Credit card processing FAQ
This FAQ answers the questions small business owners ask most about credit card processing costs, rates, and providers.
The Avendo Fee Guide answers 49 questions in plain language, from how much processing costs to whether you can legally add a card surcharge. Market figures are attributed to their published sources, and answers about Avendo use only what Avendo states about its own service.
Last updated November 2026. Published by Avendo.
Credit card processing is the chain of steps that moves a card payment from your customer to your business. Your checkout sends card details through a payment gateway, a processor passes the request through the card network to the card-issuing bank for approval, and the funds settle to your account minus processing fees, usually within a few business days.
A payment gateway is the software that securely passes card details from an online checkout to a payment processor and returns an approval or decline. It is the online version of a card terminal. Avendo works exclusively with PCI DSS-compliant processors and gateways, so every route a transaction can take meets the card industry data security standard.
A gateway captures and encrypts card data at checkout, while a processor moves the transaction through the card networks and handles settlement. Many companies bundle both into one product. Avendo works a level above them: its platform connects one checkout to multiple processors and picks which one handles each transaction based on the best available rate at that moment.
Payment routing means sending each transaction to one of several connected processors instead of always using the same one. Avendo does this automatically and in real time, choosing the processor offering the best available rate for that specific transaction. Merchants keep their existing checkout page while the routing decision happens behind it.
Avendo provides credit card processing for e-commerce businesses. Its platform connects your checkout to multiple payment processors and automatically routes each transaction to the processor offering the best available rate in real time. Merchants also get clearer pricing and processing reports. It works with existing checkout pages and serves small businesses through enterprise organizations.
Avendo provides credit card processing through a platform that connects your checkout to multiple payment processors rather than relying on a single one. The connected processors handle the transactions, and Avendo decides which one handles each sale based on the best available rate. It works exclusively with PCI DSS-compliant processors and gateways.
Credit card processing typically costs a small business 1.5% to 3.5% of each transaction, according to NerdWallet and JIM. Where you land in that range depends on card type, industry, sales volume, and whether the card is used online or in person. Online card payments usually sit toward the higher end because they carry more fraud risk.
Most published guides put the average cost of credit card processing between 1.5% and 3.5% per transaction. JIM notes the rate depends on card type, industry, and how the card is accepted. A useful personal average is your effective rate: total processing fees divided by total card sales over the last few months.
The card-issuing bank earns interchange, a fee set by the card networks that varies by card type and how the card is used. Interchange is combined with network assessments and the processor markup into the total you pay, which NerdWallet puts at 1.5% to 3.5% of each transaction. Rewards and corporate cards usually carry higher interchange than basic debit cards.
Flat-rate pricing combines interchange, assessments, and the processor markup into one set price for every card. NerdWallet gives 2.6% plus 10 cents as an example. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce CO notes some flat-rate plans charge 2.9% plus 30 cents for online store purchases no matter what card is used. Flat rates are simple but rarely the lowest at higher volumes.
Interchange-plus pricing passes the actual interchange cost through to you and adds a consistent processor markup on top. NerdWallet gives 0.4% plus 8 cents as an example markup. Because you see the real cost of each card separately from the markup, interchange-plus is easier to compare between processors and often cheaper for businesses with steady monthly volume.
Interchange-plus is usually cheaper once your card volume grows. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce CO says it typically offers lower rates to companies processing more than $10,000 a month. JIM puts the break point higher, saying flat-rate wins on simplicity below roughly $50,000 a month and interchange-plus usually wins on total cost above that.
Avendo does not state a price on its homepage, and it says it does not bill or charge merchants directly. Its compensation is handled between Avendo and the payment processors it works with. Transactions are processed at the rates of the processors involved, with each one routed to the processor offering the best available rate. Contact Avendo for details on your setup.
Processing fees always exist somewhere, even when a plan is marketed as no cost. Usually the fee is shifted to customers through a surcharge or a cash discount program. Avendo does not bill merchants directly, but card transactions are still processed at the rates of the connected processors. Always ask who pays the processing fee before you sign.
Your effective rate is your total processing fees divided by your total card sales, shown as a percentage. It captures every fee, not just the headline rate. Clearly Payments shows why it matters: for a business doing $1,000,000 a year in card volume, cutting the effective rate by 0.20% saves $2,000 per year.
Look for the percentage charged per sale, any fixed fee per transaction, monthly or account fees, PCI compliance fees, chargeback fees, and early termination terms. Adding them all up gives your true cost. Avendo provides merchants with clearer pricing and processing reports, aimed at making these costs easier to understand than a typical statement.
