"The average credit card processing cost for a retail business where cards are swiped is roughly 1.95% - 2%."
Those are US numbers. In fact, credit card costs are plummeting across the world [1] and every year more and more shops force a debit swipe where available (spoilers: more and more people) so they pay a dime instead of 1-2%. In addition E-checks are basically free.
Further as sibling notes the argument that bitcoin is free from middlemen is not very convincing. Middlemen would have to exist in a bitcoin world both because of bitcoin's very nature of requiring them and because of the same reasons middlemen exist in the world today.
Those are US numbers. In fact, credit card costs are plummeting across the world [1] and every year more and more shops force a debit swipe where available (spoilers: more and more people) so they pay a dime instead of 1-2%. In addition E-checks are basically free.
[1] http://www.csmonitor.com/var/archive/storage/images/media/im...
Further as sibling notes the argument that bitcoin is free from middlemen is not very convincing. Middlemen would have to exist in a bitcoin world both because of bitcoin's very nature of requiring them and because of the same reasons middlemen exist in the world today.