How much do credit cards charge merchants/businesses?

When a business accepts credit card payments they don’t get 100% of the money you paid. Instead, they have to pay several processing fees (that’s why some places prefer to be cash only). 

Here’s a breakdown of the fees:

Interchange fees: This is essentially a transaction charge that the business’s bank pays to the cardholder’s bank. It’s usually between 1.5% and 3% of the sale amount.

Assessment fees: These are charged by credit card networks, like Visa® or MasterCard®, and are generally much smaller, about 0.1% to 0.3% of the transaction.

Processor fees: This fee is for the service that processes the transaction. It can be a flat rate per transaction (like 10 cents) plus a percentage of the sale.

Given all of that, if a business (or “merchant”) makes a $100 sale, they might pay around $2.50 in total to various parties just for accepting a credit card payment. While it might not sound like much on a single transaction, these fees can add up over time, especially for businesses with slim profit margins — like grocery stores or clothing stores.