Understanding payment processing fees isn’t just about knowing what you’re paying. It’s about understanding why you’re paying it, and whether there’s a better way. You may have noticed I’ve been on a bit of a payment fee tangent...
Processing Fees
Customers move across channels. Payments need to.
I’ve been thinking about how different industries have very different customer journeys, and how those differences should shape the way payments work. In automotive, that journey can be particularly complex. A customer might research a vehicle online, call the...
The problem isn’t speed. It’s friction.
A SaaS company can have a great product, a strong sales team and a healthy customer base, yet still lose margin to an inefficient payment environment. Flinks analyzed what 200+ companies said was wrong with their verification process. Only 8% specifically asked for...
Has Stripe peaked?
When evaluating modern payment infrastructure in 2026, you can easily find yourself buried under hundreds of pages of technical documents, compatibility matrices and industry jargon. After you’ve looked at enough of them, everything starts to look like...
You stopped the fraud. You also stopped the sale.
That’s the problem with treating payment risk as a binary decision. When fraud losses increase, the natural response is to add more controls. Stricter rules. More verification. More manual reviews. More transactions sent for investigation. On paper, that looks...
Moneris has been sold. Should Canadian merchants be paying attention?
On August 10, BMO and RBC announced the sale of Moneris to U.S. technology investment firm Francisco Partners for approximately C$2 billion . The transaction still requires regulatory approval, but the message is clear: Canada’s largest payment processor is changing...
Many merchants think a low headline rate means they’re getting a deal.
The reality: hidden fees and complex pricing can quickly inflate costs. In one industry survey, 42% of merchants say they’ve been hit by “hidden fees” in their contracts. Another report found over 90% of small businesses pay more in processing fees than they expected....
Is your merchant statement harder to read than a medical chart?
If you run a medical clinic, dental practice, pharmacy, or other healthcare organization, you’re already managing enough complexity. Between patient care, staffing, compliance, insurance, and rising operating costs, your payment processing statement should bring...
Your processing statement is trying to tell you something.
What are you missing? Have I talked about this subject more than almost anything else? Probably. Why? Because I know helping you save your money matters. Have you noticed your merchant statement getting fatter even though sales haven’t budged? You’re not imagining...
Data quality is replacing rate negotiation.
Visa has recently made changes to its Level 2 and Level 3 enhanced data programs for commercial credit card transactions. The changes are prompting many B2B merchants to reevaluate how they capture, validate, and transmit transaction data because their fee structure...