Methodology: How Every Rate on This Site is Sourced
Where the numbers come from, when they were checked, and the rules that govern what does and does not go on a vendor page.
1. Vendor's own published pricing page is the only first-tier source. 2. Quote-only vendors are flagged quote-only on every page; we never invent a starting-at rate. 3. Every numeric claim has a source link and a verification date. 4. Industry benchmarks are cited only when they come from a named published dataset (Federal Reserve, Nilson Report, BLS, IBM Cost of a Data Breach, IDC, etc.).
Source hierarchy
- Tier 1 (preferred): Vendor's own public pricing page. Direct URL captured in src/data/vendors.ts and src/data/sources.json.
- Tier 2: Vendor's regulatory filings (SEC for US-listed vendors, AFM for Adyen N.V. AMS-listed).
- Tier 3: Named industry datasets (Federal Reserve Reg II, Nilson Report, Visa/Mastercard published interchange schedules).
- Tier 4 (reported only, never primary): merchant-disclosed bands for quote-only vendors. Always labelled as reported, never used to back a comparison number.
Verification cadence
Full re-verification at minimum quarterly. Per-vendor watch-list re-check triggered by any announced pricing change (Stripe's 17 Jun 2025 dispute-fee restructure is the canonical example). Last full pass: June 2026.
The zero-inferred-rates rule
We do not invent or extrapolate rates for vendors who refuse to publish. Adyen, Worldpay, Checkout.com enterprise, NMI, BlueSnap, Fiserv and Afterpay all show on every page as quote-only. We will print reported bands where merchants have publicly disclosed them, but only labelled as reported by merchants, never as a comparison baseline.
The illustrative-example rule
Every worked cost example is labelled (illustrative example, not a real company). We use these to make pricing models concrete, not to claim merchant data we do not have.
Per-vendor source bibliography
Industry-benchmark sources
- Federal Reserve, Reg II (Durbin Amendment) implementation review, 2023. Regulated debit interchange cap.
- Nilson Report. US card-issuer interchange tables and merchant-acceptance volume.
- Visa and Mastercard publish full interchange schedules online twice a year (April and October).
- Stripe 17 Jun 2025 pricing update on dispute-fee restructure (two-tier $15 + $15).
Corrections
Found something wrong? Email corrections to oliver@digitalsignet.com with the page URL and the source citation. We re-verify within 5 business days of receipt.