Card acceptance cost index Q4/2026: what a card payment costs merchants at list prices

The short answer

According to the list prices published on 3 October 2026, a card payment of 50 euros costs a merchant in Germany between €0.21 and €0.70 when the customer pays with girocard, and between €0.40 and €0.80 with Debit Mastercard or Visa Debit. On a 10-euro ticket the per-transaction fees range from €0.08 to €0.24. The statutory cap of 0.2 per cent that is often quoted as the “card fee” applies only to the interchange fee (€0.10 on a 50-euro payment), not to the price the merchant pays. Monthly fees, rental and device purchase come on top and are listed in a separate table.

Methodology

• What is counted: only the fee charged per payment at the terminal or card reader (percentage plus, where applicable, a fixed amount per transaction), for two card types: girocard and consumer debit cards from Mastercard and Visa (Debit Mastercard, Visa Debit), each for tickets of 10, 50 and 100 euros. Amounts are rounded commercially to whole cents.
• Data basis: exclusively the standard list prices published on the providers’ price pages, retrieved on 3 October 2026. Only providers whose price page for in-store card acceptance in Germany I was actually able to read on that day are included. Every figure is linked to its source URL in the CSV file.
• Not included: monthly fees, terminal rental, device purchase, set-up, mobile data add-ons, promotional prices with eligibility conditions, individually negotiated terms, credit cards, commercial cards, cards issued outside the EEA and American Express. Where published, these items appear in the table “Tariff models at a glance”.
• “–” in the table means that the price page does not show a separate rate for this card type. I have not assumed one.
• Flat rates: SumUp and PayPal (Zettle) quote one rate for all cards, myPOS one shared rate for “Girocard, inländische und EWR-Verbraucherkarten” (girocard, domestic and EEA consumer cards). These rates are entered in both columns.
• Not calculated: Adyen (Interchange++ model, the final price depends on variable fees) and VR Payment’s VR pay Kompakt (a flat-rate package with an included volume and no fee per payment). Both are described in the tariff overview.
• SENZA is not included. I work for SENZA as a strategic consultant (Strategischer Consultant); an index in which I rank my own company would not be a neutral reference.
• How to cite: “Source: Card acceptance cost index, pedram-dadgar.de, as of 03.10.2026”. The table is available as a CSV file for reuse.

Cost per payment

Per-transaction fee per payment in euros, as of 3 October 2026. Monthly fees and device costs are not included.

Provider and tariff	Rate per price list	girocard €10	girocard €50	girocard €100	Debit MC/Visa €10	Debit MC/Visa €50	Debit MC/Visa €100
SumUp, standard	1.39 % (all cards)	0.14	0.70	1.39	0.14	0.70	1.39
SumUp, Zahlungen Plus	0.79 % (domestic EC and credit cards)	0.08	0.40	0.79	0.08	0.40	0.79
PayPal POS (Zettle)	1.39 % (all cards)	0.14	0.70	1.39	0.14	0.70	1.39
PAYONE Classic	girocard 0.26 % + €0.08	0.11	0.21	0.34	–	–	–
PAYONE All Time Flex	girocard 0.89 %	0.09	0.45	0.89	–	–	–
myPOS One	1.29 %	0.13	0.65	1.29	0.13	0.65	1.29
myPOS Plus	0.89 %	0.09	0.45	0.89	0.09	0.45	0.89
myPOS Pro	0.79 %	0.08	0.40	0.79	0.08	0.40	0.79
Viva.com	debit 0.85 % (min. €0.03)	–	–	–	0.09	0.43	0.85
Stripe Terminal	1.4 % + €0.10 (EEA cards)	–	–	–	0.24	0.80	1.50
Mollie, Pay as you go	1.50 % (domestic consumer cards)	–	–	–	0.15	0.75	1.50
Mollie, Pro	0.85 % + €0.10	–	–	–	0.19	0.53	0.95
Reference: interchange cap, debit	0.2 %	0.02	0.10	0.20	0.02	0.10	0.20

Notes on the table:

• PAYONE: Neither price page shows a separate rate for Debit Mastercard and Visa Debit. Besides girocard, Classic lists only the “internationale Kreditkarte” (international credit card) at 1.49 % + €0.08; All Time Flex lists debit cards “(Maestro, V-Pay)” at 0.89 % and credit cards “(Mastercard, Visa)” at 1.9 %. The pages do not say which of these rates applies to Debit Mastercard and Visa Debit. According to the price page, the minimum fee of €0.15 for All Time Flex applies to the payment app solution and is not applied to the terminal figure above.
• SumUp Zahlungen Plus: The price page quotes 0.79 % “für Vor-Ort-Zahlungen mit inländischen EC- und Kreditkarten” (for in-store payments with domestic EC and credit cards). Premium cards, international cards and American Express are charged 1.39 %.
• myPOS: According to a footnote on the price page, girocard acceptance depends on the terminal type.
• Stripe, Viva.com, Mollie: The price pages do not show a separate girocard rate.
• Reference row: Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2015/751 caps the interchange fee for consumer debit card transactions at 0.2 per cent, Article 4 caps it at 0.3 per cent for credit cards. This is a fee between banks, not the price paid by the merchant. The merchant price additionally contains scheme fees, the acquirer’s service and its margin, and is not capped by law.

