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💳 Consumer vs. Commercial Card Pricing: What Partners Need to Know

This article explains the difference between Consumer Cards and Commercial Cards, and how pricing is applied to each.

Updated over 3 months ago

ValPay allows partners to configure pricing separately for Consumer and Commercial cards during onboarding. This gives you flexibility to align pricing with different card types and transaction risk profiles.

🧾 Consumer Card Pricing (Default)

Consumer cards are personal credit and debit cards issued to individual cardholders. These cards are enabled by default during onboarding.

Consumer Card Pricing Setup

In the onboarding portal, partners configure the following rates for Consumer cards:

Card-Present Transactions

  • Card-Present Rate

  • Transaction Fee

Card-Not-Present (CNP) Transactions

  • Card-Not-Present Rate

  • Card-Not-Present (CNP) Transaction Fee

Cross-Border Transactions

  • Cross-Border Fee

    (Applied when the card is issued outside the merchant’s country)

These rates apply to Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and other supported card networks, based on your configuration.

🏢 Commercial Card Pricing (Optional)

Commercial cards are issued to businesses, government entities, or organizations. Examples include:

  • Corporate cards

  • Purchasing (P) cards

  • Business expense cards

Commercial cards often carry different interchange costs, which is why pricing is configured separately.

Unlocking Commercial Cards

Commercial cards are not enabled by default.

To accept Commercial cards:

  • Partners must explicitly unlock Commercial Cards in the onboarding portal

  • Separate pricing must be defined before these cards can be processed

Commercial Card Pricing Setup

Once unlocked, partners configure the same pricing categories as Consumer cards, but with Commercial-specific rates:

Card-Present Transactions

  • Commercial Card-Present Rate

  • Commercial Transaction Fee

Card-Not-Present (CNP) Transactions

  • Commercial Card-Not-Present Rate

  • Commercial CNP Transaction Fee

Cross-Border Transactions

  • Commercial Cross-Border Fee

This allows partners to reflect the higher or variable costs often associated with Commercial card acceptance.

⚖️ Key Differences at a Glance

Category

Consumer Cards

Commercial Cards

Default availability

Enabled by default

Must be explicitly unlocked

Cardholder type

Individual consumers

Businesses & organizations

Pricing configuration

Required

Required (separate from Consumer)

Card-present rates

Yes

Yes

Card-not-present rates

Yes

Yes

Cross-border fees

Yes

Yes

Typical interchange cost

Lower

Often higher

🧭 Why Separate Pricing Matters

Separating Consumer and Commercial pricing allows partners to:

  • Accurately reflect underlying card network costs

  • Avoid underpricing higher-cost Commercial transactions

  • Maintain predictable margins across card types

  • Offer flexible pricing aligned with merchant risk and volume

Not all merchants need Commercial card acceptance, so enabling it should be a deliberate decision.

📌 Important Notes

  • Pricing applies per card network (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, etc.) based on your setup

  • Rates and fees must be configured before transactions can be processed

  • Commercial cards will not be accepted unless explicitly enabled

❓ Need Help?

If you’re unsure whether Commercial cards should be enabled for your merchants, or need help configuring pricing, contact your ValPay Partner Manager or reach out to support@valpay.com.

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