[buildawesome]

Just to add, PayPal is also most likely a credit card processor, serving as a Payment Facilitator (PayFac), which enables others to become CC Processors. It happens that PayPal and Stripe are money transmitters, which may come with being a PayFac.

Auth.net is a gateway/portal that facilitates CC transactions, and while you may be refunded on processing fees for the use of the gateway, someone, somewhere is likely eating the interchange and most likely occurring at the merchant level.

[arcticbull]

Notably, Square, founded in 2009 didn't become a money transmitter until sometime in 2013, IIRC, and I think a few laggard states in 2014. This was in service of Square Cash, not the core payments business. They were, however, merchant of record the whole time.