Small-ticket retailers -- those with an average transaction of $10 or less -- are being squashed by Visa's recent move to dramatically increase their credit card swipe fees, by taking advantage of a loophole in the recently enacted Durbin Amendment.

Before Durbin, a coffee shop might pay a 7-cent fee on a $2 cup of coffee and a 35-cent fee on a $20 group order. Durbin hoped to cap the latter fee at 23 cents, and leave the first unaffected: a ceiling, not a guideline. Instead, that $2 cup of coffee now comes with a 22-cent interchange fee, an increase of over 200 percent.

Visa's price increase-- immediately matched by MasterCard -- was a cynical move to regain lost profits, a move that squashes small businesses and reduces their competitiveness against national retailers who benefit from lower card processing fees.  It also harms the American consumer, as small merchants will be forced to raise prices, money that will go directly into the ample coffers of Visa, MasterCard and their giant banking partners (the same guys Americans bailed out in the financial crisis).

Visa and MasterCard control over 80% of the credit market, and they charge American merchants the highest interchange fees in the world.  If Visa is allowed to continue raising interchange prices with impunity, the Visa/MasterCard Duopoly will turn Main Street into Pottersville.

Please join me in telling Visa you're fed up.  Sign my petition calling on Visa CEO Joseph Saunders to swiftly reverse their decision to more than triple credit card swipe fees on small-ticket businesses.