What is assessments?
Small fees Visa, Mastercard and the other card networks charge on every card sale. They're the same for every business.
Assessments are the second layer of every card fee, after interchange. Nobody can negotiate them, so a quote that claims to cut them isn't being straight with you.
For example
On every Visa sale, a small Visa fee sits on top of the bank's fee. It shows up on your statement no matter which processor you use.
Card processing rates explained →
Related terms
- InterchangeThe fee the customer's bank charges on every card sale. It's the same no matter which processor you use.
- MarkupThe part of your card fee that goes to your processor. It's the only part anyone can negotiate.
- Effective rateYour total card fees for the month divided by your total card sales. It's the one number that shows what taking cards really costs you.