Payment processors charge a Per Item Fee for each transaction a merchant processes. Along with the Discount Rate, the Per Item Fee is part of the ‘Plus’ of the Interchange Plus pricing system. Host Merchant Services charges a $0.10 Per Item Fee, however it is not charged for each individual ‘item’ paid for. The Per Item Fee refers to the 10 cent charge for each actual authorization, a better name for this fee would be a Per Authorization Fee.
There are also Per Item Fees associated with each Interchange category. These range from $0.10 – $0.24 cents depending on the card being accepted. The Per Item Fee on a Visa credit card for example, would amount to the 10 cents for the Interchange per item, and 10 cents for the Host Merchant Services per item for a total of 20 cents.
The Per Item fee also varies for Small Ticket Programs, as well as for Large Ticket Programs. The Interchange categories can be found here for Visa, and MasterCard.