Hidden Fee Finder for Wholesale Distributors: Check Your Merchant Statement
Wholesale distributors take large-ticket orders, often on corporate and purchasing cards keyed in from phone orders and invoices, so a single bad line on the statement can cost more than it would for a retailer. Tick the fees on last month's statement to see your effective rate and which charges deserve a question.
Your statement check
Estimates are based on published industry averages and are not a quote. Actual rates depend on card mix, ticket size, industry, and underwriting.
The fees you ticked
Estimates are based on published industry averages and are not a quote. Actual rates depend on card mix, ticket size, industry, and underwriting.
About your pricing model
Bring this statement. A payments specialist can walk through it line by line with you. Estimates are based on published industry averages and are not a quote. Actual rates depend on card mix, ticket size, industry, and underwriting.
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.
How card fees behave for wholesale distributors
A wholesale distributor's statement looks different from a store's. You probably run fewer transactions at much larger amounts, and many customers pay with business, corporate, or purchasing cards. Commercial cards generally carry higher interchange than consumer debit, so a higher effective rate is not automatically a sign of overcharging. The useful question is how much of your total cost is card-brand pass-through and how much is set by your processor.
Most distributor card sales are card-not-present: an account rep keys a card into a virtual terminal while on the phone, or a customer pays an emailed invoice through a payment link. Keyed and online sales usually cost more than tapped or dipped sales. If you also have a will-call counter with a terminal, your mix is part card-present and part card-not-present, and the statement may split them into separate sections. Make sure your total fees include both.
With large average tickets, per-transaction charges such as batch fees or a gateway's per-item fee barely move your rate. Percentage-based charges do. A markup or non-qualified surcharge that looks small on paper multiplies quickly against five-figure orders. Because your transaction count is low, the cost per transaction the tool shows will look high next to a coffee shop's. That is normal; your effective rate is the number to compare.
Worked example: a hypothetical wholesale distributor
These numbers are made up to show how the tool works. A hypothetical janitorial supply distributor processed $120,000 in card sales last month across 150 transactions, mostly keyed purchasing cards from phone orders plus some counter sales. Total fees on the statement were $3,900, and the statement uses tiered pricing.
The free results would show an effective rate of 3.25% ($3,900 / $120,000), an average ticket of $800.00, and a cost per transaction of $26.00. Against the B2B industry average assumption of 2.80%, the gap is 0.45 percentage points, so the status is 'Above the industry average.' Annualized, that gap works out to about $6,480 a year above the assumed average (0.45% x $120,000 x 12), on total annual fees of about $46,800.
If the distributor entered $2,700 of interchange and $180 of card brand fees, the gated breakdown would estimate $1,020 of monthly markup, a markup rate of 0.85% of volume, and a markup share of about 26% of total fees. On a tiered statement, the next step would be to check how many purchasing-card sales landed in the Mid-Qualified or Non-Qualified buckets and why.
Estimates are based on published industry averages and are not a quote. Actual rates depend on card mix, ticket size, industry, and underwriting.
Fees wholesale distributors should check first
Non-qualified and mid-qualified surcharges. On tiered pricing, keyed commercial cards are a common reason for sales to fall out of the Qualified bucket. Some commercial card categories can qualify for different interchange when additional order data (often called Level 2 or Level 3 data, such as tax amount, PO number, and line items) is passed with the sale. Ask whether your setup sends that data and whether your pricing model passes any resulting difference back to you.
Gateway and virtual terminal fees. If your team keys orders or sends invoice payment links, you may pay a monthly gateway fee, a per-transaction gateway fee, or both, sometimes on a separate bill. Include them so your effective rate is complete.
PCI fees. Distributors often keep cards on file for repeat customers and standing orders. If you have not completed your annual PCI questionnaire, you may be paying a non-compliance fee every month on top of a PCI program fee. That is usually fixable with paperwork.
Contract and equipment terms. A leased counter terminal at the will-call desk and an early termination clause both affect what switching or renegotiating costs you. Also check how refunds are handled: when you issue a credit for returned or damaged goods, ask whether any of the original processing fee is returned or whether you pay again on the refund.
Reading your result as a wholesale distributor
Pick a representative month. Distributors often have seasonal swings tied to their customers' buying cycles, such as stocking up before a busy season, and one unusually large order can distort a slow month. If last month was unusual, run the tool on a typical month too. Always pull volume and fees from the same statement period.
A good result for a distributor usually looks like this: an effective rate close to or below the B2B industry average assumption of 2.80% (the tool treats anything within 0.25 percentage points as close), few fees tagged 'Typically processor-set,' and a statement where interchange is visible so you can see your markup. If interchange and card brand totals are on your statement, enter them; for a card mix heavy in commercial cards, the pass-through versus markup split tells you far more than the headline rate.
Estimates are based on published industry averages and are not a quote. Actual rates depend on card mix, ticket size, industry, and underwriting.
If your result is above average or you are on tiered pricing, unlock the full breakdown for annualized fee totals and a list of questions to bring to your processor. To review your card and ACH setup with someone who works with B2B merchants, talk to a payments specialist at touchsuite.com/contact.
Frequently asked questions
Most of our customers pay with corporate or purchasing cards and the fees seem high. Is that a hidden fee?
Not necessarily. Commercial cards generally carry higher interchange than consumer cards, and that cost comes from the card networks, not your processor. The issue is what sits on top. Tick and enter your interchange and card brand totals so the tool can estimate how much of your bill is markup, and check whether commercial card sales are being pushed into non-qualified buckets on a tiered statement.
Nearly all our card payments are keyed from phone orders or paid through invoice links. What should I watch for?
Keyed and online payments typically cost more than in-person ones, so expect a higher rate than a storefront. Make sure gateway or virtual terminal fees are included in your total, since they are sometimes billed separately. Also ask whether your system sends order details such as PO numbers and tax amounts with commercial card sales, and whether you are PCI compliant if you keep customer cards on file.
Our sales swing a lot by season and by a few big orders. Which month should I use?
Use a month that reflects normal ordering. If last month included an unusually large order or was a seasonal low, run the tool a second time with a typical month. The annualized figures in the full breakdown assume the month you enter is representative, so a typical month gives you more useful totals.
Can we add a surcharge or card fee to invoices to cover processing costs?
That depends on where you and your customers operate and on card brand rules, which have their own registration, disclosure, and cap requirements. Rules vary, so confirm with the card brands and your state before adding any surcharge or cash discount. This tool does not assess whether a fee practice is allowed.
Should we move large invoices from cards to ACH instead?
Many distributors offer ACH or eCheck for large invoices because it is priced differently from card acceptance, while keeping cards available for customers who need them. Whether that makes sense depends on your customers' payment preferences and your terms. TouchSuite supports ACH and eCheck processing; a payments specialist can walk through how it would fit your invoicing.