I'm in the process of looking for a merchant account. After reading several forum posts I know I have to read the agreements and thoroughly understand the fee structure.

I have come across some fees that I can't seem to find the definition to. Please help me define the following fees.


WATTS Fee
Global/ POS Watts Fee
Reprogramming Fee
PQ Charge Fee
PQ DMP Annual Fee
Network Fee
Network Inquiry Fee
Voice Authorization Fee
DDA Charge
ACH Rejection Fee
ACH Return Item Fee
ACH Transaction Fee
Returned ACH
Resubmitted ACH
ACH Rate

cdgcommerce has some good info on their site that covers some of the details and definitions that might help.

Thanks for the mention, i-devs. :)

From the list above, it sounds like you are looking at an agreement for both credit card and ACH processing?

WATTS Fee & Global/ POS Watts Fee - these are fees that some processors charge when a primary local network # is not available and a system needs to revert to a backup toll-free line to perform a transaction. If you are using an Internet gateway properly certified on a dedicated line or TCP/IP with your processor then you should never have to pay these fees but you'll want to verify that fact.

Reprogramming Fee - you should never have to pay this. Some merchant processors still charge a reprogramming fee but that is a legacy fee from "older times" and most competitive processors waive this fee now.

PQ Charge Fee - off hand, not sure on the "PQ" meaning. Partially qualified? Properly qualified? You'll want to find out.

PQ DMP Annual Fee - sounds like an annual service fee.

Network Fee & Network Inquiry Fee - not sure why these are separate line items, usually it is just one or the other. This is the per trans authorization fee on every transaction that you run - whether it is approved or declined, I should add.

Voice Authorization Fee - this is if you use a voice auth line to get an authorization and then "force" it via your virtual terminal to capture it.

DDA Charge - this is a fee to change your bank account information. Some processors will waive this fee but many will assess it to make a quick $20-25 for the 5 minutes that it takes to update a bank account.

ACH Rejection Fee - sounds like a bounced/NSF fee of some kind?

ACH Return Item Fee, ACH Transaction Fee, Returned ACH, Resubmitted ACH, ACH Rate - these all seem like e-check rates for electronic check transactions.

BTW, one other area to definitely ask and read about are the early termination fee policies. This is a huge lurking cost in many processing agreements that is never verbally discussed but make sure to get it waived if you can... it can only help you by doing so.

Hope the above info is helpful! :)

Thanks for the information

Just a quick word of recommendation for www.cdgcommerce.com

Yes, you can find a "cheaper" merchant account elsewhere (by a few pennies).. but cdgcommerce has proved themselves over and over and over (both here in the forums, and to us in our own experience) that they are worth those few extra pennies!

In the case of cdgcommerce, I think they are the best value merchant account you can get. Their rates are very reasonable (actually lower cost then most) and as you can see from Chris's post above.. willing to take time to help.

:)