateway provider and again as a processor line item. Also check the per-transaction gateway charge, because on small orders it can matter as much as the percentage rate.

PCI non-compliance fees: using a hosted checkout reduces your PCI scope, but most processors still expect an annual self-assessment questionnaire. If you see a monthly non-compliance fee, the fix is often completing that questionnaire, not changing anything on your site.

Chargeback and retrieval fees: online stores face more 'item not received' and 'I didn't authorize this' disputes than in-person businesses. Tick these even if they were small last month, since one bad month after a promotion can change the picture. Also look at refunds: practices vary on whether a per-transaction fee is charged on a refund and whether any original fees come back, so ask your processor how they handle it.

Non-qualified or mid-qualified surcharges: on tiered pricing, keyed or online transactions and rewards cards are common reasons sales get pushed into higher buckets. If you are on tiered pricing and your rate is above average, that is the first place to ask questions.

What a good result looks like for an eCommerce store

There is no single right number. A store with a $20 average ticket will show a higher effective rate than a store with a $200 ticket, because fixed per-transaction fees (processor, gateway, network) take a bigger bite out of small orders. Look at cost per transaction alongside the effective rate before drawing conclusions.

A healthy result usually looks like this: an effective rate close to or below the eCommerce assumption for your ticket size, few or no processor-set fees beyond what your contract lists, no PCI non-compliance fee, and, if you are on interchange-plus, markup lines that match your agreement. If the tool shows you above average with several processor-set fees, use the questions in the full breakdown with your current processor, run the Processing Fee Savings Calculator, or talk to a payments specialist.

Frequently asked questions