What Are Visa and Mastercard Fees?
Visa and Mastercard operate global payment networks that charge fees for processing credit/debit card transactions. When a freelancer or global seller gets paid via a card (especially through a platform like Fiverr or Upwork), the final payout often includes these hidden costs. Understanding them helps you price correctly and reduce loss.
Main Fee Types
- Interchange Fee: Paid to the cardholder’s bank. Varies by country and transaction type (usually 1%–3%).
- Assessment Fee: Paid to Visa/Mastercard, flat across most markets (0.13%–0.15%).
- Processing Fee: Charged by payment processors (Stripe, PayPal, etc.). Typically 2.9% + fixed amount.
How This Affects Freelancers
If you work through platforms like Upwork, Toptal, or Etsy, your clients often pay using credit cards. Even if you don’t see the breakdown, these fees are deducted before your payout is issued.
Sometimes, platforms charge additional service fees on top of these — pushing your total loss per payment to 5–15% in extreme cases.
How to Reduce These Fees
- Ask clients to use bank transfers or local options
- Use direct billing tools like Payoneer Request a Payment
- Bundle multiple transactions to reduce per-transaction cost
- Withdraw in local currency to avoid double conversion
Using Payoneer to Avoid Double Fees
Payoneer allows you to receive payments from multiple freelance platforms, convert currencies at better rates, and avoid stacking of card network + bank fees. It also lets you invoice clients directly — bypassing platforms altogether.
Should You Avoid Visa/Mastercard Payments?
Not necessarily. They’re convenient and secure, especially for international clients. But if you rely on card-based platforms only, you may be losing 10–15% of your income to fees. That’s why diversifying your payment setup with Payoneer or Wise is smart.
Conclusion
Understanding Visa/Mastercard fees helps you optimize your freelance pricing and payout methods. Use Payoneer to cut losses, streamline payments, and keep more of what you earn.
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you sign up for Payoneer via our link, at no extra cost to you.
