Bambora fees in Canada: what you pay, and who charges it.

The short answer

• Two layers, sometimes two bills. The gateway charges monthly and per-transaction fees. Processing adds interchange, network fees and the processor's markup.
• Your portal tells you who settles. Bambora says that if you see no settlement report in its portal, your processor handles your settlements.
• Bambora publishes no Canadian rate card. Your own fees are listed in your account documents and on your monthly invoice.
• Interchange is set by the card networks. The markup and account fees are what differ between providers.
• Compare the whole setup. A low markup can sit beside high gateway or monthly fees.

The layers you pay for

Our card processing fees guide explains interchange, network fees and markup, with Visa's and Mastercard's published rates.

Gateway fees

The payment gateway sends each payment from your website, invoice or virtual terminal to be approved. Bambora's guide to its monthly invoice lists these gateway charges:

• Account monthly charge. A monthly fee, separate from per-transaction fees and discount rates.
• Approved credit card transactions. A per-transaction fee on each approved sale. Bambora calls it "the gateway fee."
• Declined credit card transactions. A per-transaction fee on each declined attempt.

Declines cost money too. A website hit by card-testing bots can run up decline fees without one sale.

Bambora says the full list of fees on your account is in your Code of Conduct document. Keep it with your agreement.

Processing fees

Processing approves the sale with the customer's bank and sends you the money. It has three parts:

1. Interchange, paid to the bank that issued the card. Visa and Mastercard publish the rates. See our interchange rates guide.
2. Network fees, charged by the card networks.
3. The processor's markup, for its own service.

Online sales usually cost more. Visa's interchange for a basic Classic card is 1.25% in store and 1.40% when the card is not present.

If Bambora also handles your settlement, its invoice shows a "Credit Card Discounts" line, charged on the size of each sale. Bambora says your fees then combine a merchant discount rate and per-transaction costs. If your processor handles settlement, these costs appear on your processor's statement instead.

Monthly, chargeback and other fees

Look for these on both bills:

• Monthly account or statement fees, and any monthly minimum.
• [Chargeback](/resources/glossary/chargeback) fees. If Bambora settles your account, it charges these on its invoice. If you have no chargeback report in the portal, Bambora says your processor handles chargebacks.
• Bank payment fees, if you use Bambora's electronic bank payments (EBP). These have their own monthly and per-transaction lines.
• Reserves. Bambora may hold money to cover chargebacks and refunds. A reserve is held, not charged.
• Cancellation terms, such as an early termination fee.

Which line comes from the gateway, and which from the processor

Start in the Bambora portal. Bambora's help centre gives the test:

When Bambora settles, its fees come out of your settlements before the money reaches your bank. Its invoice shows gateway and discount charges, and the Daily Activity Details report shows the fees taken each day.

When your processor settles, you get two documents. Bambora's invoice carries the gateway charges and is paid from a bank account or card on file. Your processor's statement carries interchange, network fees, markup and chargebacks.

Bambora sends the monthly invoice to the account's primary contact within 10 business days of month end. Put it beside the processing statement for the same month. A line you cannot place is unreconciled, not necessarily wrong: ask about it in writing.

What a complete quote must include

A useful quote covers every layer. Ask for:

• Processing: how interchange and network fees are passed on, and the markup as a percentage, a per-transaction amount, or both. Interchange-plus pricing is the easiest to check.
• Gateway: the monthly fee and the fees per approved and per declined transaction.
• Account fees: monthly, minimum, chargeback, bank payment and any other fees.
• Software: plugin, connector or subscription costs, and who bills them.
• Set-up work: configuration or development, if any.
• Terms: contract length, renewal, cancellation fees and reserve conditions.
• Currency: whether the account runs in CAD, USD or both.

If a line does not apply, the quote should say so.

A worked example

An example only, not a quote. An online store, too large for Visa's small-merchant rates, takes 300 sales of $100 on Visa Classic cards in a month. That is $30,000. The interchange rate is Visa Canada's published card-not-present rate. Every other figure is invented to show the arithmetic. None is Bambora's price or anyone else's.

Processing alone is $535, or 1.78% of sales. With the gateway, the setup costs $587, or 1.96%. Say which figure you mean when you compare quotes. A real month mixes card types, and premium cards cost more. Work out your own effective rate.

Where CleverPays fits

The card networks set interchange. Bambora, now owned by Shift4, runs the gateway and sets its fees. Your processor sets its markup, and your software vendor bills for its plugin.

We check your setup: which gateway account, which processor, which software, CAD or USD, saved cards and recurring billing. We read your Bambora invoice and processing statement together and list every fee. What can change depends on your account, and we confirm it in writing first. Where we can set up the account, we will say so in writing. Where we cannot, we will tell you. For the processor configuration document, see the Bambora VAR sheet guide.