Block, Inc.
BID-BASED SELECTION OF ACQUIRING BANKS FOR TRANSACTION PROCESSING

Abstract:

A merchant services provider may implement a payment processing system for processing card-based transactions on behalf of merchants. The merchant services provider may have relationships with multiple acquiring banks, and may use different acquiring banks for different transactions. The payment processing system electronically solicits bids from the multiple acquiring banks for processing a group of future purchase transactions, wherein the group is specified as a quantity of transactions having certain attributes. The acquiring banks provide respective bids that specify fee amounts for processing the group of transactions. The payment processing system selects a winning acquirer, and subsequently uses the winning acquirer for processing transactions having the specified attributes.