EBS Pricing
Interchange + 0.50%. $35 a Month. Nothing Hidden.
Most processors quote one flat rate and keep the math to themselves. We publish ours. Every card you accept costs interchange — the rate the card brands set and the banks keep. On top of that, EBS adds one fixed processing fee: 0.50%. Merchant services are $35 a month, flat. That is the whole model, and this page shows the math.
Authorized Partner of Paysafe
+0.50%
EBS Processing Fee
Over interchange, on every card, published here
$35/mo
Merchant Services
One flat monthly fee — not a stack of line items
$35
Equipment Placement
One-time fee for modern equipment. No lease, no rental
0.05%
Regulated Debit
Plus $0.21–$0.22 per transaction — the federal cap, passed through
01How It Works
Every Fee Has Three Parts. Only One Is Ours.
When a customer pays by card, the charge splits three ways. Two parts are set by the card brands and the banks — no processor can change them, and every processor pays the same ones. The third part is the processor's processing fee. That is where processors hide their money, and it is the part we publish.
Part 1
Interchange
Set by Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and Amex. Paid to the customer's bank. It varies by card — a basic consumer card costs less than a premium rewards card — and every processor pays the identical schedule. The full tables are published further down this page.
Part 2
Network Fees
Small assessments the card brands charge to run their networks — around 0.14% on Visa, for example. Also identical for every processor, and passed through at cost.
Part 3
EBS Processing Fee
+0.50%
That is the entire EBS margin on processing — a flat half a percent over interchange, the same for a food truck and a dealership. No tiers, no qualified vs non-qualified games, no rate that changes after the first statement.
02The Whole Fee Story
What You Pay EBS. All of It.
Processing is one line of the relationship. Here is every EBS charge in one place, so there is nothing left to find on a statement later.
Processing
Interchange + 0.50%
Your rate moves with the cards your customers actually use — premium rewards cards cost more to accept than basic debit, and your statement shows the split. We never blend it into a flat rate you cannot audit.
Merchant Services
$35/mo Flat
One monthly fee for your merchant services, stated plainly. We are not worried about matching anyone's $0 — a real person answers when you call, Monday to Saturday, 9 AM to 9 PM ET.
Equipment
$35 One-Time, or Buy It
Modern terminals and POS through the Equipment Placement Program for a one-time $35 shipping & handling fee — no monthly lease, no rental that never ends. Prefer to own it? Every device is also sold outright at the price listed in the store.
Statement Review
Free
Send us your current statement. We decode your true effective rate and put it in writing next to ours. If your current setup wins, we tell you to stay put — and you keep the analysis either way.
Funding & Insurance
Partner Products
Business funding runs through David Allen Capital and insurance through NEXT — EBS is not the lender and not the insurer. Terms come from the partner, in the open, on their pages here.
Healthcare
Partner Product
DAC Healthcare is a cost-sharing community for medical costs, offered through our partner — EBS is not the provider. Details and honest framing are on the Healthcare page.
03Worked Examples
Real Ticket Sizes, Full Math
Headline "average rates" elsewhere rest on a $300 average ticket. Most small businesses do not ring $300 tickets. Here are four businesses at the tickets they actually ring, priced our way against a published flat rate — every assumption stated, so you can redo the math.
Food Truck
$12,000/mo · $14 Ticket · 857 Sales
| Interchange + network (blended 1.75% + $0.10) | $296 |
| EBS processing fee (0.50%) + monthly fee | $95 |
| EBS total — effective 3.26% | $391 |
| Flat rate at 2.6% + 15¢ | $441 |
| Kept with EBS | $50/mo · $598/yr |
Small tickets are the hardest case for interchange-plus — per-transaction costs weigh more. The saving is real but modest, and we would rather show you that than a fantasy number.
Restaurant
$45,000/mo · $48 Ticket · 938 Sales
| Interchange + network (blended 1.72% + $0.10) | $868 |
| EBS processing fee (0.50%) + monthly fee | $260 |
| EBS total — effective 2.51% | $1,128 |
| Flat rate at 2.6% + 15¢ | $1,311 |
| Kept with EBS | $183/mo · $2,195/yr |
Tips, tabs, and a heavy debit mix at lunch. Debit is where flat rate quietly earns its spread — and where interchange-plus gives it back.
