At a glance
The total amount that successfully flowed through Helcim in the period, gross of refunds, gross of interchange-plus markup, gross of disputes. Money that touched Helcim’s processing rails (Helcim Online, Helcim Smart Terminal, Helcim Recurring, virtual terminal), not money that landed in your bank account.
| What it counts | Every transaction on GET /v2/card-transactions where type IN ('purchase', 'capture') and status = 'APPROVED', summed by amount, in each transaction’s currency. Includes Helcim Online checkout, Helcim Smart Terminal card-present, Helcim Recurring rebills, and virtual-terminal MOTO captures. |
| API endpoint | GET /v2/card-transactions on the Helcim API v2; cross-referenced with /payment-plans for the recurring source-of-truth. API v2 uses an api-token header (no OAuth). |
| Pricing model | Interchange-plus, transparent. Helcim’s positioning vs Square’s flat-rate model is to charge interchange (Visa/Mastercard scheme cost) plus a small markup (typically 0.30, 0.50% + a per-transaction fee), rather than a 2.6, 2.9% flat rate. This card is gross of that markup; the markup is itself disclosed in monthly statements. |
| VAT / GST / tax treatment | Inclusive. The figure is whatever the customer was charged at terminal or online. Helcim is a payment processor, not a tax engine; tax handling sits upstream (Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce). Canadian merchants commonly bundle GST/HST/PST into the captured amount. |
| Currency | Multi-currency native, no FX applied here. Helcim natively settles in CAD and USD (the two main rails), with cross-border acceptance for ~ 90 currencies that get converted at capture time using Helcim’s daily FX feed. CAD merchants accepting USD-denominated US customer cards see CAD in this card after conversion at capture. Use hel_revenue_by_currency (roadmap) for the unambiguous breakdown. |
| Fees / processing cost | Gross. Helcim interchange-plus fees (interchange + 0.30, 0.50% + ~ CAD/USD 0.08 per transaction) are NOT deducted. Net of fees figure is in the Helcim Statement, not on this card. |
| Refunds | NOT deducted. Refunds live as separate type = 'refund' rows in /v2/card-transactions and are tracked by hel_refund_volume. A fully refunded CAD 100 transaction still contributes CAD 100 here. |
| Disputes / chargebacks | NOT deducted. Disputes are handled via Helcim’s chargeback workflow and tracked separately in hel_chargeback_rate. A successful charge later disputed still counts here. |
| Failed / declined payments | Excluded. Only status = 'APPROVED' rows are summed. DECLINED, FAILED, REVERSED are excluded and counted in hel_decline_rate. |
| 3DS 2 treatment | Both frictionless and challenge-completed flows count here. 3DS challenges that the customer abandoned end as FAILED and are excluded; abandonment is tracked separately in hel_threedsecure_abandon_rate. Helcim Online supports 3DS 2 via the Helcim.js SDK; many North American card-not-present transactions still bypass 3DS where the issuer doesn’t mandate it. |
| Recurring vs one-time | Both included. Helcim Recurring rebills are tokenized card-on-file captures and indistinguishable from one-time captures by type (both are 'purchase'); they’re identifiable via the linked paymentPlanId. |
| Channels | Online + POS unified. Helcim Smart Terminal captures (card-present, EMV chip + PIN), Helcim Online checkout, virtual terminal (MOTO), and Helcim Recurring all flow through the same card-transactions rail. |
| Payout timing | Per transaction date (when the customer paid), NOT per payout date. Helcim deposits to merchant bank accounts on T+2 business days for CAD merchants and T+2/T+3 for USD merchants (with same-day deposit available as a paid feature). See hel_avg_settlement_days. |
| Time window | 30D vsP (default 30D vs the prior 30D). |
| Alert trigger | drop >15% vsP. |
| Roles | owner, finance, operations |
Calculation
Calculated automatically from your Helcim data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.Worked example
A Calgary-based outdoor-apparel SMB retailer (“Foothills Outfitters”) runs two Calgary stores plus a Shopify online store, and migrated from Square to Helcim 90 days ago specifically for the interchange-plus pricing. The 30-day window covers 03 Apr 26 to 02 May 26.| Channel | Transactions | Amount | Currency | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calgary flagship Smart Terminal | 1,840 captures | CAD 162,400 | CAD | APPROVED | Card-present, ~ 70% debit (Interac + Visa Debit) |
| Calgary Crowfoot Smart Terminal | 1,120 captures | CAD 96,800 | CAD | APPROVED | Card-present |
| Online Helcim checkout, CA customers | 980 sessions | CAD 84,200 | CAD | APPROVED | Helcim.js, 3DS 2 frictionless ~ 65% |
| Online Helcim checkout, US customers | 410 sessions | USD 38,900 | USD | APPROVED | Cross-border, settled USD |
| Helcim Recurring (loyalty subscriptions) | 240 rebills | CAD 7,200 | CAD | APPROVED | Tokenized rebills via paymentPlanId |
| Refunds (period) | 92 refunds | CAD 8,800 | CAD | - | Tracked separately |
| Disputes (period) | 3 cases | CAD 410 | CAD | - | Tracked separately |
| Failed / declined | 286 attempts | - | - | DECLINED / FAILED | Excluded |
- Interchange-plus economics show up in the gap between gross and net. On Square, the same CAD 350,600 gross would have cost roughly 2.65% blended (CAD 9,290) for in-person + 2.9% + CAD 0.30 for online (CAD 5,560), total ~ CAD 14,850. On Helcim, the equivalent blended cost on Foothills’ tier is ~ CAD 6,150 (interchange ~ 1.4% pass-through + 0.4% markup + per-tx fees). That CAD 8,700/month saving is exactly the migration thesis. This card tracks the gross; the saving lives in the Helcim monthly statement.