Tariff models at a glance

Provider and tariff	Pricing model per price page	Monthly fee	Terminal
SumUp, standard	1.39 % for all cards except SumUp’s own card (0 %)	none	purchase
SumUp, Zahlungen Plus	0.79 % domestic EC and credit cards; 1.39 % premium and international cards, American Express	€19	purchase
PayPal POS (Zettle)	1.39 % for all cards; manual card entry 2.9 % + €0.35	none	reader €29 for the first reader for new business customers, additional readers €79; terminal €199 (€249 with barcode scanner); all plus VAT
PAYONE Classic	girocard 0.26 %, international credit card 1.49 %, each plus €0.08 per transaction	from €12.90	included in the monthly price; €50 one-off set-up
PAYONE All Time Flex	girocard and debit cards (Maestro, V-Pay) 0.89 %; credit cards (Mastercard, Visa) 1.9 %	none	from €19 one-off; 24-month term
myPOS One / Plus / Pro	1.29 % / 0.89 % / 0.79 % for girocard, domestic and EEA consumer cards; all other cards 2.69 % / 2.49 % / 2.49 %	€0 / €19 / €39	purchase; Plus 25 %, Pro 50 % discount on the first device
Viva.com	consumer debit (domestic) 0.85 %, min. €0.03; consumer credit 1.69 %; commercial and international cards interchange + scheme fee + 1.15 %	in-person packages: Null €0 (footnote: monthly minimum fee €4.99), Basic €4.99, Standard €12.99, Premium €19.99; €2 per additional terminal ID	not shown on the price page
Stripe Terminal	1.4 % + €0.10 (EEA cards), 2.9 % + €0.10 (non-EEA cards); Tap to Pay an additional €0.10 per authorisation	none; optional €9 per reader for mobile data	purchase: €59, €199, €259 plus VAT
Mollie, Pay as you go	1.50 % domestic consumer cards; 1.80 % other consumer cards; 2.10 % American Express; 2.90 % commercial cards	none	purchase: €95 (Tap Terminal), €350 (mobile or fixed); maximum of one hardware terminal
Mollie, Pro	€0.10 + 0.85 % domestic consumer cards; €0.10 + 1.50 % other; €0.10 + 1.80 % American Express; €0.10 + 2.50 % commercial cards	€20 (one terminal licence included, each additional €20)	purchase as above
Adyen	€0.11 processing fee + Interchange++ + 0.60 % (girocard, Visa, Mastercard, Maestro); not calculated because interchange and scheme fees are variable	not shown on the price page	not shown on the price page
VR Payment, VR pay Kompakt	flat-rate package: €0 fee per transaction up to the included volume, above that €4.90 per started €250	S €19.90 (€1,500 volume), M €34.90 (€3,000), L €59.90 (€6,000), XL €94.90 (€12,000)	V400c terminal included, other models from €3.90 a month; 24-month term

What the figures show

• On 10-euro tickets, fixed fees make up the largest share. With PAYONE Classic, €0.08 of the €0.11 for a 10-euro girocard payment is the fixed amount; with Mollie Pro it is €0.10 of €0.19. At 100 euros the ratio reverses: there, the percentage determines the cost.
• Only some providers price girocard separately. PAYONE shows it with its own rate, SumUp, PayPal (Zettle) and myPOS charge it at the same rate as other cards, and Stripe, Viva.com and Mollie do not mention it on their price pages.
• The range widens with the ticket size. For Debit Mastercard and Visa Debit, the published fees differ by €0.16 at 10 euros (€0.08 to €0.24) and by €0.71 at 100 euros (€0.79 to €1.50).
• Monthly fee versus percentage is a question of volume. Arithmetically, the €19 monthly fee of myPOS Plus is offset by its rate, 0.40 percentage points lower than myPOS One, at €4,750 of card turnover a month; for SumUp Zahlungen Plus (a 0.60-point difference) at around €3,167.
• List prices sit above the interchange fee. Even the lowest girocard figure at 50 euros (€0.21) is above the €0.10 cap that applies to the interchange fee. The gap is not a breach of the law; it shows that scheme fees, acquiring and margin make up the larger part of the merchant price.

How the full bill of a terminal contract is made up is covered in the article on the cost components of card payments; why girocard and international debit cards are billed differently is covered in the article girocard or Debit Mastercard/Visa Debit.

Updates

The index is updated quarterly. The next edition is planned for January 2027 (Q1/2027). If a provider changes its published prices before then, the figures as of 3 October 2026 stand until the next edition; for any contract, the terms the provider states in its offer are always decisive.