E-commerce & Online

Card-not-present is expensive by default. Make sure it isn't extra expensive.

Online carries higher interchange than in-person, always. What varies is the markup on top — and how many layers of platform, gateway, and processor fees stack before you see the deposit. Trailhead reviews cart platform, gateway, and processor as one stack and models what a switch actually saves.

Free E-commerce & Online Review Talk to an Advisor

Photography pending

Shop owner ringing up a customer at a small retail checkout counter

Independent retail checkout, daylight, compact countertop POS matching the TrailStation C silhouette plus a small PIN pad matching the TrailPad 300. No competitor branding.

Why owners come to us

What e-commerce & online owners keep flagging.

Platform fees hide in plain sight

Many cart platforms charge their own transaction fee that stacks on top of processing — easy to miss, meaningful over volume.

Card-not-present chargebacks are a real cost center

We look at your actual dispute rate and whether tools like AVS and CVV verification are configured to catch fraud before it becomes a chargeback.

Recurring billing failures quietly cost more than the fee itself

A failed subscription charge that isn't retried and recovered is lost revenue, not just a processing question.

Review focus

What our review measures for e-commerce & online.

Cart platform fees
Whether your e-commerce platform (Shopify, WooCommerce, or similar) charges its own transaction fee on top of your processor's rate.
Gateway fees
A separate monthly or per-transaction charge for the payment gateway itself, distinct from processing.
Chargeback and fraud exposure
Card-not-present transactions carry higher chargeback risk; we review your dispute rate and prevention tools.
Subscription and recurring billing
Failed-payment recovery and dunning management for subscription-based revenue.
PCI considerations for stored cards
How card data is tokenized and stored if you offer saved payment methods — a good topic to review with your PCI compliance provider.

POS options we compare

Common e-commerce & online stacks.

Shopify PaymentsStripeAuthorize.net + processorBigCommerce PaymentsWooCommerce + processor

How we typically recommend

Stripe for developer-led product companies
Shopify Payments up to ~$25k/mo
Interchange-plus + gateway past that

Where we look for opportunity

What your e-commerce & online review will actually tell you.

Every review is built from your actual merchant data, not an industry average. That means looking at your real card mix, average ticket size, monthly volume, current pricing structure, POS and workflow fit, and contract terms — then telling you plainly whether staying, optimizing, or comparing alternatives makes sense.

Actual card mix
Average ticket size
Monthly volume
Current pricing structure
POS & workflow fit
Contract terms

How we evaluate

Every Trailhead Review™ looks at the same five areas.

Technology helps us pull and organize the numbers, but a person reviews every recommendation before it reaches you. Staying with your current setup is treated as a legitimate outcome, not a failure to find something to sell — sometimes the smartest move is staying put.