What is a non-qualified surcharge?
An extra percentage added when a transaction fails to meet the processor's definition of a qualified transaction. Rewards cards, corporate cards, keyed entries, and online orders routinely land here, so on many accounts most volume is billed at the padded tier.
From a merchant statement
Also billed as Non-qual surcharge.
Who charges it and why
The processor, and only on tiered pricing plans. The tiers are the processor's invention, not the card networks': the advertised qualified rate is the bait, and the non-qualified bucket is where the real price lives. Which transactions downgrade is defined by the processor and can be redefined.
What fair looks like
Fair looks like no tiers at all. On interchange-plus pricing every transaction pays the network's actual cost plus one disclosed margin, and this surcharge does not exist as a line. That is how Payzium prices.
Can you get rid of it
Not within a tiered plan, because the tier system is the product. The exit is structural: move to interchange-plus pricing and the non-qualified bucket disappears along with the plan that created it.
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Frequently asked questions
What is a non-qualified surcharge?
An extra percentage added when a transaction fails to meet the processor's definition of a qualified transaction. Rewards cards, corporate cards, keyed entries, and online orders routinely land here, so on many accounts most volume is billed at the padded tier.
Who charges the non-qualified surcharge and why?
The processor, and only on tiered pricing plans. The tiers are the processor's invention, not the card networks': the advertised qualified rate is the bait, and the non-qualified bucket is where the real price lives. Which transactions downgrade is defined by the processor and can be redefined.
Can you get rid of a non-qualified surcharge?
Not within a tiered plan, because the tier system is the product. The exit is structural: move to interchange-plus pricing and the non-qualified bucket disappears along with the plan that created it.
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