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Find out what you are actually paying to accept cards
Most restaurant owners can tell you their sales to the dollar and cannot tell you their card rate within a percentage point. That is not carelessness. The number that matters, total fees as a share of card volume, is printed nowhere on a merchant statement. Send us three months and we will work it out and send back one page in plain language, within 24 hours, free, with nothing attached.
The example teardown below is an illustration built from typical full-service restaurant numbers, not a customer's statement. Fee names are the ones that appear on statements from the major US processors.
Why you cannot read your own statement
A merchant processing statement is not designed to be understood. It is designed to be compliant. The number you actually want, the percentage of your sales that leaves as card fees, appears nowhere on it. What appears instead is a dense table of line items with names like Monthly Minimum Discount, PCI Non-Validation Fee, Batch Header Fee and Non-Qualified Surcharge, spread across three or four pages, using terms that no one has ever explained to you.
This is not an accident of formatting. Card processing has three layers, and only one of them is negotiable. Interchange is what the card networks charge and it is identical for everyone. Assessments are the networks' own fees and are also fixed. The third layer is the processor's markup, and it is the only part anyone has any say over. A statement that blends all three into a single Discount line makes the negotiable part invisible, which is generally the point.
The result is that most owners we talk to can tell us their sales to the dollar and cannot tell us their card rate within a full percentage point. On $40,000 a month, one percentage point is $4,800 a year. It is one of the largest line items in a restaurant that nobody is managing, not through negligence, but because the document that would let them manage it is unreadable on purpose.
What we send back
Send us three months of statements and we send back a one-page teardown within 24 hours. It is written in plain language, it fits on a single page, and it answers one question first: what percentage of your card sales you are actually paying, all in.
Below that number we show where it comes from. Interchange and assessments are separated from the processor's markup, so you can see which portion is fixed by the card networks and which portion exists because of who you signed with. Every fixed monthly charge is listed with what it is for, and the ones that are avoidable are marked as avoidable. Where a fee is unusual for your volume and business type, we say so.
We use three months rather than one because a single statement hides things. Monthly minimums only bill in slow months. Annual fees land once. Seasonal swings change your average ticket, which changes your effective rate even when the pricing has not moved. Three months makes the pattern visible.
Sometimes the honest answer is that your pricing is already competitive. When that is the case we say so and that is the end of it. A teardown that always concludes you are overpaying would not be worth sending.
What a teardown looks like
This is an illustration built from a typical full-service restaurant's numbers, not a real customer's statement. It shows the shape of what comes back: one effective rate at the bottom, and every line above it explained.
| Line on the statement | What it actually is | This example | Negotiable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interchange | What the card networks charge. Identical for every merchant in the country. | $798.00 (1.90%) | No |
| Assessments | The networks' own fees on top of interchange. Also fixed. | $58.80 (0.14%) | No |
| Processor markup | What your processor keeps. The only layer anyone can negotiate. | $315.00 (0.75%) | Yes |
| PCI non-validation fee | Charged when the annual PCI questionnaire has not been completed. Triggered by paperwork, not by a breach. | $19.95 | Avoidable |
| Monthly minimum | Charged when your fees fall below a floor written into the agreement. | $25.00 | Yes |
| Statement fee | A charge for producing the statement itself. | $9.95 | Yes |
| Gateway and batch fees | Per-batch charges plus any gateway subscription. | $18.00 | Sometimes |
| Total card fees | Everything above, added up. | $1,244.70 | — |
| Effective rate | Total fees divided by card volume. This is the number that matters and it is printed nowhere on the statement. | 2.96% on $42,000 | — |
In this illustration the restaurant would tell you it pays "about 2.5%", because that is the rate on the agreement it signed. The 2.96% is what actually left the account. The gap between those two numbers is what a teardown is for.
How to send them
Email three consecutive months of merchant processing statements to info@gingerserve.com with the subject "Statement review". Include the name of your restaurant and the city. That is the entire process. There is no form to fill in, no account to create and no call to book.
Your processor emails these to you monthly, or they are in the merchant portal under Statements. If you only have paper copies, a clear phone photo of each page is fine. If you are missing a month, send what you have and say so; two months is still useful, one month less so.
You are welcome to black out your bank account and routing numbers. We do not need them and they are not used in the analysis. What we do need is the volume, the transaction count, and the fee lines.
What we do with your statements
We read them, write the teardown, and email it back to you. They are not shared with a processor, a broker or any third party, and they are not used for anything other than producing your teardown. If you would like them deleted once you have the teardown, say so in the email and we will delete them and confirm.
There is no obligation attached to any part of this. You will get the teardown whether or not you ever want to talk about switching anything. We will not call you unless you ask us to, and we will not add you to a mailing list.
Why do it for free? Because in most cases the teardown shows money leaving that the owner did not know about, and we would rather be the people who showed them. Some of those restaurants eventually become customers, and some do not, and the arithmetic on the page is the same either way.
Estimate it yourself first, if you prefer
If you would rather not send anything, the effective rate calculator on this site will get you a rough number in under a minute from your monthly volume and transaction count. It compares published card-present rates from several providers and shows what the same volume costs on each.
The limit of doing it yourself is that a calculator works from the rate you believe you are paying, and the whole problem is that the rate on the agreement and the rate on the bank statement are usually different numbers. A teardown works from what actually left your account.
Frequently asked questions
What is a merchant statement review?
It is a plain-language breakdown of what your restaurant actually pays to accept cards. You send three months of processing statements, and within 24 hours you get back a one-page teardown showing your true effective rate, how much of it is interchange and assessments set by the card networks versus your processor's markup, and every fixed monthly fee with what it is for and whether it is avoidable. It is free and carries no obligation.
Why do you need three months instead of one?
One statement hides things. Monthly minimums only bill in slower months, annual fees land once a year, and seasonal swings change your average ticket, which moves your effective rate even when your pricing has not changed. Three consecutive months makes the pattern visible. Two months is still useful if that is what you have.
What does it cost, and what is the catch?
It is free and there is no catch to disclose. You get the teardown whether or not you want to discuss changing anything, we will not call unless you ask, and you are not added to a mailing list. We do it because the teardown usually shows money leaving that the owner did not know about, and some of those restaurants eventually become customers.
What do you do with my statements?
We read them, write your teardown and email it back. They are not shared with a processor, a broker or any third party and are not used for anything else. Ask in your email and we will delete them once you have the teardown, and confirm that we have. You can black out bank account and routing numbers; they are not needed for the analysis.
What if my rate turns out to be fine?
Then we say so and that is the end of it. A review that always concludes you are overpaying would not be worth sending or worth reading. Knowing your effective rate is competitive is a useful result, because it closes a question most owners cannot answer about one of their largest costs.
Do I have to change anything to get the review?
No. You do not need to change your POS, your processor or anything else, and you do not need to be considering it. Plenty of the statements we read belong to restaurants that stay exactly where they are.
Send three months and see the real number
Email your last three merchant processing statements to info@gingerserve.com with the subject "Statement review", and include your restaurant name and city. One page comes back within 24 hours. Free, no obligation, and your statements are never shared.