Here's a number that might keep you up tonight: the average small business spends 2.5% to 3.5% of their revenue on credit card processing fees. For a business doing $500,000 a year, that's $12,500 to $17,500 — gone.
That's not a cost of doing business. That's a problem with a solution.
Breaking Down Where Your Money Goes
Every time a customer swipes a card, three parties take a cut:
Interchange (1.5–2.5%) — goes to the card-issuing bank (Chase, Bank of America, etc.). This is set by Visa/Mastercard and every processor pays it. You can't negotiate this.
Assessment fees (~0.13–0.15%) — goes to Visa/Mastercard themselves. Also non-negotiable.
Your processor's markup (0.2–1.5%+) — this is the part you CAN control. And this is where most businesses overpay.
What It Looks Like for DMV Businesses
A restaurant on U Street doing $60K/month: paying $1,800–$2,100/month in fees is common on tiered or flat-rate pricing. With interchange-plus? More like $1,300–$1,500.
A liquor store in Bethesda doing $80K/month: $2,000–$2,800 on legacy processors. With transparent pricing? $1,600–$1,900.
The savings add up fast — $4,000 to $10,000 per year for a typical DMV small business.
Why Most Business Owners Don't Know This
Because processing statements are intentionally confusing. Your processor doesn't want you doing the math. They bundle fees, use jargon, and bury the real numbers.
We built PAYHERO specifically to fix this. Transparent pricing, no junk fees, and a free analyzer that reads your statement and shows you the truth in plain English.
The Bottom Line
If you haven't looked at your processing fees in the last year, you're probably overpaying. Even a small rate improvement — say 0.5% — saves a $50K/month business $3,000 a year. That's money that should be in your register, not your processor's pocket.