Credit card transactions typically have a percentage component and a fixed-fee "swipe" component. So on a $10 charge, the vendor might pay 2.9% ($0.29) plus a $

Credit card transactions typically have a percentage component and a fixed-fee "swipe" component. So on a $10 charge, the vendor might pay 2.9% ($0.29) plus a $0.30 swipe fee. Crucially, the swipe fee is the same if the transaction is $10, $1,000, or $1. Micropayments are hard to make work on top of this infrastructure because the payment network eats up 60% of a $1 transaction and nearly all of a $.50 transaction.