As a small business owner, I don’t get any fancy deals from Mastercard, Visa, AmEx, Discover, or PayPal regarding the commissions I must pay them when a customer purchases my book with their card/service.  Credit cards and PayPal enable my business and I’m not complaining about the commissions.  What did surprise me the other day is how variable the commissions are.  I realized those us who have a choice in which card to use likely have no idea of the impact of that choice on the vendor they’re supporting - especially the small, local businesses.  Here are the commission percentages I was recently charged from my book sales:

·         If the customer used a Visa Business and Visa Debit card: 2.39% of the total purchase (including shipping)

·         Mastercard Business and World Club card: 4.38%

·         Mastercard Debit card: 2.39%

·         PayPal: 2.9% +$.30

On top commission there are other fees businesses pay to these companies such as a program service fee and international business fees.  Then there are the fees paid monthly (mine is $25) and annual (mine is $60) fee to the service companies that connect them to the credit card companies – they can’t work the credit card companies directly.

It was a surprising analysis when I took the time to do it.  I always use my credit card, but never gave much thought to which one or why.  I know many of us are trying hard to support local and small businesses and momprenuers.  Are these rates surprising to you as well?