- POS dominates. CAD 259,200 of CAD 350,600 (74%) is in-store Smart Terminal. Foothills is a brick-and-mortar-led business, the Helcim Smart Terminal hardware was the precondition for the migration. A pure-online merchant would see the inverse split.
- CAD and USD displayed side-by-side, not converted. Foothills’ US online customers represent ~ USD 38,900 in this period. The card does NOT roll this into a CAD total; that conversion happens in the Helcim Statement using Helcim’s daily FX feed.
- Interac debit is invisible here as a separate line. Canadian Interac debit (the domestic debit network) flows through
card-transactionsascardBrand: INTERACand the per-transaction fee is structurally different from Visa/MC interchange. It still shows up in the gross figure; the per-network breakdown is inhel_top_payment_methods. - 3DS frictionless rate of 65% on online traffic is North-America-typical. Canadian and US issuers do not mandate 3DS for most card-not-present transactions, so Helcim only invokes 3DS where the issuer requests it (about 35% of attempts). EU/UK merchants would see 80%+ frictionless rates due to PSD2 SCA mandates.
Sibling cards merchants should reference together
| Card | Why merchants reach for it next to Total Volume |
|---|---|
hel_total_transactions | Transaction count over the same window. Volume divided by transactions equals average ticket. |
hel_avg_transaction | The per-transaction view, the denominator-aware reading. |
hel_volume_trend | This metric trended daily over the window; catches mid-period drift. |
hel_refund_volume | The amount to subtract for a net-of-refunds figure. |
hel_payouts_pending | What’s in flight from this volume but not yet in your bank. |
hel_decline_rate | The complementary loss view; high decline rate suppresses this card. |
hel_top_payment_methods | Method mix breakdown (Interac vs Visa vs Mastercard vs Amex). |
Stripe stripe_total_revenue / Square (where present) | Same archetype on competing rails. SMBs evaluating Helcim vs Square reach for both. |
Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard
Where to look in the Helcim Dashboard: Sign in at app.helcim.com and the closest comparable view is:Helcim Dashboard → Payments → All Transactions (filter by date range; Status: Approved)The headline tile on the Dashboard home also shows period sales. For the channel breakdown, use Reports → Sales by Source, which separates Online, Smart Terminal, Virtual Terminal, and Recurring. Other Helcim views that look similar but answer different questions:
- Deposits view (Payments → Deposits). This is post-fee, post-reserve settled balance, NOT gross transaction volume. Always lower than this card by the interchange-plus markup amount. Use the monthly statement to bridge.
- Disputes view (Payments → Disputes). Tracks chargeback / dispute cases, not transaction volume.
- Smart Terminal device reports (Devices → Terminals). Per-terminal end-of-day batches. These are a subset of this card (POS-only, one device).
- Recurring Payments view (Payments → Recurring → Plans). Tracks active payment plans and their next-rebill dates, not historical revenue.
