I have a question about a specific company — [removed to protect the guilty]. They are saying the rate they can provide is 1.54% on qualified and mid-qualified cards (“flat wholesale rate”). The only other rate is “up to 4.61%” on non-qualified cards. Then they charge 3 cents per transaction and no basis points. Is this true and possible? Continue reading
Some credit card processing fees are negotiable, and some aren’t. So, please put the spreadsheet aside for a moment and read this article before you call another processor to ask the fateful question, “What’s your rate?” Before you can negotiate credit card processing fees, you have to know which fees are flexible. Credit card processing is like any other industry in that there are fixed costs and markups. Fixed costs are those that a processor can’t change, and markups are open to discussion. Continue reading
American Express operates on a closed loop network whereby it issues credit cards directly to cardholders and merchant accounts directly to businesses. A credit card processor that claims to offer lower American Express credit card processing fees than its competition is simply being misleading. American Express sets its own discount rates which are exactly the same for all credit card processors. Continue reading
You have to read between the lines to understanding how much you’re actually paying to process credit cards through Intuit. Tiered pricing, daily discount and excessive non-qualified surcharges make Intuit statements appear deceivingly simple. Continue reading
Some credit card machines can be reprogrammed to work with virtually any credit card processor, while other machines will only work with a specific processor. Older credit card machines that don’t have the proper hardware and memory to support modern programs may not work with any processors at all. Continue reading
Tiered merchant account pricing is currently the most common form of pricing for credit card processing services. Tiered pricing is opaque, expensive and is the vehicle for many of the hidden fees that plague the credit card processing industry. A more cost-effective, transparent alternative to tiered merchant account pricing is available to businesses that know enough to request it. Continue reading
It’s not enough to simply read a merchant processing statement; the real goal is to understand what you are reading, where your money is going, and to determine whether your business has competitive credit card processing fees. This article will lay the foundation that will allow you to understand your statements, and it will link to examples of statement analyses that will allow you to follow along as we dissect various statements. Continue reading
An online business does not currently have to pay sales tax in states where it does not have nexus. However, the topic of online sales tax is rapidly evolving as new laws emerge with the goal of allowing states to charge sales tax by standardizing laws and rates. Some states also have existing or emerging laws that expand the scope of nexus that dictates if sales tax can be collected. Continue reading
All merchant accounts have contracts and terms; some merchant account contracts do not have early termination fees.
Business people and processing professionals alike often refer to this type of merchant account as not having a contract, or as having a month-to-month agreement. Both of these declarations are incorrect and create confusion regarding the true nature of merchant account agreements. Continue reading
Interchange plus rates vary widely from one processor to the next. How competitive rates are will depend on your business’s processing profile and how you are gathering quotes. It’s also important to understand that interchange plus is a form of pricing; it’s not a single rate. The percentage portion of the processing markup (the “rate”) may not be, and often isn’t the most important fee in determining cost-effective credit card processing services. Continue reading
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