Flat 2.5% + $0.15 Credit Card Processing – No Separate Gateway Fees
Stop guessing what you will pay in processing fees. Coastal Pay gives you a simple flat 2.5% + $0.15 per transaction on card payments through our gateway. No separate gateway fees, no surprise line items, just transparent pricing built to scale with your business.
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Simple Flat Pricing That Keeps Your Costs Predictable
Every approved credit or debit card transaction is charged at 2.5% + $0.15. The Coastal Pay Gateway is included. There is no separate gateway line item, no monthly software subscription required, and no setup fee.
By comparison, most mainstream providers charge 2.6% to 2.9% + $0.10 to $0.30 per transaction, often layered with $15 to $30/month gateway fees and other recurring charges.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Cost Component | Typical Provider | Coastal Pay |
|---|---|---|
| Percentage rate | 2.9% | 2.5% |
| Per-transaction fee | $0.30 | $0.15 |
| Gateway fee | $25/month | $0 |
| Setup fee | $0 to $100 | $0 |
| Monthly minimum | $25 to $50 | $0 |
$50 Ticket Example, 1,000 Transactions/Month
- Typical 2.9% + $0.30 + $25 gateway: ~$1,775/month
- Coastal Pay 2.5% + $0.15, gateway included: ~$1,400/month
- Savings: ~$375/month = ~$4,500/year
Pricing applies to standard low-risk verticals. Specialty or high-risk categories may be priced differently, confirmed during approval.
Built for Growth: 2,000+ Integrations and a Next-Gen Gateway Included
The 2.5% + $0.15 rate is not stripped-down pricing. It comes with a complete payments platform:
- Coastal Pay Gateway at $0/month: Tokenization, recurring billing, virtual terminal, payment links, email invoicing, and centralized reporting
- 2,000+ software integrations: Clover, Lightspeed, Toast, Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, QuickBooks, Xero, and vertical-specific systems across retail, restaurant, hotel, automotive, healthcare, and B2B
- All major payment methods: Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover, ACH, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Venmo, Klarna, Afterpay, Coinbase
- Multi-channel coverage: In-person POS, e-commerce checkout, payment links, email invoicing, tap-to-pay on phone, and virtual terminal – same rate across all channels
- Fast, stable, and secure: PCI-compliant tokenization, bank-grade encryption, true merchant account backing
Some specialty payment methods (e.g., BNPL providers, crypto) may have provider-specific pricing confirmed at integration.
Why Businesses Choose 2.5% Flat With Coastal Pay Over Other Processors
Very few U.S. processors offer a simple 2.5% structure. Most that do hit only one channel, require a paid software subscription, or layer on monthly gateway fees. Coastal Pay bundles the gateway into the rate, applies the same rate across all channels, and requires no monthly subscription.
- Instant approvals in approximately 2 minutes through SignUp Link, with same-day processing live
- True merchant account backed by Wells Fargo and Axiom Bank, not a PayFac sub-account that can freeze on volume spikes
- Month-to-month options available – no multi-year contracts or hefty early termination fees
- U.S.-based phone support at 888-266-1715 with real humans, not just chat
- Dual pricing option available to eliminate net processing cost entirely on card transactions
Trusted by Growth-Focused Businesses
- 4,962+ active U.S. merchants
- $1.6B+ processed
- 27M+ transactions
- 13 acquiring bank relationships
Transparent Answers About 2.5% Processing Rates
- Is 2.5% a good credit card processing rate?
- Yes. For flat-rate pricing in the U.S., 2.5% + $0.15 is competitive against the mainstream 2.6% to 2.9% + per-transaction-fee structures from Stripe (2.9% + $0.30), Square (2.6% + $0.10 in-person; 2.9% + $0.30 online), and PayPal (2.99% + $0.49). True effective rate depends on card mix and average ticket, but eliminating separate gateway fees often reduces total cost meaningfully.
- Who offers a 2.5% flat processing rate?
- Only a handful come close. Coastal Pay offers 2.5% + $0.15 across all channels with no gateway fee. Square Plus offers 2.5% + $0.15 in-person only on the paid tier. Shopify Payments Grow offers 2.5% + $0.10 in-person only with a required Shopify subscription. Niche providers like Rock Paper Coin (events) and Nayax (unattended retail) offer 2.5% in specific verticals. Coastal Pay is one of the few applying the flat rate across in-person, online, and invoice channels uniformly.
- Does the Coastal Pay 2.5% rate include the gateway?
- Yes. The Coastal Pay Gateway is included at $0/month. No separate gateway subscription, no setup fee, no monthly minimum, no add-on fees for ACH, alternative payment methods, or tokenization.
- How does my effective rate depend on card mix and ticket size?
- The per-transaction $0.15 component hurts low-ticket businesses more than high-ticket ones (a $5 transaction has a 3% effective rate; a $100 transaction has a 2.65% effective rate). Card mix matters less under flat-rate pricing than under interchange-plus. Request a personalized rate review to model your exact savings.
- How fast can I be approved?
- Most U.S. low-risk merchants are approved through Coastal Pay’s SignUp Link instant boarding flow in approximately 2 minutes, with processing live the same day.
See full pricing and program details on the Coastal Pay Gateway page and Integration directory.
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Get Approved to Take Payments Online in Minutes
Turn your first online sale from “someday” into “today.” With Coastal Pay’s instant boarding, most standard-risk businesses can get approved and start taking online payments in about 2 minutes. No weeks of bank paperwork, no waiting on manual reviews.
