Visa Digital Commerce Service Fee

Visa introduced the Digital Commerce Service fee in October of 2023. As a result, many merchants are noticing this new charge on their monthly processing statements and wondering where it came from.

We’ll break down everything you need to know about the VS US DIGITAL COMMERCE SERVICE FEE below.

What is the Visa Digital Commerce Service Fee?

Visa Digital Commerce Service applies to all card-not-present transactions. The fee is 0.0075% on all settled CNP transactions, with a minimum of $0.0075 per transaction.  

According to Visa, this assessment helps promote fraud prevention while mitigating risks associated with online transactions. Essentially, they’re putting this money toward anti-fraud technology—which is crucial for CNP and online transactions (which is why merchants in this space are paying the fee).

At the same time that this fee was announced, Visa simultaneously removed two fees that were previously charged on card-not-present transactions in the United States:

• CVV2 Verification Fee — $0.0025 per transaction
• Address Verification Service (AVS) Fee — $0.001 per transaction

While the total of these two fees doesn’t quite come to the same amount as the Digital Commerce Service fee, it still lessens the burden on merchants who are assessed this new charge. 

When we take the partial offset into consideration, the fee itself is quite small compared to assessment fees. 

Is the Visa Digital Commerce Service Fee Only For Ecommerce Merchants?

No. Visa’s Digital Commerce Service Fee applies to all card-not-present transactions. This includes ecommerce merchants, but it’s not limited to that category alone. 

Some businesses without an online presence are confused as to why they’re being charged this fee. But the following types of transactions also fall into the CNP category:

• Phone payments
• Mail order purchases
• Automatic billing
• Card-on-file transactions
• Manually keyed transactions

If you’re still not sure why you’re being charged the Visa Digital Commerce Service fee, just reach out to our team at Merchant Cost Consulting for assistance. We’ll audit your statements and provide some additional context to your charges. Plus, we may even find some hidden fees that should be removed (and potentially reimbursed).