Website card payment fees

Running a website can get costly, but there are certain ways to save money and one area is on your website card payment fees.  Things to watch out for…

Pay as you go pricing – Great for when you first start out as there are no monthly fees and just a % cost per transaction & gateway pence fee.

Think about your average transaction value – Pence fees can translate into a very high % rate on lower value products.    20p on a £5 transaction value = 4%, so if you’re getting charged 1.4% + 20p then this would be a 5.4% per transaction fee.  Not great! But for higher average transaction values then the pence fee is less important and it’s the % rate you want to try to reduce.

Look at your overall card turnover

While pay as you go is good below around £30k p/a. It is worth then looking at a monthly fee where you access lower % transaction rates.

• • At £40k p/a at 1.4% that’s £560 in fees.  With a £10 p/m fee and 0.7% rate it’s only £400, so already a cost saving.
  • And when your card turnover reaches £100k p/a the 1.4% = £1,400 vs only £820 with the £10 monthly fee and 0.7%. And that’s ignoring the 20p additional fee per transaction!

Understand your mix of business and overseas cards – Some card rates are extremely high and this varies hugely by card payment company, so be clear on this when getting a quote

Make sure you have 3D Secure enabled – You’ll generally be charged higher rates for non secure transactions.  Using 3DS is one way to ensure they are classed as secure transactions, so worth talking to your developer and card payments company about this.

These are just a few ways of saving money on website card payment fees.  If you’d like any advice on this area feel free to give us a call on 0203 985 9080 or Click Here to request a call back.