Credit card processing by the numbers

A lot, and most of it is interchange. Revolution Payments reports that interchange is 75 to 90 percent of total fees, while the processor markup most businesses negotiate is 10 to 25 percent (Revolution Payments). That is why the choice of processor for each transaction matters.

$198.25 billion

Record card fees paid by US merchants in 2025. Beast Insights

2.36%

Average Visa and Mastercard credit rate in 2025. Beast Insights

Almost $2.0 trillion

Global payments revenue in 2025, per Boston Consulting Group. Beast Insights

25%

Projected share of all global electronic transactions made as real-time payments by 2028. Airwallex

75 to 90%

Share of total card fees that is interchange, often left unexamined. Revolution Payments

10 to 25%

Share of total card fees that is the processor markup, the part most businesses negotiate. Revolution Payments

0.11% to 0.15%

Typical card network assessments, generally non-negotiable but not always flat. Revolution Payments

3.2% vs 5.9%

Effective cost on a $100 payment ($3.20) versus a $10 payment (59 cents) under the same fixed charge, before additional services. Swipesum

US$5,000

Monthly volume where mid-market businesses typically find interchange plus saves more than flat rate. Airwallex

2.8% to 98%

Range of decline rates across 106 US dollar gateways in Spreedly’s 2023 data. Beast Insights

About 20% vs 2%

Declines recovered by an instant retry on a different processor, versus the same merchant account (Primer). Beast Insights

11.1% to 55.4%

Share of organizations passing PCI compliance, 2012 to 2016. CardConnect

36.7%

Organizations passing the full compliance interim assessment in 2018, after a 2.2% decline in 2017. CardConnect

$4.88 million

Average global cost of a breach, with around 292 days to identify and contain. Exabeam

USD 3.54 billion

Expected PCI compliance market size by 2032, at a 10.54% compound annual growth rate. Exabeam

Three practical lessons follow. First, compare effective rates, because fixed fees can push small orders far above headline rates. Second, processor choice affects approvals, not only cost. Third, PCI DSS compliance is ongoing, and fewer organizations maintain it than you might expect. Avendo works exclusively with PCI DSS compliant processors and routes each transaction to the best available rate.

Calculate your own effective rate

How much does credit card processing cost?

Credit card processing usually costs a percentage of each sale plus a small fixed fee. NerdWallet considers competitive in-person rates to be around 2.6% plus 10 cents and fair online rates about 2.9% plus 30 cents. Beast Insights reports the average Visa and Mastercard credit rate in 2025 was 2.36%. Your effective rate depends on your card mix and ticket size.

Which part of credit card fees can a merchant negotiate?

Usually only the processor markup is negotiable. Revolution Payments notes that most businesses spend their time negotiating a markup that is 10 to 25 percent of total fees, while interchange, 75 to 90 percent of the total, goes unexamined. Network assessments of generally 0.11% to 0.15% are non-negotiable. Routing to better rated processors is another lever beyond negotiation.

Why do small transactions cost more per dollar?

Small transactions cost more per dollar because the fixed per-transaction fee does not shrink with the sale. Swipesum shows that with a fixed per-transaction charge in the fee, a $100 payment costs $3.20 in base fees while a $10 payment costs 59 cents. That makes the effective cost 3.2% on the larger payment and 5.9% on the smaller one, before other charges.

Does the payment processor I choose change approval rates?

It can. Beast Insights, citing Spreedly’s 2023 data, reports decline rates that ran from 2.8% to 98% across 106 US dollar gateways. It also cites Primer finding that an instant retry on a different processor recovers about 20% of declines, versus 2% on the same merchant account. Ask any provider for approval data on your card mix.

How many organizations are fully PCI compliant?

Fewer than you might expect. CardConnect reports that 11.1% of organizations passed in 2012, rising to 55.4% in 2016. Compliance then declined by 2.2% in 2017, and in 2018 only 36.7% of organizations passed the full compliance interim assessment. Staying compliant is ongoing work, not a one time task.

Read all frequently asked questions about credit card processing