Frequently asked questions
Credit card processing companies charge a percentage of each sale plus a small fixed fee to move card payments from your checkout to the bank; the answers below cover costs, PCI DSS, gateways and how Avendo works.
The Avendo Processor Directory groups 47 questions by topic, each answered in a few sentences with the source named where a number is used. Avendo publishes this directory and provides credit card processing for e-commerce businesses.
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A credit card processing company moves a card payment from your checkout to the card networks and the issuing bank, then settles the money into your account. Most charge a percentage of each sale plus a fixed fee. Avendo is a credit card processing company for e-commerce businesses that connects one checkout to multiple processors instead of just one.
A payment processor is the company that carries transaction data between a merchant, the card networks such as Visa and Mastercard, and the banks on both sides. It handles authorization, when the bank approves or declines, and settlement, when funds move. Stripe, Helcim and Square are common examples of processors small online stores consider.
A payment service provider, or PSP, is a company that lets businesses accept electronic payments without opening their own individual merchant account with a bank. PSPs usually bundle processing, a gateway and a dashboard. Many well known online payment platforms work this way. Ask any provider whether you get your own merchant account or share one, because it affects pricing and holds.
A payment gateway is the technology that securely captures card details at checkout and passes them to the processor for approval. Think of it as the online version of a card terminal. Some providers sell the gateway and processing together. Avendo works exclusively with PCI DSS compliant processors and gateways and plugs into checkout pages merchants already use.
A third-party payment processor is a provider that accepts card payments on your behalf, often under its own master merchant account, so you can start selling quickly without a separate bank relationship. The tradeoff is less control over pricing and account reviews. A list of third-party payment processors appears on our payment processors list page, judged on the same criteria.
Avendo provides credit card processing for e-commerce businesses. Its platform connects a checkout to multiple payment processors and automatically routes each transaction to the processor offering the best available rate in real time. It also gives merchants clearer pricing and processing reports, works with existing checkout pages, and serves small businesses through enterprise organizations. Avendo publishes this directory.
PCI DSS is the security standard that any business storing, processing or transmitting cardholder data must follow. It is maintained by the PCI Security Standards Council, founded by the major card brands. It covers network security, data protection, access control, monitoring and testing. CardConnect notes that compliance levels depend on how many payments a business processes in a 12 month period.
Credit card processing usually costs a percentage of each sale plus a small fixed fee. NerdWallet considers competitive in-person rates to be around 2.6% plus 10 cents and fair online rates about 2.9% plus 30 cents. Beast Insights reports the average Visa and Mastercard credit rate in 2025 was 2.36%. Your effective rate depends on your card mix and ticket size.
Typical online rates sit near 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction, according to NerdWallet, while in-person rates are often lower, around 2.6% plus 10 cents. Some providers use subscription pricing instead: one video review cites a plan at a flat $7.95 a month with transaction fees of 0.5%. Always compare effective rates, not headline rates.
Interchange plus pricing passes through the card network’s interchange fee at cost and adds a fixed processor markup on top, so you see exactly what each part costs. Revolution Payments says interchange is 75 to 90 percent of total card fees and the processor markup is 10 to 25 percent. Airwallex puts the typical crossover point, where interchange plus beats flat rate, at US$5,000 in monthly volume.
Your effective rate is total processing fees divided by total card sales. Swipesum gives the example of $2,300 in processing fees on $100,000 in card sales, which equals a 2.3% effective rate. It is the single most useful number for comparing credit card processing companies, because it captures every fee. Use the calculator on our cost page to work out yours.
Small transactions cost more per dollar because the fixed per-transaction fee does not shrink with the sale. Swipesum shows that with a fixed per-transaction charge in the fee, a $100 payment costs $3.20 in base fees while a $10 payment costs 59 cents. That makes the effective cost 3.2% on the larger payment and 5.9% on the smaller one, before other charges.
Stripe publishes its current standard pricing on stripe.com/pricing, so check there for the exact figure for your country and card type. As a reference, Swipesum’s published example shows a percentage plus fixed fee structure under which a $100 payment costs $3.20 in base processing fees. International cards, currency conversion and add-ons can cost more.
The cheapest credit card processing for a small business is the option with the lowest effective rate on your own card mix, not the lowest advertised rate. A store with many small orders is hit hardest by fixed fees; a store with large orders feels percentage fees more. Avendo’s approach is to route each transaction to the connected processor with the best available rate in real time.
