Card Imprints taken with no online authorisation are typically charged a transaction fee of 3-6%: with authorisation, 1.5-3%. ATM card transactions are charged at around $0.10 per transaction.
are you saying that a typical mail order credit card transaction has a 3-6% charge, because the card is not physically present? this is a rather shockingly high rate. again, what I have been calling the "fraud tax"-- it's hidden in every purchase we make, and when we increase credit card security it will increasingly be dissipated. but the problem is that no one realizes this in general, and will argue, "why should we do anything to prevent fraud? we are already not paying for it right now, why should credit card companies spend any money to prevent it?" BZZZZZZZT I suspect these invisible fraud taxes are quite significant in general and someone could really become very wealthy by inventing a system that decreased them. you might increasingly see retailers offer a "safe card discount"-- some brand of credit card charges them less transaction overhead, and they pass these savings onto the customer. or, the credit card company could send the money back to you like Discover does.