Mastercard & Visa v (Merchants) recently settled an antitrust lawsuit regarding this practice. >http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-13/visa-mastercard-settle

Mastercard & Visa v (Merchants) recently settled an antitrust lawsuit regarding this practice. >http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-13/visa-mastercard-settle-merchants-antitrust-swipe-fee-suit.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-13/visa-mastercard-set... >The agreement, which provides for a temporary reduction in rates for merchants and allows them to impose surcharges on customer purchases, follows a seven-year legal battle with U.S. retailers that accused the two largest payment networks of conspiring with banks to fix swipe fees, or interchange.