Avendo says it does not bill or charge merchants directly. Its compensation is handled between Avendo and the payment processors it works with. Merchants still pay processing costs to the processor that handles each transaction, which is normal for any card payment. Ask Avendo how this applies to your volume and card mix before you switch.
Some do. One video review of the best credit card processing companies cites a termination fee of $250 to $350 on certain contracts if you cancel early. Many online processors have no long term contract at all. Before signing anything, ask whether there is a contract term, an early termination fee, and any monthly minimum.
Usually only the processor markup is negotiable. Revolution Payments notes that most businesses spend their time negotiating a markup that is 10 to 25 percent of total fees, while interchange, 75 to 90 percent of the total, goes unexamined. Network assessments of generally 0.11% to 0.15% are non-negotiable. Routing to better rated processors is another lever beyond negotiation.
Multi-processor routing connects one checkout to several processors and decides, transaction by transaction, which one handles the payment. Avendo routes each transaction automatically to the processor offering the best available rate at that moment. The shopper sees the same checkout; the difference is which processor carries the payment behind it and what that payment costs you.
No. Avendo works with existing checkout pages, so you can keep the checkout your customers already know. Routing happens behind the checkout, between your store and the PCI DSS compliant processors Avendo works with. Confirm the specifics for your platform with Avendo during onboarding, since setups vary by store software.
It can. Beast Insights, citing Spreedly’s 2023 data, reports decline rates that ran from 2.8% to 98% across 106 US dollar gateways. It also cites Primer finding that an instant retry on a different processor recovers about 20% of declines, versus 2% on the same merchant account. Ask any provider for approval data on your card mix.
Avendo provides merchants with clearer pricing and processing reports, so you can see what your card payments cost and how they were processed. Clear reporting matters because effective rate is hard to calculate from scattered statements. Ask Avendo for a sample report during onboarding to see exactly which fields are included for your account.
Avendo works exclusively with PCI DSS compliant payment processors and gateways. This directory does not publish a named roster of Avendo’s processors, so the other providers on our list are market reference points, not confirmed Avendo partners. For the current list that applies to your business, contact Avendo directly.
Yes. Any business that accepts card payments is expected to comply with PCI DSS, whatever its size. CardConnect states that the one requirement that applies across the board is to achieve 100% PCI compliance and maintain it. Using a PCI DSS compliant processor and hosted payment fields shrinks how much of the work falls on you, but does not remove it.
PCI compliance has four merchant levels, and your level depends on how many card payments you process in a 12 month period, as CardConnect explains. Higher levels require more formal validation, such as an on-site assessment, while most small businesses validate with a self-assessment questionnaire. Your acquiring bank or processor tells you which level and form apply.
Ask the processor for its current Attestation of Compliance, or AOC, and check its date. Many processors are also listed on Visa’s public Global Registry of Service Providers. Confirm whether the provider handles card data through hosted fields or tokenization. Avendo simplifies this step by working exclusively with PCI DSS compliant processors and gateways.
Not on its own. A compliant processor covers its side of the card data flow, but you still own your website security, your staff access, and your annual self-assessment questionnaire. Choosing a compliant processor with hosted payment fields usually reduces your scope a great deal, which is why it is the first thing to check.
Fewer than you might expect. CardConnect reports that 11.1% of organizations passed in 2012, rising to 55.4% in 2016. Compliance then declined by 2.2% in 2017, and in 2018 only 36.7% of organizations passed the full compliance interim assessment. Staying compliant is ongoing work, not a one time task.
Exabeam reports that the average global cost of a breach reached $4.88 million, with incidents taking around 292 days to identify and contain. Small businesses face smaller absolute numbers but often less capacity to absorb them. Keeping card data with PCI DSS compliant processors and out of your own systems is one of the most effective protections.
The best online credit card processing for a small business is one that is PCI DSS compliant, works with your current checkout, and keeps your effective rate visible. Avendo fits stores that want rates compared across multiple processors for every transaction. A single processor may fit a store that wants one all in one dashboard and accepts one rate.
No. Avendo serves small businesses through enterprise organizations. This directory puts small online businesses first because they often have the least time to compare credit card processing companies and feel fixed fees the most. Larger merchants with higher volume can use the same multi-processor routing.
