While individual merchant accounts may have different terms, the answer below is based on credit card processing interchange rates only. Interchange is the primary component of credit card processing fees. It consists of a percent and a per item fee. Interchange rates are non-negotiable, but they can be influenced.
There is no difference in MOTO or Retail Interchange rates for:
- Regulated debit (about 75% of debit cards on the market. )
- Most or all business, corporate and purchasing cards*
For the rest, it’s a wide variety. 0. 30% estimated average difference in rate based on whether mag stripe is received or not.
Below are related explanatory notes. The question above was posed by a merchant that recently added CenPOS to improve PCI Compliance and reduce costs with their existing wholesale, interchange plus, merchant account.
- Level 3 data. Neither the gateway nor retail terminal supported level 3 before. With the new terminal ID we requested from your processor, combined with CenPOS, both MOTO and retail can qualify for level 3 interchange rates. A 0.65% drop is typical on MasterCard.
- The old way transactions were processed, virtually none were able to ‘qualify’ for the best retail or MOTO rate due to a variety of reasons. With CenPOS proprietary optimization technology, the reverse is true.
- In the virtual terminal, the only time the MOTO check box needs to be selected is if a signature capture device is connected to the computer. The MOTO button disengages the terminal from being prompted for a signature.
- Confirm level 3 entitlements were turned on properly with the processor. Level 3 is currently turned on in CenPOS as optional. After running a test transaction ( use any business card), and proper settlement to bank, change from optional to REQUIRED in the administrator panel . Please see this video for more information http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=sfmgQ50X8TQ&list=UUGvmy_ 5CXVYL1oN5rq-T5_Q&index=2 (my channel is youtube.com/3dmerchant)
* I’m not aware of any business, corporate and purchasing card that requires mag stripe data, and I’d have to pour through tons of documents to find out if there is an exception. However, different information is required to achieve qualified rates for business cards.
MOTO refers to mail order, telephone or fax order. A retail merchant account essentially tells the processor that the merchant mostly has customers that make purchases in person, and the merchant will send magnetic stripe data with the transaction. If there is no mag stripe data, the transaction is non-qualified. For a MOTO account, the merchant represents that most transactions are card not present. An ecommerce account is necessary if payments are mostly accepted online via a shopping cart.
