If your business sells to other businesses, you are almost certainly overpaying on every card transaction — and you may not even know it. Most B2B merchants are set up on the same flat pricing designed for coffee shops and retail stores, which means their corporate, commercial, and purchasing card transactions are being downgraded to the most expensive interchange categories. Daystar Payments fixes that. We optimize your B2B payment processing around Level 2 and Level 3 interchange data so you qualify for the lowest rates the card networks offer, and keep the basis points that were quietly leaking out of every invoice.
Interchange is the wholesale cost your processor pays Visa and Mastercard on every transaction — and it is not one number. The card networks publish hundreds of interchange categories, and B2B transactions made on corporate cards, commercial cards, purchasing cards, and government cards are eligible for dramatically lower rates if the transaction is submitted with the right data. When it isn’t, the transaction “downgrades” to a much higher category, and the difference comes straight out of your margin.
The fix is not simply a lower markup from your processor. It is interchange optimization: structuring each transaction so it passes the extra data the networks require to qualify for their lowest B2B rates. That is where Level 2 and Level 3 processing come in.
Level 1 data is what a standard terminal sends: card number, expiration, and the transaction amount. Consumer cards run on Level 1, and so — by default — do most B2B merchants who were never set up correctly.
Level 2 data adds fields the networks reward on commercial and purchasing cards: sales tax amount, a customer accounting code, and tax identification detail. Passing valid Level 2 data can move a corporate or purchasing card transaction into a lower interchange tier.
Level 3 data adds full line-item detail — item descriptions, product or commodity codes, quantities, unit prices, freight and duty amounts, and ship-to postal codes. Level 3 unlocks the lowest interchange rates the networks publish, and it is where the largest B2B savings live, especially on large-ticket invoices and government or enterprise purchasing cards.
Daystar configures your processing so this data is captured and transmitted automatically on qualifying transactions — no manual entry on your team’s part, and no re-training your billing staff.
On qualifying commercial and purchasing card volume, the gap between a downgraded transaction and a Level 3-optimized one is typically measured in tens of basis points — and on a business running six or seven figures of annual B2B card volume, that compounds into real money every month. The exact figure depends on your card mix (how much of your volume runs on corporate, purchasing, and government cards), your average ticket size, and how your transactions are currently being submitted. We run the numbers against your actual statements before you commit to anything.
Interchange optimization delivers the most value for B2B sellers with meaningful corporate, commercial, or purchasing card volume, including:
B2B payment processing handles card and electronic payments between businesses rather than from consumers. Because business-to-business transactions often run on corporate, commercial, and purchasing cards, they qualify for interchange categories that consumer transactions don’t — which is why B2B merchants on generic processing setups routinely overpay.
Interchange optimization is the practice of structuring transactions so they qualify for the lowest interchange rate the card networks offer. For B2B merchants, that primarily means passing Level 2 and Level 3 data on eligible corporate and purchasing card transactions so they don’t downgrade to expensive categories.
Level 2 adds sales tax and customer code data, which lowers interchange on many commercial and purchasing cards. Level 3 adds full line-item detail — descriptions, quantities, unit prices, commodity codes, and freight — and unlocks the lowest published interchange rates, delivering the largest savings on large-ticket B2B and government transactions.
No. Daystar configures your gateway or processing setup to capture and transmit the required Level 2 and Level 3 fields automatically on qualifying transactions. Your billing staff keeps working the way they already do.
Send us a recent processing statement. We’ll analyze your card mix and current interchange qualification and show you the recoverable savings in basis points and dollars before you make any commitment.
Most B2B merchants are surprised by how much they’ve been overpaying. Send us your last processing statement and we’ll show you exactly where your transactions are downgrading and what interchange optimization would recover — no obligation. If you also run higher-risk B2B verticals, explore our full high-risk merchant account services and eCheck & ACH processing. Apply now and a B2B payments specialist will follow up the same day.