Interchange fees. If you’re a small merchant, you know how irritating they are, because you have to hand the bank a piece of the transaction each time a customer pays with a credit card. The fees average around $2 on a $100 transaction, and they really pile up. Interchange fees are the second-highest expense for most small merchants, after labor costs.
But like a lot of other annoyances in life — mortality, taxes, etc. — exorbitant interchange fees (and the hidden charges that often go with them) are unavoidable. At least, they have been until now. Recently, a disruptive little device that plugs in to a smartphone or tablet has made it easy for merchants to swipe customer credit cards without paying through the nose for the privilege.
Dispatches From The Front 