The short answer
Card-not-present transactions, such as online, phone and many keyed sales, usually carry higher interchange than card-present sales. In Visa's US schedule effective April 18, 2026, exempt debit is 0.80% + $0.15 under CPS/Retail but 1.65% + $0.15 under CPS/Card Not Present, and consumer credit Product 2 (card present) runs 1.51% + $0.10 to 2.30% + $0.10 while Product 1 (card not present) runs 1.89% + $0.10 to 2.60% + $0.10. Regulated debit is 0.05% + $0.21 either way.
What card present and card not present mean
A card-present transaction is one where the card is at the terminal: dipped, tapped or swiped. A card-not-present transaction is one where the card details are sent without the card being read at a terminal, as with an online checkout, a phone order or a recurring bill. Visa's US interchange schedule prices these separately, with its own tables for card present and card not present sales. Keyed entry sits between the two: the Visa debit table lists a CPS/Retail Key Entry program in the card-present section, priced at the card-not-present debit rate. Your processor decides which program a sale qualifies for, based on the data it sends.
Debit: the gap depends on whether the card is regulated
Debit cards from issuers covered by the Federal Reserve's Regulation II are priced the same in every channel. Exempt debit, from smaller issuers, is not.
| Fee program | Channel | Exempt Visa debit | Regulated Visa debit |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPS/Retail, Debit | Card present | 0.80% + $0.15 | 0.05% + $0.21* |
| CPS/Retail Key Entry, Debit | Card present table, keyed | 1.65% + $0.15 | 0.05% + $0.21* |
| CPS/Card Not Present, Debit | Card not present | 1.65% + $0.15 | 0.05% + $0.21* |
| CPS/e-Commerce Basic, Debit | Card not present | 1.65% + $0.15 | 0.05% + $0.21* |
| CPS/e-Commerce Preferred Retail, Debit | Card not present | 1.60% + $0.15 | 0.05% + $0.21* |
| * Regulated rate | Issuers that certify compliance with the interim fraud prevention standards receive an additional $0.01 |
Consumer credit: compare the paired programs
Visa's consumer credit tables use paired program names: a "2" program in the card-present table and a "1" program in the card-not-present table. Each row has six card product columns, from Visa Infinite through All Other Products. The table below compares three pairs using the lowest and highest rate across those columns.
| Program pair | Card present | Card not present |
|---|---|---|
| Product 2 / Product 1 | 1.51% + $0.10 to 2.30% + $0.10 | 1.89% + $0.10 to 2.60% + $0.10 |
| Services 2 / Services 1 (transactions of $100 or more) | 1.55% + $0.10 to 2.30% + $0.10 | 1.65% + $0.10 to 2.40% + $0.10 |
| Restaurant 2 / Restaurant 1 | 2.10% to 2.60% (min. $0.04) | 2.20% to 2.70% (min. $0.08) |
| Charity 2 / Charity 1 | 1.35% + $0.05, all products | 1.35% + $0.05, all products |
| Non-Qualified Consumer Credit | 3.15% + $0.10, all products | 3.15% + $0.10, all products |
Business cards follow the same pattern
Visa's commercial tables also split by channel. Effective April 18, 2026, Commercial Card Present is 2.50% + $0.10 and Commercial Card Not Present is 2.70% + $0.10 for purchasing and corporate cards. For exempt Visa Business Debit, card present is 1.70% + $0.10 and card not present is 2.45% + $0.10.
Card-not-present incentives can narrow the gap
The card-not-present credit table lists incentive reductions of -0.05% (Type 1), -0.10% (Type 2) and -0.15% (Type 3). Visa says EMV token transactions qualify for Type 1, Digital Commerce Authentication Program (DCAP) transactions for Type 2, and DCAP plus EMV token transactions for Type 3, except for Charity 1 and CPS/Utility. Visa also says the incentives require CPS qualification and are subject to change. Ask your gateway whether it uses Visa network tokens and supports the authentication data Visa's program needs, and whether your statement passes the reduction through to you.
A worked example (illustration only)
Take a $100.00 consumer credit sale on a card in Visa's All Other Products column, using the April 18, 2026 schedule and counting interchange only. As a Product 2 card-present sale at 1.51% + $0.10, interchange is $1.61. As a Product 1 card-not-present sale at 1.89% + $0.10, it is $1.99. If that online sale qualified for the Type 3 incentive of -0.15%, the rate would be 1.74% + $0.10, or $1.84. Your actual cost also includes network fees and your provider's markup, and the program a sale lands in depends on your merchant category and the data sent.
What to do with this
1. Take in-person payments with chip or tap rather than typing card numbers, where you can. 2. For phone and invoice payments, compare a keyed sale with a payment link or hosted checkout in your provider's pricing, and ask which Visa program each one qualifies for. 3. Ask your gateway about network tokens and authentication support for card-not-present incentives. 4. On interchange-plus pricing, check your statement's interchange detail by program. On flat-rate pricing, ask whether online and keyed sales are priced differently from in-person sales. 5. Download Visa's current schedule before relying on any rate, including the ones on this page.
About the rate tables on this page: Visa is the only card network that publishes a public US merchant interchange schedule, so the rate tables on this site are Visa-only. Mastercard, American Express and Discover do not publish an equivalent US merchant schedule, and their rates are neither shown above nor implied by these figures. Ask your processor for the rates that apply to each network on your account.
Key takeaways
- Visa prices card-present and card-not-present sales in separate tables.
- Exempt debit: 0.80% + $0.15 (CPS/Retail) vs 1.65% + $0.15 (CPS/Card Not Present), effective April 18, 2026.
- Regulated debit is 0.05% + $0.21 (plus $0.01 for certifying issuers) in every channel.
- Consumer credit Product 1 (card not present) is priced above Product 2 (card present) in every product column.
- CNP incentives of -0.05% to -0.15% apply to qualifying token and DCAP transactions.
- Rates change; check Visa's current document.
Related guides
- Visa Interchange Rates in the US: How to Read the Schedule
- Regulation II: Debit Interchange Caps (Durbin) Explained
- Interchange Explained: The Network Fee Inside Your Rate
- Cost-Plus vs Blended Pricing: Which Suits Your Business?
- Payment Gateway Fees: What Gateways Really Charge
- Pay by Link: How Payment Links Work, Fees and Fraud
- EMV Liability Shift: Who Pays for In-Store Fraud
- Retail Credit Card Processing: What a Store Pays
Sources
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