Moneris Review

Moneris is Canada’s largest payment processor, providing point-of-sale systems, ecommerce payment gateways, and mobile payment solutions for businesses across Canada through a joint venture owned by Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal.

Estimated annual cost at three realistic processing volumes, using Moneris’s published online rate plus monthly fees. Real costs vary with average transaction size, chargeback rate, and any negotiated terms.

How Moneris pricing works

Moneris runs two published pricing models plus negotiated custom agreements, all in Canadian dollars. Small businesses can sign up online for flat-rate pricing; larger merchants can opt for Moneris Simplified Pricing, an interchange-plus (cost-plus) model where card brand interchange and assessment fees are passed through with a Moneris margin on top. Bigger accounts negotiate custom rates, which is where the wider ranges merchants report come from.

Published flat-rate pricing (CAD)

• Card-present credit: 2.65% + $0.10 per transaction
• Card-not-present credit: 2.85% + $0.30 per transaction
• Interac debit: charged per transaction (about $0.10 in person; $1.00 online)
• Foreign card payment fee: 0.80%, plus incremental assessment fees up to 1.00%
• Fraud tools (Kount, 3DS, tokenization) included on flat rate

Negotiated rates, fees, and hardware costs

Under custom agreements, in-person rates typically run 1.4%–2.5% plus a per-transaction fee, online 2.4%–3.5%, and keyed 2.5%–3.9%, with international cards often costing 1% or more above domestic rates. Recurring costs typically include monthly fees of $10–$50+, PCI fees of $5–$30, and statement fees of $5–$15, and Moneris discloses incidental fees worth knowing: a $25 chargeback fee, an $80 authorization chargeback handling fee, a $5 monthly Go software fee, a $5 minimum merchant discount rate, and a $2 paper statement fee. POS hardware is rented monthly — the Go Terminal from $34.95 and the Go Slim at $39.95 — which keeps upfront cost low but compounds over a multi-year term, so price hardware over the full contract before comparing Moneris to buy-once competitors.

What to pin down before you sign

Funding typically arrives in one to two business days (same-day or next-day on some setups, sometimes for a fee), usually with no minimum payout amount — but confirm your schedule, because Moneris's contract terms are its weakest category. Confirm the term length (commonly one to three years, longer with equipment deals), the early termination fee — reported anywhere from $100 to several hundred dollars or the remaining contract obligation — the written-notice cancellation process, and exactly which incidental fees apply to your setup. If you are choosing between flat-rate and Simplified Pricing, ask for a statement-level comparison at your actual volume, since billing clarity is the most common complaint from otherwise satisfied merchants.