tl;dr
Visa and Mastercard plan fee hikes for merchants accepting credit cards, potentially costing around $502 million collectively. These increases, effective in October and April, will mainly result from network and interchange fees.
Leading card network giants, Visa and Mastercard, are gearing up to roll out a series of fee increases for merchants who accept credit card payments from shoppers. This fee adjustment, set to take effect in October and April, might cumulatively result in an added expense of around $502 million for merchants, based on insights provided by CMSPI, a renowned consulting firm. The majority of this cost surge will stem from network fees, encompassing slightly more than half of the overall rise, while the remaining portion will arise due to heightened interchange fees, commonly referred to as swipe fees. Although often overlooked by consumers, this fee structure has been a notable point of contention between card networks and merchants. A prior spat between Amazon and Visa over swipe fees was resolved in early 2022, with Amazon contemplating discontinuing acceptance of U.K.-issued Visa cards for payments.
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