Do You Earn Rewards on Payment Processing Fees?

The short answer: No. Payment processing fees from Square, Stripe, PayPal, and similar are automatically deducted from the money you collect, not charged to a credit card, so there is no card transaction and no rewards. You are paying the fee out of your revenue, not making a purchase.

Why processing fees earn nothing

When a customer pays you and the processor takes its cut, that fee is netted out of your deposit before the money reaches your bank. You never swipe a card to pay it, so there is no purchase for a card to reward. This is fundamentally different from a fee you actively pay by card, which would earn the base rate.

What you can earn on instead

You earn rewards on the things you actively buy for the business, hardware, software, supplies, advertising, not on the processing fees skimmed from sales. Focus your card strategy on those real purchases, using a business card where it makes sense, as with advertising and web hosting.

The bigger picture

Since processing fees are unavoidable and unrewardable, the way to help your bottom line is to shop for a lower processing rate, not to try to earn points on the fee. Put your rewards effort into the purchases you control, and value those points at a flat 1 cent. See earners in best cash back cards.

Frequently asked questions

Do you earn rewards on Square or Stripe fees?
No. Processing fees are deducted from your sales rather than charged to a card, so there is no transaction to earn rewards on.
Why can’t I earn rewards on payment processing?
Because the fee is netted out of the money you collect, not paid by swiping a card. Without a card purchase, there are no rewards.
What business costs can earn rewards then?
The things you actively buy, hardware, software, supplies, advertising, and web services. Put those on a business card; processing fees cannot be rewarded.

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Bryce Casson

Written by Bryce Casson, Founder of Cardocrat. About the author and how we rank cards.