What a card payment actually costs you, per sale

Card acceptance costs a percentage of everything you sell, which makes it one of the few costs that scales exactly with success. It is worth understanding precisely.

A note on figures: payment rates are commercially negotiated and vary by provider, by merchant and over time. The numbers below describe the Wameed arrangement through EdfaPay and researched benchmarks as of August 2026. Confirm your own rate in writing.

The two rails

mada is the Saudi domestic debit network and carries the large majority of card transactions in the Kingdom. Through Wameed's EdfaPay integration the rate is0.8%, capped at SAR 40 per transaction.

Credit cards — Visa, Mastercard, Amex — cost more, typically in the 1.75–3% range depending on card type and agreement, with premium and international cards at the higher end.

The cap changes the arithmetic

The SAR 40 cap matters enormously at high basket values and not at all at low ones.

Below roughly SAR 5,000 you pay the percentage. Above it, the cap holds your cost flat.

Who this matters to: furniture, electronics, jewellery, appliances, contractors, medical, education — anywhere a single transaction runs into thousands. A jewellery shop selling a SAR 30,000 piece pays SAR 40, not SAR 240.

Working out your blended cost

You need two numbers from your POS: the mada share of card volume, and the average basket.

Example: SAR 300,000 monthly card volume, 75% mada, average basket SAR 320.

• mada: SAR 225,000 × 0.8% =SAR 1,800
• Credit: SAR 75,000 × 2.4% =SAR 1,800
• Total ≈ SAR 3,600, a blended 1.2%

Now run it for your own numbers. Most merchants have never done this and are surprised by the credit card line, which is typically half the cost on a quarter of the volume.

Who the money goes to

Ask this explicitly:does the settlement go to your account, or to the provider's account and then to you?

Through Wameed's EdfaPay integration, funds settledirectly to your own store account. Wameed's share is 0.1–0.2% of the transaction, taken as part of the arrangement rather than by holding your money.

The distinction matters for cash flow and for what happens if a provider has a problem. A provider who holds your funds before passing them on is a provider whose difficulties become your difficulties.

What to ask your provider

1. What is the mada rate and cap? Is the cap per transaction?
2. What are credit card rates, by card type?
3. Are international and premium cards priced differently?
4. Settlement timing — T+1, T+2, or longer? Is it different at weekends?
5. Does settlement arrive gross or net of fees?
6. Are there monthly fees, terminal rental, or minimum charges?
7. What is the chargeback fee, and who decides a dispute?
8. Is the rate fixed, and for how long?

Get the answers in writing. Rates quoted verbally have a habit of differing from rates invoiced.

Reducing the cost honestly

Do not surcharge customers for card payments without confirming it is permitted — rules vary and getting it wrong is both a regulatory and a reputational problem.

What you can do:

• Negotiate. Rates are commercial. Volume gives you leverage, and providers expect to be asked.
• Understand your mix. If credit is a large share, ask why — sometimes it is a customer segment worth serving, sometimes it is simply the default on your terminal.
• Check the cap applies to your high-value transactions. If it does not, that is a conversation.
• Reconcile. Fees charged are not always fees agreed. Seepayment reconciliation.

The number to track monthly

Total payment fees as a percentage of card revenue. One number, monthly, on the same page as your other KPIs. Seeretail KPIs.

If it moves without you having changed anything, something changed at the provider, and you want to know about it in the month it happened.

More on payments in Wameed on theintegrations page.