Free Guide · 17 Pages

The Plain-English Guide to Lower Credit Card Processing Fees

Five honest paths to lower — or eliminate — your fees, including 0% dual pricing. Written by Jeff Glines, 20+ years inside payment processing.

  • Read your statement like a pro — line by line
  • The 4 ways processors charge merchants — and which fits your business
  • 5 specific paths to lower (or eliminate) your fees
  • Real numbers from real businesses — not made-up examples
  • Compliance pitfalls if you implement dual pricing wrong
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20+

Years in Payment Processing

30%+

OF ANALYSES SAY 'STAY PUT'

17

Pages of Plain English

0%

Sales Pitch

WHAT'S INSIDE

Five real paths. Yours is one of them.

The guide walks you through each one with real numbers, when it's the right call, and the specific risks. No theory, no fluff.

01

Renegotiate Your Current Processor

The lowest-friction path. Most merchants don't realize their processor will renegotiate if you ask the right way. Includes the exact email script that gets responses.

Easiest Win
02

Move to Interchange-Plus Pricing

The transparent pricing structure used by sophisticated merchants. Lower fees, same customer experience. Usually the best option once you're processing $15k/month+.

Recommended for Most
03

Add Dual Pricing / Cash Discount

The path to true 0% fees. Customers paying card cover their own processing cost. Includes the compliance pitfalls most consultants don't tell you about.

Highest Savings
04

Expand into eCheck / ACH

The most overlooked path. For B2B, professional services, and large-ticket merchants, moving even 30% of payment volume to eCheck can slash processing costs in half.

B2B Secret
05

Change Your POS or Gateway

When your software is the lock-in. The hardest path, but sometimes the only one. Covers Toast, Square, QuickBooks, Lightspeed, and how to escape each cleanly.

Last Resort
✓

PLUS: How to Read Your Statement

Before you can fix it, you have to read it. A 5-step walkthrough on decoding the line items in your merchant statement — including the ones your processor hopes you skip.

Bonus Chapter

WHO THIS GUIDE IS FOR

Honest filter, not a pitch.

This guide is most useful for one type of business owner. If that's not you, no hard feelings — I'd rather you skip it than waste 17 pages of reading.

DOWNLOAD IF

This sounds like you

  • You process at least $15k/month in credit cards
  • You suspect your processor is overcharging but can't prove it
  • You've been pitched dual pricing but don't trust it
  • You're stuck on Stripe, Square, Toast, or QuickBooks and wonder if you can leave
  • You want to read your own statement instead of trusting reps
  • You'd rather know the truth than be told what you want to hear

SKIP IT IF

This is you instead

  • You process less than $15k/month — flat-rate is probably still right for you
  • You don't have a merchant statement to look at
  • You're looking for a magic processor that's free (those don't exist)
  • You want "dual pricing" without doing the compliance work
  • You're not willing to read 17 pages

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Twenty-plus years inside payment processing. Zero patience for BS.

I'm Jeff Glines, founder of MerchaMax. I spent 20+ years inside the payment processing industry — first on the bank side, then as a consultant for SMBs across just about every vertical you can think of.

I built MerchaMax because I'd rather be the guy who reads the statement first and recommends second — even when the recommendation is "stay where you are." About 30% of analyses end exactly that way. If I were optimizing for switches, that number would be zero.

This guide is the same playbook I use when I'm reading a client's statement at 7 AM with my redbull. Same paths, same honest analysis. The only difference is your statement isn't in front of me — so this is the framework, not the personalized answer.

Jeff Glines

Founder, MerchaMax · St. George, UT

Read full story →

REAL NUMBERS

Three real merchants. Three different paths.

Coffee shop. Lighting store. Custom staircases & ironwork. Each one took a different path — and each one saved real money.

"

We were cash-only for years because we didn't want to lose money to processing fees. Jeff showed us dual pricing — now we take cards without paying any processing fees. Our sales went up 5x once tourists could pay how they wanted.

— LeAnn T.
Coffee & Bakery

$2,500–$5,000/mo

Saved on processing

Moved from tiered pricing to interchange-plus. Slow months: $2,500/mo back. Busy months: $5,000+. No customer-facing changes — just better pricing.

— Travis & Holly W.
Lighting Store
"

Not only have we seen significant savings, but we were able to connect to our QuickBooks so we still invoice the same way — without paying those high QuickBooks payment processing prices.

— Sheila W.
Office Manager · Custom Staircases & Ironwork
$13,770 saved in year one · Recent client moved from 3.18% to 1.83% effective rate · Hidden non-qualified charges removed

QUESTIONS

The honest answers.

What's actually in the PDF?
17 pages. A breakdown of the four ways processors charge merchants, a 5-step walkthrough on how to actually read your statement, and detailed explanations of all 5 paths to lower (or eliminate) fees — including the compliance pitfalls most consultants skip. Real numbers from real clients, not made-up examples.
Is this just a sales pitch for your services?
No. About 30% of the analyses I run on real client statements end with "stay where you are and renegotiate." The guide reflects that same honesty — it walks you through the 5 paths so you can make an informed decision, including the option to do nothing. If I were optimizing for switches, the guide would be much shorter and only cover one path.
Will you spam me after I opt in?
Spam? No. Periodic helpful emails about payment processing? Yes. You'll get the PDF in one email, plus occasional follow-ups — new educational content, when I publish a new resource, or when I'm running a one-time offer. Every email has a one-click unsubscribe. Text messages only happen if you specifically checked the marketing SMS box on the form — that's a separate, explicit opt-in. Reply STOP to any text anytime.
I'm on Stripe / Square / Toast / QuickBooks — is this still useful?
Especially. Flat-rate processors like Stripe, Square, Toast, and Clover are exactly the audience this guide was written for. The guide walks you through whether you can actually leave (POS lock-in, contract issues), what you'd save on a real merchant account, and the specific implementation steps if it makes sense. If you can't leave, it shows you how to add dual pricing on top to offset most of the cost.
Do you sell my email or phone number?
Never. I don't sell, rent, lease, or share your contact info with anyone, ever — for any reason. The only way your info would leave my CRM is if you explicitly asked me to introduce you to a specific processor for a merchant account, in which case you'd be the one giving permission. Read our full Privacy Policy →
What if I download it and don't read it?
Then you don't read it. No follow-up nag emails. No "I noticed you didn't open the guide." Your time is your time. Worth noting though — the guide is set up so you can jump straight to your specific situation. If you only have 10 minutes, read the chapter on the path that matches your business.
Ready to read it?

17 pages. One email. Zero pitch.

The same playbook I use when I read a real merchant statement at 7 AM with my redbull. Same paths, same honest analysis.

Send me the guide ↑

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"Not only have we seen significant savings, but we were able to connect to our QuickBooks so we still invoice the same way — without paying those high QuickBooks payment processing prices." — Sheila W. · Custom Staircases & Ironwork