Retail Store
$30,000/mo · $85 Ticket · 353 Sales
| Interchange + network (blended 1.78% + $0.10) | $569 |
| EBS processing fee (0.50%) + monthly fee | $185 |
| EBS total — effective 2.51% | $754 |
| Flat rate at 2.6% + 15¢ | $833 |
| Kept with EBS | $79/mo · $944/yr |
Mid-size tickets, mixed credit and debit. The flat rate charges the rewards-card price on every single swipe — including the cheap ones.
Auto Repair
$60,000/mo · $320 Ticket · 188 Sales
| Interchange + network (blended 1.88% + $0.10) | $1,147 |
| EBS processing fee (0.50%) + monthly fee | $335 |
| EBS total — effective 2.47% | $1,482 |
| Flat rate at 2.6% + 15¢ | $1,588 |
| Kept with EBS | $106/mo · $1,277/yr |
Big tickets shrink the percentage gap — the honest picture. What stays constant: you see every rate you paid, by card, on every statement.
04Published Interchange
The Card Brands' Own Rates
Interchange is set by the card brands and paid to the customer's bank. No processor — us included — can negotiate it down. What a processor can do is show it to you. These are the categories most small businesses actually hit; full schedules run hundreds of rows, and we will walk yours line by line on a statement review.
Visa
US interchange, headline categories. Network assessment about 0.14% applies on top.
| Credit — Card Present | |
| CPS Retail | 1.51% + $0.10 |
| Rewards Traditional | 1.65% + $0.10 |
| Rewards Signature | 1.65% + $0.10 |
| Signature Preferred / Infinite | 2.10% + $0.10 |
| Business | 2.20% + $0.10 |
| Corporate | 2.50% + $0.10 |
| Small Business CPS Retail | 1.29% + $0.10 |
| Credit — Keyed / Online | |
| Keyed CPS Retail | 1.90% + $0.10 |
| Keyed Rewards Traditional | 2.05% + $0.10 |
| Keyed Signature Preferred / Infinite | 2.52% + $0.10 |
| Debit | |
| Consumer — swipe / chip | 0.80% + $0.15 |
| Prepaid | 1.15% + $0.15 |
| Regulated (Durbin cap) | 0.05% + $0.22 |
Mastercard
US interchange, headline categories, as published by Mastercard's schedule.
| Credit — Card Present | |
| Consumer | 1.65% + $0.10 |
| Enhanced | 1.80% + $0.10 |
| World | 1.90% + $0.10 |
| World Elite | 2.30% + $0.10 |
| Corporate | 2.70% + $0.10 |
| Credit — Keyed / Online | |
| Keyed Consumer | 1.95% + $0.10 |
| Keyed Enhanced | 2.10% + $0.10 |
| Keyed World | 2.20% + $0.10 |
| Keyed World Elite | 2.60% + $0.10 |
| Debit | |
| Debit — card present | 1.05% + $0.15 |
| Prepaid | 1.15% + $0.15 |
| Regulated (Durbin cap) | 0.05% + $0.22 |
05Discover & Amex
The Other Two Networks, Same Rule
Discover sets its own interchange schedule; Amex runs small businesses on its OptBlue wholesale schedule. Both pass through at cost under interchange-plus — plus the same 0.50% processing fee, nothing more.
Discover
US interchange, headline categories.
| Credit — Card Present | |
| Consumer | 1.56% + $0.10 |
| Rewards | 1.71% + $0.10 |
| Premium | 1.71% + $0.10 |
| Premium Plus | 2.15% + $0.10 |
| Credit — Keyed / Online | |
| Keyed Consumer | 1.89% + $0.10 |
| Keyed Rewards | 2.00% + $0.10 |
| Keyed Premium Plus | 2.40% + $0.10 |
| Debit | |
| Debit — card present | 1.10% + $0.16 |
| Debit — keyed | 1.75% + $0.20 |
| Regulated (Durbin cap) | 0.05% + $0.22 |
Amex — OptBlue
Wholesale discount rates by business type and ticket size. A 0.165% Amex network fee applies; keyed transactions add 0.30%.
