Merchant statements for April 2012 may include a bulletin about fees. This is a bulletin from an actual statement.

EFFECTIVE WITH MAY 1, 2012, YOU WILL BE CHARGED DUES AND ASSESSMENT FEES WHICH SHALL BE CALCULATED AS FOLLOWS: 0.110% (MASTERCARD) APPLIED TO ALL SETTLED MASTERCARD CONSUMER AND COMMERCIAL CARD SALES BELOW $1,000 AS WELL AS PREPAID AND SIGNATURE DEBIT CARD SALES REGARDLESS OF THE TRANSACTION AMOUNT, 0.13% (MASTERCARD) APPLIED TO CONSUMER CREDIT AND COMMERCIAL CARD TRANSACTIONS EQUAL TO OR GREATER THAN $1,000, 0.110% (VISA) AND 0.105% (DISCOVER) MULTIPLIED BY YOUR GROSS SALES VOLUME. CONTINUING YOUR MERCHANT ACCOUNT WITH US OR USE OF YOUR MERCHANT ACCOUNT AFTER 30 DAYS WILL REPRESENT YOUR ACCEPTANCE TO THESE TERMS.

EFFECTIVE JUNE 1, 2012, YOUR MASTERCARD “US CROSS BORDER FEE” WILL BE INCREASED TO .40%.

EFFECTIVE JUNE 1, 2012, A .80% MASTERCARD “US CROSS BORDER FEE” WILL BE ADDED TO YOUR ACCOUNT. THIS FEE WILL BE APPLIED TO TRANSACTIONS IN WHICH THE CARD PRESENTED WAS ISSUED IN A COUNTRY OTHER THAN THE UNITED STATES.

All of the fees above are mandatory and non-negotiable. Merchants see these fees on their statements if they are on PASS THROUGH or INTERCHANGE PLUS pricing. We call this ‘wholesale’ pricing. This is the best price plan for merchants because costs are transparent. If the merchant does not have these fees itemized, then they are on a bundled price plan. The downside is that higher profits can be hidden in bundled pricing.

Note, cross border fees are fairly new, yet they are climbing rapidly. Some merchants are under the misconception that these fees do not apply to them with their particular merchant processor, however, if you read the fine print, you’ll find them everywhere. For example, Paypal charges a 1% cross border fee. Why the difference? Because it’s Paypal cross border, not card association specific ie Discover, Visa, MasterCard which each have their own rates. Paypal is a bundled price program. They can charge whatever they want.

Calls have been coming in about new MasterCard and Discover processing requirements. Some outlandish, some dead on.

MasterCard and Discover are modifying their rules concerning the processing of debit, prepaid and gift cards. MasterCard’s rule changes go into effect May 1, 2010, and Discover’s rule changes go into effect April 16, 2010. However, MANY ECOMMERCE HOSTS, INCLUDING VOLUSION, AND GATEWAYS, INCLUDING AUTHORIZE.NET,  have gotten an extension.

” MasterCard and Discover have worked together to extend these dates for all merchants using (INSERT VENDOR NAME HERE). Our merchants will now have until June 30, 2011, to implement support for the requirements within their systems.

What are the requirements?
MasterCard and Discover are requiring that all merchants support the following:

- Balance response transactions: For prepaid and gift cards, once the card has been used, the remaining account balance will be transmitted along with the authorization response. The remaining balance must be printed on the customer receipt, displayed on the Web page or point-of-sale terminal, or both.

- Partial authorization transactions: When a customer’s transaction amount exceeds the balance available on their debit, prepaid or gift card, instead of declining the transaction, a partial authorization for the amount available to the customer will be returned. This will allow the customer to pay for the remaining amount with another form of payment. This is called a split-tender transaction.

- Authorization reversals: An authorization reversal is a real-time transaction initiated when the customer decides that they do not want to proceed with the transaction, or if the merchant cannot complete the transaction for any reason. Authorization reversals free up the customer’s available balance on their debit, prepaid or gift card.

Ecommerce companies and gateways are dependent upon processors to exchange the data needed to support the above requirements. Shopping carts need to be able to accept and interact with updated gateway parameters. Gateways need to interact with various processors,  passing data to the gateway, receiving a response, and passing that back through to the shopping cart/ consumer. This is a huge undertaking to ensure all the data passes back and forth correctly.

Excerpt of email received today:

What steps is Authorize.Net taking to support these requirements?
Authorize.Net will be updating our systems over the coming months to support the requirements, but will be dependent on each processor’s readiness. For a table of when we anticipate we will support the requirements with each processor, please visit http://www.authorize.net/support/pafaqs/#when.

What do I need to do to support the requirements?
The steps that you will need to take to support the requirements depend on how you connect to the payment gateway. For example, if you connect using a shopping cart, point-of-sale device, or other solution, you will need to contact your solution provider to confirm that they will be supporting the requirements. If you connect using a direct integration, you should contact your Web developer for assistance. Please direct your Web developer to http://www.authorize.net/support/pafaqs/#do for information on the changes they will need to make.

Do I have to support the requirements?
MasterCard and Discover are requiring all merchants to support the requirements with the exception of merchants that exclusively process transactions via batch uploads, mail order/telephone order (MOTO), or recurring payment transactions. Your Merchant Service Provider (MSP) is ultimately responsible for determining if the requirements apply to your business, so please contact them for assistance in determining if your company is exempt.

Once again, these requirements will not be enforced for Authorize.Net merchants until June 30, 2011. However, we wanted to bring them to your attention now so that you have plenty of time to plan for their implementation.

For more information on the requirements, including how they affect our value-adding services, please visit our FAQ page at http://www.authorize.net/support/pafaqs/.

Haiti Relief Efforts
Discover is waiving merchant transaction fees for the following charities providing support to Haitian relief efforts.

American Red Cross, Americares, CARE USA, Direct Relief International, Doctors Without Borders, Habitat for Humanity, International Rescue Committee, Mercy Corps, Oxfam America, Save the Children, U.S. Fund for Unicef, and World Vision. This is the same as the MasterCard Worldwide Haitian relief merchant fees waived for donations list.

Discover donated $100,000, and is matching Red Cross donations dollar-for dollar, resulting in a combined donation of more than $2.1 million for Haiti relief. Those who wish to donate their Cashback Bonus to the American Red Cross may do so without a matching contribution, or donate directly to charities supporting Haiti relief efforts.