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Payment Processing
Insights & Guides

Plain-English breakdowns of fees, pricing models, and industry practices so you can make smarter decisions for your business.

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Kevin wrote this. But if he's wrong, we'll make it right — and demote Kevin to sharpening pencils. BeBetter@brooksidepayments.com

Fees & Interchange

Can You Add a Shopify Surcharge? What Actually Works

Where a card fee can actually be passed on Same merchant. Same processor. The channel decides. CLOSED Shopify storefront checkout Prices are set in the catalogue. Payment method is chosen last. So the page cannot know which price to show. Leaving Shopify Payments also triggers Shopify’s own fee on every order — 2.0% on Basic, […]

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Legal & Compliance

The $20,000 1099-K Threshold Does Not Apply to Your Merchant Account

WHO THE $20,000 THRESHOLD ACTUALLY COVERS Payment apps and marketplaces Third party settlement organizations $20,000 and more than 200 transactions Below both numbers, no form is issued. A merchant account Merchant acquiring entities No threshold no transaction count either Every dollar you run is reported to the IRS. Source: IRS Instructions for Form 1099-K, rev. […]

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Legal & Compliance

The Rule That Keeps Debit Cheap Just Lost in Court

Legal & Compliance The Debit Interchange Cap Is One Court Ruling From Changing The debit interchange cap is the reason accepting a debit card costs you a few cents instead of a few percent — and for the first time since 2011, it is genuinely in play. In August 2025 a federal court struck the […]

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Legal & Compliance

Oklahoma Legalized Surcharging, Then Capped It Below What Your Cards Actually Cost

Legal & Compliance The Oklahoma Credit Card Surcharge Is Legal Now — and Capped Below What Acceptance Costs On November 1, 2025, the Oklahoma credit card surcharge became legal. Senate Bill 677 repealed the statute that had prohibited them since 1977, and it became law without the governor’s signature. For a merchant who had spent […]

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Legal & Compliance

Florida Just Made Card Acceptance Mandatory for Every Local Government

FLORIDA HB 967 — CHAPTER 2026-169 One word changed in s. 215.322 THROUGH DEC 31, 2026 MAY accept Card acceptance is optional. No online requirement. FROM JAN 1, 2027 SHALL accept Card acceptance is required. Online method also required. EVERY UNIT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT NAMED IN THE STATUTE Municipalities · Special districts · County commissions […]

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Legal & Compliance

The FDA Panel Voted Yes on Peptides. Your Processor Didn’t.

Adding a peptide to the 503A list takes five steps The July 2026 advisory vote was the second one. YOU ARE HERE Nominated for review Advisory vote 6 of 7, July 2026 FDA reviews 2,000+ comments Proposed rule public comment Final rule compounding legal still ahead — a year or more Nothing an underwriter checks […]

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Legal & Compliance

The State’s Own Accountants Said the Savings Would Cost More Than They Save

The Number Nobody Runs The State’s Own Accountants Said Swipe Fee Savings Would Cost More Than They Save When a state proposes to stop the card networks from charging interchange on the sales-tax portion of a purchase, the pitch is always the same: merchants are overpaying, and this gives some of it back. It sounds […]

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Legal & Compliance

Interchange Fee Legislation Keeps Clearing Committee — and Dying Anyway

The Pattern Nobody Names Interchange Fee Legislation Keeps Clearing Committee — and Dying Anyway Every year for the better part of two decades, a version of the same bill has moved through a statehouse somewhere: a proposal to stop the card networks from charging interchange on the sales-tax and tip portion of a purchase. More […]

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Fees & Interchange

Visa Publishes Lower Interchange for Small Businesses. Your Processor Never Mentioned It.

Page 10 of a Public PDF Small Business Interchange Rates Are Published. They Are Lower. And You May Not Be Getting Them. Small business interchange rates are not the same as everyone else’s — Visa publishes a separate, lower schedule for merchants under $280,000 in annual Visa consumer credit sales. It is called the Small […]

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Fees & Interchange

Your Software Publishes Its Rate. Visa Publishes Theirs. Here’s the Gap.

Two Published Numbers Software Payment Processing Fees Are Published. So Is Interchange. Nobody Puts Them Side By Side. Software payment processing fees are not a secret. Jobber publishes its rate. So do Mindbody, Vagaro, Dentrix, ServiceTitan, QuickBooks and every other platform that bundles payments into the software you already run your business on. You can […]

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Fees & Interchange

Interchange Has a Schedule. Your Processor Hopes You Don’t Know It.

The Two Months That Matter Interchange Has a Schedule. Your Processor Hopes You Don’t Know It. Interchange rate changes are not a mystery, a surprise, or a moving target. Visa and Mastercard update their interchange tables on a published schedule, twice a year: April and October. That’s the whole calendar. Which means the single most […]

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Industry Insights

Dry Cleaner Payment Processing: You Do the Work First and Get Paid Second

For Dry Cleaner Owners You Do the Work First and Get Paid Second Almost every retail business collects at the moment of sale. A dry cleaner doesn’t. The customer hands you a suit on Tuesday, you clean it, press it, bag it, and hang it on the rack — and then you wait. You’ve spent […]

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