What the new card-fee rule actually changes at checkout

The rule takes effect in October. Who pays, who’s exempt, and the three numbers that decide whether your margins move.

The first number is $50: the rule caps what a network can charge on card-present transactions under that amount. Online checkout is exempt.

The second is $10 million. Merchants under that annual card volume keep their current rates for three years, under the phase-in schedule in §7(b).

The third is 0.7% — the effective ceiling on blended rates for qualifying transactions, per the worked examples in the rule’s appendix.

Trade groups filed objections aimed at the phase-in timeline, not the caps themselves — which most readers of the docket take as acceptance that the caps survive.

The plain version: if your checkout is mostly in-person and under $50, your margins move in October. If you’re online-first, this rule changes nothing.