| Reason | Direction | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Time zone | Boundary days off | Helcim Dashboard renders in your account’s configured timezone (Calgary merchants default to Mountain Time, Toronto to Eastern, US merchants to their state). Vortex IQ uses UTC for period boundaries. For a 30-day window the gap averages out; for “today” or “yesterday” cards it can shift the figure meaningfully (Calgary is UTC-6/UTC-7). |
| Reserve holdbacks | Theirs lower (Deposits view) | Helcim can hold a small reserve on new merchants or seasonal businesses; the Deposits view nets this off. This card is gross of reserves. |
| Cross-border FX | Theirs may show CAD-rolled, ours splits | Helcim Dashboard offers a “Total in CAD equivalent” toggle for USD-accepting Canadian merchants. This card sums CAD and USD separately. |
| Refresh lag | Ours lower for “today” | The index updates on a periodic sync; the most recent 5, 15 minutes of Smart Terminal captures may not be in yet (Smart Terminal batches end-of-day in some configurations). Yesterday and earlier are fully caught up. |
| Voided same-day captures | Theirs may exclude in real-time, ours sees them at next sync | A POS capture voided within the same business day disappears from the Helcim Dashboard immediately but is still in our snapshot until the next sync. The gap closes within a few hours. |
| Comparison | Expected relationship | When divergence is legitimate |
|---|---|---|
hel_total_volume ↔ shopify.total_revenue | helcim ≤ shopify | Shopify includes orders paid via Stripe, PayPal, Shop Pay, Apple Pay (when routed through Shopify Payments rather than Helcim), gift cards, manual bank transfer, none of which touch Helcim. For a Canadian Shopify store using Helcim as primary, expect Helcim to cover 60, 90% of online revenue. |
hel_total_volume ↔ bigcommerce.total_revenue | helcim ≤ bigcommerce | Same logic. BC supports many gateways. |
hel_total_volume + stripe.stripe_total_revenue + paypal.pp_total_volume | ≈ commerce_total_revenue | Cross-PSP merchants summing all rails. The three should approach the commerce total; if they exceed it, suspect double-counting. |
Known limitations / merchant FAQs
Reconciliation questions (“why doesn’t this match the Helcim Dashboard / my bank?”) are answered in the Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard section above. Below are the questions that aren’t reconciliation.“What is interchange-plus pricing and why does Helcim use it?” Interchange-plus means the merchant pays the actual scheme cost (interchange + assessments, set by Visa/Mastercard, typically 1.10, 2.40% depending on card type) plus a small processor markup (Helcim publishes 0.30% as the standard markup on smaller volume tiers, scaling down to 0.15, 0.20% for higher volume). The alternative is flat-rate pricing (Square, Stripe), where the processor charges a single rate (~ 2.65% in-person, 2.9% online) regardless of card type. Interchange-plus is mathematically cheaper for any merchant whose card mix is debit-heavy or has a healthy share of low-interchange consumer credit; flat-rate is simpler and sometimes cheaper for merchants whose mix skews to premium / rewards cards. Helcim publishes the full interchange table on every monthly statement, which is the “transparent” part of the pitch. “How does Helcim’s pricing compare to Square in plain numbers?” At ~ CAD 50,000 monthly volume with Canadian SMB-typical card mix (mostly Interac debit + Visa/MC consumer credit), Helcim’s blended effective rate is around 1.7, 1.9% all-in; Square’s flat rate is 2.65% in-person + 2.9% + CAD 0.30 online. The gap is structurally 70, 100 bps. On CAD 50k/month that is CAD 350, 500/month, CAD 4,200, 6,000/year. Below CAD 5,000/month volume the math reverses (Helcim’s monthly statement fees, optional add-ons, and admin overhead can outweigh the interchange-plus saving for very small merchants). The breakeven is broadly CAD 3,000, 5,000/month. “Does Helcim support 3DS 2 / SCA?” Yes, via the Helcim.js SDK and the
/v2/payment-intents flow. North American merchants typically don’t need it (no SCA mandate), but Helcim supports it for cross-border EU/UK card-not-present traffic and for merchants who want the chargeback liability shift. The 3DS abandon rate is tracked in hel_threedsecure_abandon_rate.
“What happens to Interac debit transactions in this card?”
Interac (the Canadian domestic debit network) flows through card-transactions with cardBrand: INTERAC and a different fee structure (per-transaction flat fee, no percentage). It still contributes to gross volume here. The per-network breakdown is in hel_top_payment_methods. US merchants will not see Interac.
“Helcim supports both CAD and USD merchant accounts, do I see both in this card?”
Yes, if you have a multi-currency Helcim account. CAD captures and USD captures appear as separate currency lines (no FX rolling). If you only operate in CAD but accept USD-denominated cards from US customers, those are converted to CAD at capture using Helcim’s daily FX feed and show up as CAD here.
“What about the Helcim Smart Terminal hardware, does it count separately?”
No, the Smart Terminal is just one channel that posts to the same /v2/card-transactions endpoint. POS captures, online checkout, virtual terminal, and recurring rebills are unified in this card. Use Reports → Sales by Source in the Helcim Dashboard for the per-channel split, or wait for the per-channel card on our roadmap.
“My recurring subscription rebills, do those count here?”
Yes. Helcim Recurring uses tokenized card-on-file (with network-token support where available) and rebills as type = 'purchase' linked via paymentPlanId. They’re indistinguishable from one-time captures in this card. A dedicated Subscription Revenue card is on the roadmap.
“Why is the customer-paid total higher than what arrived in my bank?”
Three deductions between this card and your bank deposit: (1) Helcim’s interchange-plus blended cost (typically 1.7, 2.0% for Canadian SMB), (2) refunds processed in the same window, (3) settlement timing (transactions on the last day of the period typically settle T+2, so they appear in the next deposit). Use the Helcim monthly statement to bridge precisely.
“Does Helcim work outside North America?”
Helcim is licensed as a payment facilitator in Canada and the US only. They will accept cross-border card payments from international customers (any Visa/MC/Amex card globally), but the merchant entity must be Canadian or US. Pan-North-American is fine; pan-global is not Helcim’s lane (consider Adyen or Stripe).