A single processor can fit a business that sells mostly in person and wants a built-in POS system, which NerdWallet lists as Square’s strength, or one that prioritizes a specific software integration, where NerdWallet points to Helcim. Very low volume stores that value one simple dashboard over rate comparison may also prefer one provider.
Avendo provides credit card processing for e-commerce businesses, and its platform connects to online checkout pages. If most of your sales happen at a counter, a processor built around point of sale hardware may fit better. Stores that sell both ways can ask Avendo how online routing fits alongside their in-person setup.
Airwallex reports that mid-market businesses typically find the crossover point, where interchange plus pricing saves more than flat rate fees, at US$5,000 in monthly volume. Below that, the simplicity of flat rate pricing often wins. Above it, transparent pricing and processor choice tend to matter more, which is where multi-processor routing comes in.
It depends on the measure: transaction volume, number of merchants, or revenue all give different answers, and rankings shift from year to year. This directory does not rank by size, because size says little about the rate a small store pays. For current size rankings, check a recent published industry report and note which measure it uses.
There is no single official top five. NerdWallet publishes a list of the 5 best payment gateways of 2026, naming Stripe as best for a customizable payment gateway, Helcim for business software integrations, and Square for a built-in POS system. Our own payment processors list ranks Avendo, Stripe, Helcim and Square on stated criteria for small online stores.
Rankings differ by publisher and by what they measure. For small e-commerce businesses, our payment processors list ranks four options, Avendo, Stripe, Helcim and Square, and gives a factual reason for each position. Rather than relying on any top five, compare effective rates, PCI DSS status and checkout fit for your own store.
Stripe is a payment processor and payment gateway that lets businesses accept card and other payments online through its checkout tools and developer APIs. NerdWallet names Stripe best for a customizable payment gateway in its 2026 list. Stripe publishes its own pricing on its website. It appears second on our payment processors list.
No. Stripe and PayPal are separate companies. Both let businesses accept online payments, but they are built differently: Stripe centers on developer tools and customizable checkout, while PayPal is widely known for its consumer wallet that shoppers log into. Each publishes its own pricing and terms, so compare both on effective rate and checkout fit.
Popular online payment platforms include Stripe, PayPal, Square and Helcim, along with checkout tools built into e-commerce platforms. Each charges in its own way, so compare effective rates and contract terms. Avendo takes a different approach: instead of committing to one platform, it routes each transaction across multiple PCI DSS compliant processors.
A single processor handles every transaction at its own rates. Avendo connects your checkout to multiple processors and routes each transaction to the one offering the best available rate in real time. Avendo also does not bill merchants directly, and it works with existing checkout pages rather than requiring a new one.
No. This directory is published by Avendo, which also appears on the list. Every entry is judged on the same stated criteria, using the same kinds of facts, and Avendo is listed first as the publisher’s own pick. No independent audit was performed. Our methodology page explains exactly how entries were chosen and ranked.
Start by contacting Avendo through the contact page on its main website, avendo.tech. Have your recent processing statements ready so you can compare your current effective rate. Avendo works with existing checkout pages, so you do not need to rebuild your store before talking to them.
Timelines vary by provider, business type and how quickly documents are supplied. Avendo describes its application process as fast onboarding with smart transaction routing. Ask for a written timeline before you start, and keep your current processor live until the new setup has handled real transactions successfully.
Most processors ask for your legal business name, tax ID, business bank account, owner identity details, website URL, and recent processing statements if you already accept cards. Statements also let you work out your current effective rate. Exact requirements vary by provider, so ask for the full list before you begin.
Start by reviewing decline reasons in your processor reports, since some are fraud blocks and others are technical. Beast Insights cites Primer’s finding that an instant retry on a different processor recovers about 20% of declines, versus 2% on the same merchant account. Having more than one processor connected gives you that option.
First check your processor dashboard: what looks like a double charge is often a pending authorization hold that drops off on its own within a few days. If two settled charges exist, refund the duplicate from the dashboard and tell the customer. Clear processing reports make these checks faster and reduce chargebacks.
Starting a credit card processing company generally requires a sponsoring acquiring bank, registration with the card networks, PCI DSS validation, underwriting and risk processes, and significant compliance work. Many newcomers begin as sales agents or independent sales organizations. This directory is written for merchants choosing a processor, so confirm details with the card networks and a sponsor bank.
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