| Retail | |
| Ticket under $75 | 1.45% + $0.10 |
| Ticket under $1,000 | 2.05% + $0.10 |
| Ticket over $1,000 | 2.50% + $0.10 |
| Restaurant | |
| Ticket under $25 | 1.85% + $0.10 |
| Ticket under $150 | 2.50% + $0.10 |
| Ticket over $150 | 2.85% + $0.10 |
| Services | |
| Ticket under $250 | 1.60% + $0.10 |
| Ticket under $3,000 | 2.10% + $0.10 |
| Ticket over $3,000 | 2.50% + $0.10 |
| Mail Order & Internet | |
| Ticket under $150 | 1.70% + $0.10 |
| Ticket under $3,000 | 2.05% + $0.10 |
| Ticket over $3,000 | 2.50% + $0.10 |
06The Calculator
Run Your Own Numbers
The same estimator from our homepage — no email required to use it. Type your volume and your current effective rate; if you only know last month's total fees, enter those and the rate fills itself in.
What Could You Keep?
Results update live. Estimate only; the free review gives your exact figure.
Estimate: half credit (1.80%), half regulated debit (0.05% + $0.22/transaction), + 0.50% processing fee + $35/mo. Your mix sets the real number — the free review puts it in writing.
07Pricing FAQ
Straight Answers
The Fee
Is 0.50% really the whole processing fee?
Yes. Interchange and network fees pass through at the card brands' cost. EBS adds 0.50% on processing and the $35 monthly merchant-services fee. That is the model — it is printed here because we intend you to hold us to it.
Why It Moves
Why would my cost change month to month?
Because interchange follows your customers' cards. A month heavy on premium rewards cards costs more than a month heavy on debit — under any honest pricing. Flat rate hides the movement by charging you top-tier money on every transaction, every month.
Debit
What does regulated debit mean for me?
Debit cards from banks with over $10 billion in assets are capped by federal rule at 0.05% + about $0.22 per swipe. Interchange-plus hands you that cap. A flat rate near 2.6% charges you the same on that swipe as on a premium rewards card — the spread is the processor's, not the bank's.
The $35
Why $35 a month instead of $0?
Because merchant services is a service: statements you can read, setup done with you, and a phone that reaches a person Monday to Saturday, 9 to 9. We state the $35 plainly rather than burying it in the rate — we are not worried about matching a $0 headline that gets recovered somewhere else.
Amex
How is Amex priced?
On Amex's OptBlue wholesale schedule — the table above, by business type and ticket size — plus the same 0.50% processing fee. No separate Amex games, no fourth column of fine print.
Exact Numbers
How do I get my real figure?
Send your current statement for a free review. We decode your true effective rate, price your exact volume and card mix at interchange + 0.50%, and put both numbers in writing. If your current setup wins, we tell you to keep it.
Free Statement Review
Your Statement Is the Last Piece
Everything on this page is published. The only number we cannot publish is yours — it is sitting in your current statement, in a format designed to be hard to read. Send it. We will decode it, in writing, for free.
08See How We Compare
Priced Against the Names You Already Know.
We publish our pricing, so the least we can do is publish the comparisons too — the same worked-example math, the same honest labels, and the places each of these names genuinely does something well. Run your own statement against any of them.
Compare
EBS vs Clover
Clover's hardware is genuinely good. The pricing around it depends on who sold it to you — and that is where the cost hides. We line our published rate up against the ways Clover is commonly sold, line by line.
See the comparison →Compare
EBS vs Square
One flat rate is easy to understand — and easy to overpay on debit-heavy volume. The side-by-side shows where the flat rate wins, where it loses, and by how much.
See the comparison →Compare
EBS vs Stripe
Stripe is built for online checkout, and priced like it. If you also take cards in person, the blended math changes. Here is the honest breakdown, both directions.
See the comparison →Compare
EBS vs Toast
Toast builds a strong restaurant system and bundles processing into it. We separate the POS from the processing so you can see what each part actually costs.
See the comparison →Proof
Proof & Reviews
Comparisons are our math. Proof is what merchants say — published under our named-or-not-published standard, next to the worked examples, so you can weigh both.
See the proof →Start
Your Numbers, Not Theirs
Every comparison here is illustrative. Send us your current statement and we run the same math on your actual volume — free, and in writing.
Start My Free Review