Payments & Fintech Economics: Interchange, MDR, Take Rates & Chargebacks
Split the merchant discount rate, compare blended and interchange-plus pricing, cost a payment mix, measure take rates in bps, price chargebacks and fraud thresholds, FX markups and a payments startup's break-even TPV – every cell checked as you go. Illustrative fees, no affiliation with any card scheme.
The first lesson is free — no account needed.
About this course
A payments and fintech economics course that prices what one fictional online merchant and one payments start-up pay and earn on every transaction, in a spreadsheet, for payments, e-commerce and finance staff, fintech founders and students. You split the merchant discount rate into interchange, scheme fee and acquirer margin by card type, price a month of sales under blended and interchange-plus pricing, cost one order across cards, wallets, BNPL and bank transfer and value a shift in the payment mix, turn TPV and revenue into gross and net take rates in basis points, flag months above a chargeback monitoring threshold and price the full cost of disputes, pick the fraud threshold with the best contribution, measure the hidden FX markup against the mid-market rate and find a start-up's break-even TPV. Illustrative fees, educational only, not financial advice, no affiliation with any card scheme. The first lab is free.
Lessons
- Merchant Discount Rate: Interchange, Scheme Fee & Acquirer MarginFree
- Blended vs Interchange-plus Pricing Pro
- Payment Mix: Cost per Order across Cards, Wallets, BNPL & Bank Transfer Pro
- Fintech Take Rate, Net Revenue & Basis Points Pro
- Chargeback Ratio & the Full Cost of Disputes Pro
- Fraud Rate vs Approval Rate: Finding the Best Threshold Pro
- FX Markup on Cross-border Payments Pro
- Unit Economics of a Payments Startup: Contribution & Break-even TPV Pro