Guide
What a card payment really costs
Every card fee you pay has three layers. Two are set by others and are the same for every shop. The third is your provider's margin, and that is where small businesses lose money.
Layer 1: interchange
Interchange goes to the bank that issued your customer's card. Your provider passes it on.
- Europe (EEA). For personal cards issued in the EEA, interchange is capped by law at 0.2% of the payment for debit cards and 0.3% for credit cards (Regulation (EU) 2015/751). Business cards, cards issued outside the EEA and three-party schemes such as American Express are not covered by the cap and cost more.
- United Kingdom. The UK kept the same caps for domestic payments with personal cards after it left the EU.
- United States. Debit cards from large banks are regulated at 0.05% + $0.21 per payment, plus up to $0.01 for fraud prevention (Federal Reserve Regulation II). Credit cards are not capped. Visa's schedule effective 18 April 2026, for example, sets 1.43% to 2.30% + $0.10 for most in-store credit payments, 1.89% to 2.60% + $0.10 for online credit payments, and 3.15% + $0.10 for payments that don't qualify for a better rate.
Layer 2: scheme fees
Visa and Mastercard charge their own fees for running the network. They vary by card, country and transaction, and providers rarely itemise them. Our calculator assumes 0.15% of sales in Europe and the UK and 0.14% in the US. That is our estimate, not a published figure.
Layer 3: the provider's margin
Everything above the first two layers is what your provider keeps. It can be shown as a percentage, a fixed fee per payment, a monthly plan, terminal rental, or a row of small fees with official-sounding names.
A margin of about 0.3% of sales is a common, fair level for a small business with steady card sales. Our calculator uses 0.3% plus a small fixed amount per payment (€0.05 or £0.05 in Europe and the UK, $0.10 in the US). If your effective rate is well above the sum of the three layers, the difference is margin you can negotiate.
Three ways providers price the same thing
| Model | What you see | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat rate | One percentage for most cards, e.g. 1.69% | Low or irregular card sales | Becomes expensive as sales grow, because the margin grows with every sale |
| Interchange plus | Interchange and scheme fees at cost, plus a stated margin | Steady sales above a few thousand a month | Monthly minimums and fees listed separately |
| Tiered | "Qualified", "mid-qualified", "non-qualified" rates | Rarely the best option | The provider decides which tier each payment falls into |