Make This Spring Your Most Profitable Yet — Starting with Payment Fees

If you’re like most small business owners, you’ve probably accepted credit card processing fees as “just part of doing business.” While credit cards are here to stay, there might be a better way of accepting payments.

Understanding the Fee Types

Flat-rate pricing: Simple but expensive — a fixed percentage (usually 2.9% + $0.30) on every transaction.

Tiered pricing: Confusing “qualified” and “non-qualified” categories that often result in higher effective rates.

Interchange-plus: The most transparent model — you pay the actual interchange cost (set by card networks) plus a small markup. This usually delivers the lowest long-term rates for growing businesses.

To give you an idea, businesses processing $20K–$50K monthly can easily lose $4,000–$15,000+ per year, depending on which fee types are used.

The Cost

Credit card processing fees typically range from 1.5% to 3.5% per transaction. On a $100 sale, that’s $1.50 to $3.50 gone before you even cover your other costs. For businesses processing $20,000–$50,000 monthly, this can easily add up to $4,000–$15,000 per year in fees — money that could be reinvested in your team, inventory, or growth.

Smart Ways to Lower Your Fees

You don’t have to keep handing over that much profit. Here are several effective steps you can take right now:

• Review your current processing statement and negotiate better rates
• Switch to a more transparent pricing model (interchange-plus often beats flat-rate for growing businesses)
• Encourage higher-value or recurring payments to spread out fixed costs
• Explore options that bundle valuable perks with better rates (Exectras Membership adds value to you and your team by including Virtual Primary Care for businesses who process their payments with us.)

Why It Matters

You don’t have to accept the status quo of credit card fees. You can reclaim your margins and put that money back where it belongs — into your business and your people.