You actually negotiate the interchange fee somewhere along the process of getting a merchant account. If you're a "Level 1" merchant you pay less and smaller merchants pay more, American Express and Discover charge more, if you're in a dodgy business coughPORNcough you pay quite a bit more. I think that Visa or MasterCard will increase your interchange fee if your customers do too many chargebacks and disputes, too.
I'm out of touch with that any more, but 1.75% used to be a very good interchange rate maybe 10 years ago.
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You actually negotiate the interchange fee somewhere along the process of getting a merchant account. If you're a "Level 1" merchant you pay less and smaller merchants pay more, American Express and Discover charge more, if you're in a dodgy business coughPORNcough you pay quite a bit more. I think that Visa or MasterCard will increase your interchange fee if your customers do too many chargebacks and disputes, too.
I'm out of touch with that any more, but 1.75% used to be a very good interchange rate maybe 10 years ago.