One of the tenets of increasing your EBITA is Optimize costs and enhance operational efficiency
If you’re a fuel marketer, you probably know your biggest expenses by heart—supply, labor, equipment—but how often do you dig into what you’re spending to get paid?
Let’s be real: Payment processing fees often fly under the radar. But they add up fast, and there’s a good chance you’re overpaying—sometimes by thousands each month—without even realizing it.
So how do you fix that? It starts with knowing where your money is going. And that means diving into your payment data.
Get Granular with Cost Allocation Reports
If your business spans multiple locations or services, don’t stop at the aggregate numbers.
Look at transaction fees by location, payment channel, or business unit. One office might have a high rate of declined transactions. Another might rely heavily on high-cost card types. Or, a payment channel could be receiving costly downgrades due to not following best practices like key entering transactions into a terminal. These insights help you tailor strategies by team or region and identify where you can improve on best practices, pass cost to the cardholder through surcharging or you introduce lower-cost payment options like ACH.
One surprising insight? Many companies forget to factor payment fees into their cost-per-delivery down to the customer level. The difference between the fees year pay on a customer basis can vary significantly.
For example, two $1,000 deliveries might have a $15 – $30 difference in fees depending on how the customer pays, how the card is authorized or which card type your client uses. Multiply that by thousands of deliveries and you’ve got a serious margin leak.
Dig into the Details with Advanced Reporting
If your business operates across multiple locations or offers different services, looking at your payment costs in one big lump just won’t cut it.
Break it down—by location, by payment channel, or by department. One branch might be dealing with a spike in declined payments. Another could be relying too heavily on expensive card types. And some teams might be unknowingly driving up costs by manually keying in transactions into a stand countertop terminal instead of using best practices for card authorization.
These kinds of insights can help you:
- Identify where operational changes could reduce costs
- Decide if technological changes could reduce cost or increase effiencies
- Decide if surcharging certain card types makes sense
- Encourage lower-cost payment methods like ACH where appropriate
Here’s something else most companies overlook: payment fees can vary significantly per customer. That means your cost-per-delivery isn’t just about fuel or labor—it’s also about how your customers pay.
For example, two customers making identical $1,000 purchases could cost you $15–$30 more or less depending on the card they use, how it’s processed by your payment vendor, or whether it was keyed in or swiped. Multiply that across thousands of transactions, and the cost difference adds up—fast.
A Payments Audit: Your Secret Weapon
Think of a payments audit like a deep dive into your credit card and ACH payment costs. It’s not just about line items and fees—it’s about figuring out why those fees exist and what you can do about them.
A well-conducted audit shows where the money’s going and offers real, actionable steps to fix it.
A good audit should cover all four major cost buckets:
- Interchange fees (the big one)
- Processor markup
- Payment gateway fees
- Card brand dues and assessments
But it doesn’t stop there. The audit should also evaluate how you’re storing, authorizing and collecting payments, how automated your systems are, and whether there are any security or efficiency gaps you can close.
Time to Take a Look Under the Hood?
Bottom line: If you haven’t done a payments audit lately, you’re probably overpaying.
Qualpay’s team will review your statements, explain what you’re really being charged, and lay out simple, no-fluff steps to cut those costs.
Want to get started?
Reach out to Jon Gilbert at (207) 321-1150 or email jon@qualpay.com. You’ll be surprised at what you uncover.
Learn more here: https://www.qualpay.com/qualpay-savings-challenge-sepa
About the Author
Jon is an accomplished payment professional with 15+ years of history in recurring and utility payments. As the Director of Business Development at Qualpay, he oversees business development and sales efforts while working closely with partners to educate merchants on effective cash flow management practices.
Jon has successfully launched multiple channel programs, managing all aspects of the process: from the creation of the business development strategy to the implementation of the marketing promotion initiatives. Prior to joining Qualpay in 2017, Jon served as the Vice President of Domestic & International eCommerce at Evo Payments INTL. Jon’s strengths lie in his experience and knowledge of the Energy payment industry with a focus on next generation products and services that can be implemented to further reduce costs and gain operational efficiencies.