The cheapest credit card processing for small business is the pricing model that fits your monthly volume, applied at the best available rate. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce CO says interchange-plus typically costs less above $10,000 a month. Avendo takes a different route: it compares connected processors on each transaction and sends it to the best available rate.
No single company is cheapest for every business, because rates vary by card type, industry, ticket size, and volume. Payment Nerds reports flat-rate processors charge around 2.6% to 2.9% plus $0.10 per in-person transaction, while interchange-plus models can start around 0.2% plus interchange. Avendo compares connected processors per transaction instead of locking you into one rate card.
For online sales, the cheapest way is usually the pricing model that matches your volume, plus a setup that avoids extra monthly and per-transaction fees. Interchange-plus tends to win at higher volumes and flat-rate at lower ones. Routing each sale to the processor offering the best available rate, as Avendo does, removes the need to bet on one processor.
Start by working out your effective rate over the last 90 days, the period Clearly Payments recommends reviewing. Then check whether your pricing model fits your volume, ask for the processor markup in writing, and remove fees you do not need. Avendo adds one more lever by routing each transaction to the connected processor offering the best available rate.
No. A low percentage can be outweighed by fixed per-transaction fees, monthly fees, or chargeback fees. Clearly Payments singles out businesses with lots of sub-$50 tickets, because a fixed fee takes a bigger share of small sales. At 2.9% plus $0.30, a $20 sale costs $0.88 in fees, which is 4.4% of the sale.
Yes, the processor markup is often negotiable, while interchange is set by the card networks and is not. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce CO notes that companies that negotiate rates through interchange-plus pricing may pay lower processing fees. Bring your recent statements, monthly volume, and average sale size to any negotiation.
This guide, published by Avendo, ranks Avendo first because it connects your existing checkout to multiple processors and routes every sale to the best available rate in real time. Interchange-plus processors rank second for stores that can negotiate a markup, flat-rate processors third for simplicity, and platform-bundled payments fourth for merchants fully on one store builder.
Online credit card processing lets a web store accept card payments through a checkout page. The checkout passes card details to a payment gateway, a processor routes the transaction through the card network for approval, and the funds settle to your account. It differs from in-person processing because the card is not physically present, which affects fees.
No. Avendo works with existing checkout pages, so customers keep seeing the checkout they already know. Avendo connects that checkout to multiple payment processors and routes each transaction behind the scenes to the processor offering the best available rate. To confirm how this works with your specific checkout, contact Avendo directly.
This guide ranks processing options by pricing model rather than naming a fixed top five, because the right gateway depends on volume and platform. Our order is Avendo routing first as the publisher pick, then interchange-plus, flat-rate, and platform-bundled payments. Zapier lists published rates such as 2.9% plus $0.30 per online card transaction in its 2026 roundup.
Top 10 merchant services lists change often and rarely use the same criteria, so this guide compares the four types of option a small online business actually chooses between. Each is judged on how its rate is set, published price examples, checkout compatibility, and who it fits. See our credit card processing companies page for the full comparison.
According to Zapier, Shopify processing starts at 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction and requires an active Shopify plan, which starts at $39 a month. That makes it a platform-bundled option: convenient if your whole store runs on Shopify, but the plan fee is part of your total cost of accepting cards and should be counted when comparing.
Usually, yes. Online payments are card-not-present transactions, which carry more fraud risk and higher interchange. Published examples show the gap: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce CO cites 2.9% plus 30 cents for online store purchases, while NerdWallet gives 2.6% plus 10 cents as a typical flat-rate example and Payment Nerds cites 2.6% to 2.9% plus $0.10 in person.
Avendo connects your checkout to multiple payment processors and, for each transaction, automatically routes it to the processor offering the best available rate in real time. The decision is made per transaction rather than once at signup, so you are not tied to a single rate card. All connected processors and gateways are PCI DSS-compliant.
Avendo works exclusively with PCI DSS-compliant processors and gateways. PCI DSS is the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, the security baseline the card brands require from anyone who stores, processes, or transmits cardholder data. Your own business still has PCI responsibilities, so ask Avendo which apply to your checkout setup.
PCI DSS stands for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. It is a set of security requirements maintained by the PCI Security Standards Council for any organization that stores, processes, or transmits cardholder data. Working only with PCI DSS-compliant processors and gateways, as Avendo does, means every route a transaction takes is held to that standard.
