Use a representative month
Download your merchant statement and the matching invoice or fee breakdown. A bank deposit alone rarely shows the full picture: it may already have fees, refunds or other adjustments deducted.
Choose a typical month to begin with, then look at a few more months to see whether your costs change with turnover or card mix.
Separate sales from settlements
Find your gross card sales and transaction count. Then identify refunds, chargebacks and settlement adjustments. The amount paid into your bank may relate to different trading days because of settlement timing, weekends or reserves.
Reconcile the statement’s reporting period before treating a difference as an error.
Group the charges
Separate percentage charges, per-transaction fees and fixed monthly costs. Note any card type or payment channel breakdowns. Look for terminal rental, gateway charges, minimum service charges and one-off fees that appear on separate invoices.
If a label is unclear, ask your provider to explain it and point to the relevant pricing term in your agreement.
Calculate an effective cost
For an overall view, divide the fees you are measuring by gross card sales for the same period, then multiply by 100. For illustration, £168 in fees on £12,000 of card sales is an effective cost of 1.4%.
Write down which fees you included. An effective cost that includes rental and subscriptions is different from a transaction-only rate. Use the same basis each month and when comparing providers.
Turn questions into a review checklist
Compare the charges with your agreed pricing. Flag unexpected fee names, changed rates, duplicate charges or a minimum fee you did not expect. Share the relevant statement lines with your provider and request an explanation.
Use the percentage, fixed transaction and monthly fees you identify as inputs to RateIQ. If you have multiple transaction rates, a single rate is only an approximation; review each segment separately for a more detailed comparison.