How do I get the lowest B2B interchange rates?

What Business-card rates can I expect with Visa?

This is a complicated question, since there are many different potential cards you can receive, and many factors that influence interchange. But typically, rate reductions for B2B merchants are in the 0.05% – 0.20% range, all else being equal. As you’ll see in the below chart – it’s incredibly important to always submit AVS information and a PO number. If you’re able to include a tax value above $0, you’ll qualify for level 2/3 rates, which are even lower than B2B rates by themselves. View the below chart to see how Visa business cards will qualify, and click here to see if your business is considered a B2B merchant type by Visa. Remember – if you use a system like the MX Merchant B2B app, you don’t have to worry about any of this! The system will auto-qualify sales on your behalf.

What Business-card rates can I expect with Mastercard?

Mastercard works a bit differently than Visa, and has more of an “all or nothing” approach. Mastercard doesn’t care if you have a “zero” value as a tax amount – there is no advantage to that. Similarly, Mastercard does not distinguish B2B merchants the same way Visa does. You either get level 3 rates by submitting ALL level 3 info (Mastercard calls these “Data Rates”), you get level 2 rates if you submit a PO number and a tax amount greater than $0, or you get “Data Rate 1” rates if you only submit AVS information. Submitting a sale without AVS information will result in the dreaded “Standard” rates. Here’s how it looks:

Are you confused yet?

We get it… This is confusing stuff! That’s why we recommend using a solution that does the heavy lifting for you. Dharma offers the MX Merchant B2B App, so that your sales will automatically qualify for the lowest possible rates, no matter how you enter them.

It’s not common knowledge – but typically, merchants can save over half of a percent by following proper B2B processing guidelines. Usually, these guidelines can feel onerous – merchants are required to submit all sorts of additional data with each sale, which can be cumbersome, time-consuming, and very confusing. So most merchants simply don’t bother. The above charts are a testament to this!

That’s where the MX B2B app comes into play. With the MX B2B App, you don’t have to do anything special! Once enabled, you simply enter a sale into the MX Virtual Terminal like normal, and in the background we’ll populate any “missing” information. This ensures that you’ll always get the lowest rate on any given sale. No extra work, no extra hassle, no extra time spent.