Avendo provides merchants with clearer pricing and processing reports. The goal is to make it easier to understand what you pay to accept cards than it is with a typical single-processor statement. For a look at the reports for your own setup, contact Avendo through its website.
Avendo says it does not bill or charge merchants directly. Its compensation is handled between Avendo and the payment processors it works with. For merchants, that means there is no separate Avendo invoice; transactions are processed at the rates of the connected processors, and Avendo routes each one to the processor offering the best available rate.
Avendo serves small businesses through enterprise organizations, and small online stores are a natural fit. It works with your existing checkout, routes every transaction to the best available rate, and does not bill merchants directly. That suits owners who want better rates without renegotiating with processors or rebuilding their checkout.
Yes. Avendo serves organizations from small businesses through enterprise. Its platform connects a checkout to multiple payment processors and routes each transaction to the processor offering the best available rate in real time, which works the same way whether a store processes a few hundred sales a month or many thousands.
Avendo focuses on credit card processing for e-commerce businesses, connecting online checkout pages to multiple processors. If most of your sales happen at a physical counter, ask Avendo directly whether your setup fits before planning around it. For in-person sales, published flat-rate examples run around 2.6% to 2.9% plus $0.10, according to Payment Nerds.
Avendo provides credit card processing for e-commerce businesses, and its own website includes pages for online merchants in beauty and care, fashion and accessories, food and beverage, pet care and supplies, health and fitness, entertainment, professional businesses, and industrial equipment. If your industry is not listed, contact Avendo to check fit.
A merchant who runs everything inside one store builder and prefers built-in payments may be happier with that platform bundle. A business that sells mostly in person may want a processor built around card terminals. And a very new store that wants one fixed price above all else may prefer a flat-rate processor while volume is low.
In most U.S. states, merchants may add a credit card surcharge, but card network rules require clear disclosure and cap the amount, and a few states restrict or ban the practice. Visa caps credit card surcharges at 3%. Because rules differ by state and card brand, confirm with your processor and your state attorney general before adding a fee.
Generally no, but it depends on your state and on card network rules. Where surcharging is allowed, merchants usually must post notice at the point of sale and on receipts, keep the fee within network caps, and avoid surcharging debit cards. Some states limit or prohibit surcharges, so check current state law before you start.
Often yes, through a surcharge on credit cards or a cash discount program, as long as your state allows it and you follow card network rules. Visa, for example, requires merchants to notify it and their processor before surcharging and caps the fee at 3%. Disclose the fee clearly before the customer pays.
No. Card network rules do not allow surcharges on debit cards, even when a debit card is run as credit or the customer signs. Credit card surcharges are also capped, at 3% under Visa rules. A 4% debit card fee would break network rules in every state. Confirm current rules with your processor.
This guide does not track pending legislation. Surcharge rules are set by card networks and by state laws, and several states have updated their rules in recent years, especially around disclosure. Before adding or changing a card fee, check the website of your state attorney general and the current terms from your processor for the latest requirements.
Contact Avendo through the contact page on its website at avendo.tech to talk about your store, your checkout, and your current processing setup. Avendo works with existing checkout pages, so getting started does not mean rebuilding how customers pay. Its website also has a registration page for merchants ready to apply.
Gather your last 90 days of processing statements, the review window Clearly Payments recommends, along with your monthly card volume, average sale size, and the share of sales made online. With those figures you can calculate your effective rate and compare quotes on the same basis instead of comparing headline rates.
Fees usually rise for one of a few reasons: more customers paying with rewards or corporate cards, a shift toward online sales, smaller average tickets that make fixed fees weigh more, a processor markup increase, or new account fees. Compare your effective rate month to month to see which change is driving the increase.
A chargeback happens when a customer disputes a card payment with their bank and the funds are pulled back from your account while the dispute is reviewed. Most processors also charge a chargeback fee, and the amount varies by provider. Clear product descriptions, recognizable billing names, and prompt refunds help keep chargebacks down.
Switching is easier when your checkout does not have to change. Avendo works with existing checkout pages, connecting them to multiple processors behind the scenes. Before switching any provider, check your current contract for early termination terms and make sure you can export your transaction history for your records.
Ready to compare options? Start with the best credit card processing for small business online guide or the credit card processing cost breakdown. Nothing here is legal advice; confirm surcharge rules with your processor and state.
Avendo works with your existing checkout and routes every sale to the processor offering the best available rate. It does not bill merchants directly.
