Negotiating Rates, A Practical Guide for Agency Owners

High processing fees directly reduce profitability

If you're running a digital agency, odds are you’re sending large invoices for client retainers, advertising budgets, or project milestones. When those payments hit your account, you’re also hit with merchant fees. A 2.9% credit card fee on a $20,000 retainer is $580 gone instantly. Multiply that across clients and months, and the total becomes impossible to ignore.

Credit card processing fees feel small per transaction, but they scale aggressively as your agency grows. Worse, many agency owners accept these fees as non-negotiable. In reality, payment processing rates can often be lowered with the right data, leverage, and alternatives in place.

Offering alternative payment methods can lower fees

One of the simplest ways to reduce merchant fees is to provide payment options beyond credit cards. ACH transfers, also known as bank payments or e-checks, typically cost a flat fee or a much lower percentage compared to card payments. For example, where a card fee might cost you 3%, an ACH transaction might cost only 0.5% or less.

Clients often prefer these methods for large invoices. They’re secure, easy to authorize, and carry fewer restrictions. By making these options more visible on your payment page and invoices, you can gently guide clients toward cost-saving behaviors without friction.

Some agencies even offer minor incentives for bank payments. A small discount or faster service delivery may motivate clients to choose lower-fee methods, improving your margins while maintaining client satisfaction.

Avoid staying locked into a single payment gateway

Too many agencies stick with their original payment gateway for years without evaluating costs. Payment processors don’t have much reason to reduce your fees if they know you're not shopping around. That inertia costs you money every month.

You should be reviewing your processing rates at least once per year. Many providers offer tiered pricing that changes with volume, meaning you may now qualify for lower rates than when you first signed your contract. Come to the table with your transaction history, average invoice size, and a comparison of competitor pricing.

Even the simple act of requesting a meeting about rates can result in a discount if the processor senses you’re considering other options. If they won’t negotiate, switching may be your best move. There are plenty of gateways designed to support high-volume agencies with lower rates and more transparency.

Build a flexible payment infrastructure that scales

If your current system forces all payments through a single processor or limits your ability to toggle methods, it’s time to rethink your stack. Payment flexibility becomes increasingly important as your agency scales.

The ideal setup supports multiple gateways, routes transactions based on cost, and gives you full visibility into each fee structure. That level of control allows you to optimize each transaction and maximize profitability without requiring clients to change their behavior.

Look for platforms that offer integrations with multiple payment gateways, support ACH and card payments, and make it easy to adjust configurations as your business grows. The goal is not just to reduce fees today, but to avoid hitting limits that force expensive workarounds later.

Some systems even allow for automated payment workflows that align with invoice type, client size, or region. These smart routing tools can help ensure the right payment method is used for the right situation, automatically.