Toast moved its card rate again. Here is what it costs and what Section 6.2 lets you do

What happened

In August, Toast merchants received notice of a 20 basis point increase on card processing, effective after the 30 days the merchant agreement requires. Reforming Retail reported the increase on August 4 and described it as a broad pricing move rather than a few accounts being repriced. On the same day, Toast's CFO told investors that payments take rate rose partly on "small targeted pricing moves."

It follows the 0.23% increase of September 2024, which Payments Dive called the company's first in twelve years.

What it means for you

Take a bistro on Toast doing $1M a year in cards. Twenty basis points is about $2,000 a year for the same swipe. Stack it on 2024 and the shop pays roughly 43 basis points more than it did two years ago, about $4,300 a year, with nothing new on the counter. Toast's own numbers put the average location near $1.2M a year in volume, so most shops land in that range.

The hardware only talks to Toast, so the rate is not something you can shop around for without changing the system.

What to do

Read Section 6.2 of the merchant agreement before the effective date. Toast can change card processing rates at any time during the term with 30 days of written notice. If you do not accept the change, you must send written notice before the effective date that you are terminating over it. Do that, and the early termination fee does not apply (the processing fee for software financing still does). Say nothing, or keep using the service after the date, and the new rate counts as accepted.

Either way, pull your effective rate this month: every fee on the statement divided by card volume. That number, not the headline rate, is what moved.

Not legal advice. Agreements differ by version and by reseller, so read your own.