Miraculously, both stores have the same exact merchant account rates of 1.69%, 2.25%, 2.99% and $0.20 per transaction and they both accepted 30 transactions totaling $5,000 in consumer rewards cards. The actual interchange cost to process these transactions is the same for both stores at $105.50. The only difference is that the merchant service provider for store "A" routes consumer rewards
become an iso merchant services credit cards to the mid-qualified bucket, and the provider for store "B" routes rewards cards to the non-qualified bucket.
Store A's final merchant discount fee is $118.50, and store B's final merchant discount fee is $155.50. Store B paid $37 more to process the same exact transactions simply because their merchant service provider routed rewards credit cards to the non-qualified bucket.
This example is over-simplified and uses only one of the hundreds of possible interchange categories available. Imagine how tough it would be to decipher into which bucket all of the interchange categories on your merchant account are being routed. The fact of the matter is, you couldn't even if you wanted to because interchange charges aren't disclosed on a tiered processing statement. Actual interchange rates are only published on statements where a form of interchange plus pricing is being utilized.