What is the Visa Fixed Acquirer Network Fee on your merchant statement?

Network pass-through

Who charges it, and is it a pass-through cost or a markup?

Visa sets and requires this fee, and it applies to businesses that accept Visa cards, whether in person or online, based on tiers tied to your Visa sales volume and merchant category. Your processor bills it to you and passes it to Visa, but does not set the amount or have the authority to change it. That makes it a network pass-through cost. Some processors do have discretion in exactly how they allocate or bill the total FANF amount across locations or billing periods, which is worth understanding if you operate multiple locations under one account.

Two separate tier schedules: card-present and card-not-present

Visa actually runs two separate FANF tier schedules, not one. Card-present businesses, retail stores, restaurants, and other brick-and-mortar merchants, are tiered by how many physical locations operate under one merchant Tax ID, starting small for a single location and scaling up from there. Card-not-present businesses are tiered separately, by monthly Visa sales volume instead of location count, starting small for a low-volume e-commerce business and increasing as volume grows. A business that takes both in-person and online payments can see both tiers apply, which is worth knowing before assuming a single "FANF" line on your statement represents your whole exposure to this fee. This is also one of the few network fees billed in a way that gives processors some real discretion, not over the total Visa collects, but over how that total gets divided if you operate multiple locations or terminals under one merchant account. That allocation, rather than the underlying fee itself, is the part worth asking your processor to walk you through if a number looks off relative to what a similar business might expect to pay.

What it typically costs

As of August 2026, Visa's published card-present schedule starts around $2 a month for a single retail location and scales up with location count, reported as high as $65 a month per location for large multi-location merchants. The card-not-present schedule starts around 0.15% of monthly volume or a small flat fee, commonly cited around $7 a month, for a low-volume e-commerce business, and increases from there. Because the fee is tiered rather than flat, the number that matters is which tier your business is actually assigned to, not an industry average.

Can you get rid of it?

No, not for a business that accepts Visa cards, whether in person or online, since Visa requires it directly from both card-present and card-not-present merchants. What you can do is confirm you're billed the correct amount for your actual volume and merchant category, and ask your processor to explain exactly how they calculate and allocate it if you run multiple locations. Errors in tier assignment or allocation are the realistic opportunity here, not the fee's existence.

What to check on your own statement

1. Confirm this line item is labeled specifically as Visa FANF, not a similarly named processor fee.
2. Ask your processor which FANF volume tier your business is currently assigned to.
3. If your Visa card-present volume has dropped, ask whether your tier assignment should be reassessed.
4. For multi-location businesses, ask exactly how the total FANF is allocated across locations.
5. Confirm you're not also being charged a separate, similarly named “network fee” by your processor on top of this.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Visa Fixed Acquirer Network Fee?

A flat monthly fee Visa charges businesses that accept Visa cards in person, based on card-present sales volume and merchant category. It's commonly abbreviated FANF.

Is Visa FANF negotiable?

No. It's a network requirement set by Visa directly, not something your processor controls. The realistic opportunity is confirming you're billed the correct tier, not negotiating the fee away.

Does Visa FANF apply to online-only businesses?

Yes, but through a separate schedule. Visa tiers card-not-present FANF by monthly online sales volume rather than by location count, so an online-only business is assessed under that table instead of the card-present one, not exempted from FANF altogether.

Why did my Visa FANF change?

It's tied to your card-present Visa sales volume, so a change usually reflects Visa reassessing your tier based on updated sales activity.

Will Visa FANF go away if I stop taking card-present payments?

It should shrink or disappear over time if your card-present Visa volume genuinely drops to near zero, since the fee is tied directly to that volume and merchant category. It won't happen automatically the moment your business model changes, though. Visa reassesses tiers periodically rather than instantly, so if you've shifted from an in-person to a primarily online business, it's worth proactively asking your processor to confirm your FANF tier reflects your current card-present volume, instead of waiting for it to catch up on its own schedule.