Flat-rate card pricing

Flat-rate card pricing means the merchant pays one consistent percentage per card transaction, regardless of card type, brand, or channel. The processor wraps interchange (paid to the issuing bank), scheme fees (paid to Visa/Mastercard/Amex), and its own margin into a single rate.

Compare this to interchange-plus, where you see line items for each component and the total varies by card. Interchange-plus is cheaper on debit cards and rewards-light credit cards but more expensive on premium cards (Amex, business credit) — and the variability makes monthly costs hard to predict.

Kotao uses a published flat card rate — same on every card, every channel. No surcharge for Amex. No off-platform penalty. Same rate on Apple Pay and Google Pay. The trade is simplicity over the absolute lowest possible rate; for most operators, the predictability and the time saved on reconciliation more than offset the difference.