The three buckets of cost
Every card-acceptance bill breaks into three parts: the hardware, the processing rate on each transaction, and monthly account fees. Most merchants fixate on the first and ignore the other two, which is exactly backwards. Processing rates and fees almost always dwarf the cost of the device over a year.
Hardware: rent, lease or buy
Renting a terminal in Canada commonly runs from roughly $20 to $35 per month depending on the model. Buying outright costs a few hundred dollars up front. Leasing spreads the cost but usually costs the most over time.
We compare the three approaches in detail in rent, lease or buy your payment terminal. For most small businesses, renting or buying beats a long lease.
Processing rates: where the money goes
Processing is the biggest number. With Armour Payments, online Canadian credit transactions start from 0.72% + 5¢, and in-person Interac debit can be as low as 5¢ per tap. Rates vary by card type and pricing model.
The fairest structure is interchange-plus, where you see the true card-network cost plus a fixed markup. Learn why in hidden terminal fees. Compare plans on our pricing page.
The fees that quietly add up
Statement fees, PCI fees, minimum-monthly fees, batch fees and non-compliance penalties can add $20 to $80 a month if you aren't careful. Ask any provider for an all-in monthly estimate and a sample statement.
Armour Payments keeps the account fee simple, payment processing starts at $5/month, so your bill is easy to predict.
One counter lane, a full month on paper
Take one countertop lane and write a full month on a single page. Hardware rent in the range already quoted here is roughly $20 to $35, plus the $5 account fee. In-person Interac taps can be as low as 5¢ each. A credit sale is priced on the card, and online Canadian credit on this account starts from 0.72% + 5¢, which is a different rail from the counter. The lane's bill is rent, plus those per-sale charges, plus any statement or PCI line you have not asked about yet. The hardware row will look small next to processing once the month is added up. Use our pricing as the baseline you can read, then put the quiet lines next to it with hidden terminal fees.
Numbers to pull before you compare quotes
Ask every provider for the same four figures before you compare their quotes. You want monthly hardware, whether that is rent, lease, or a purchase, the per-transaction figure for in-person Interac and for credit, the monthly account fee, and every add-on that can post in a quiet month. A counter lane that looks cheap near $20 rent can still pick up statement, PCI, and minimum fees. Put the answers in one column and divide total fees by card volume so you see an effective rate. If a quote will not list the add-ons, you already learned something. Talk to sales with your lane count and card mix, and keep rent, lease or buy open while you do the arithmetic.