Flat rate credit card processing is an expensive illusion based more on clever marketing rather than reality. What some companies advertise as competitive flat rate pricing is actually over-simplified, expensive pricing that conceals the true costs of processing. Continue reading
A recent class action lawsuit against Visa and MasterCard resulted in a settlement that allows merchants to start charging their customers a fee for using credit cards — commonly referred to as merchant surcharges or checkout fees (these terms are used throughout this article Continue reading
The chargeback process is designed to increase consumer confidence — it’s very easy for credit card users to dispute charges, while merchants and banks have to do all of the legwork to figure out whether or not a transaction is legitimate. Continue reading
If your business is paying qualified, mid-qualified and non-qualified charges to process credit cards, it’s paying too much. The key to lowering your business’s credit card processing expense is not avoiding non-qualified fees. The key is completely eliminating a processor’s qualification altogether. Continue reading
Hidden surcharges, fine print and tiered pricing combine to make Intuit Merchant Services one of the most expensive, opaque credit card processing solutions on the market today. Continue reading
Visa and MasterCard have begun what will likely be a long push to bring EMV to the United States. For financial institutions, this means issuing cardholders new credit cards and updating networks to process EMV data. For businesses, this will mean purchasing new EMV-capable credit card processing equipment. Continue reading
Intuit’s GoPayment service carries hidden charges and fees that make it less competitive than other mobile credit card processing options. Continue reading
Square credit card processing isn’t a good fit for every business. Square is best suited for individuals, or for businesses with low or sporadic sales volume or a low average sale amount. And even then, Square’s poor customer service and tendency to hold funds and impose reserves makes it a gamble for any person or business. Continue reading
PCI compliance is now required for all merchants, but the burden of validating compliance for a large segment of merchants falls to individual processors and merchant service providers. Some merchant service providers are using PCI as an excuse to charge excessive pure-profit fees; others are charging fair fees for compliance support, and many are taking a “don’t ask don’t tell” approach. Continue reading
Earlier this month, Visa, MasterCard and several of the nation’s largest banks settled an antitrust suit with a group of seven million retailers. The suit, which dates back to 2005, accuses the card networks and banks of conspiring to fix interchange fees that businesses pay to process credit and debit cards. Continue reading
Contrary to popular belief, PIN debit transactions incur more than just a flat fee, often making signature debit transactions cheaper to process. Understanding the ins and outs of debit card transaction fees will ensure you’re not losing hard-earned money pennies at a time. Continue reading
A pos wats fee is a communication fee that is charged each time a business’s credit card equipment dials the processor’s toll-free 800 number to get or give information. The pos-wats fee is often charged in addition to other transaction fees such as authorization fees, return fees, and AVS fees. Continue reading
A common and costly mistake when shopping for credit card processing services is to focus on a processor’s rate while paying little attention to transaction fees. The financial impact of this mistake is especially damaging for businesses with a low average sale amount. Continue reading
Originally created in 2004 to streamline 1099 reporting, merchant category codes are now used for a number of different purposes. Of particular importance to businesses is a merchant category code’s impact on interchange fees charged by issuing banks
A monthly minimum fee is one of the more confusing credit card processing fees because it’s not really a fee at all. A monthly minimum is more accurately described as a benchmark that may result in a fee, rather than as a fee by itself. Continue reading
The term basis point is thrown around a lot in the credit card processing industry, but many sales people fail to realize that most people aren’t quite sure exactly what a basis point is, or what it means in terms of credit card processing fees. This article explains what a basis point is, how to calculate fees using basis points, and finally the role basis points play in credit card processing — specifically having to do with a processor’s markup. Continue reading
PayPal Here has taken the mobile payments market by storm with a smartphone processing solution that in several ways gets the better of the current market leader, Square. Boasting live customer support, immediate funding and support for multiple payment channels including free check acceptance, it seems as though Square has some catching up to do despite the company’s rapid growth. Continue reading
Intuit is best known as the maker of the popular Quickbooks accounting software, and as the provider of the GoPayment mobile processing application. If the company’s credit card processing keeps going as it is, Intuit will also become know for exorbitant credit card processing charges and excessive downgrades. Continue reading
Micro merchants and businesses that need to accept credit card payments while on the go now have yet another smartphone credit card processing option. On March 16th PayPal launched PayPal Here, a service that allows iPhone and eventually Droid users to accept credit card payments through their mobile device. Continue reading
Effective April 13, 2012, Visa will begin charging a Transaction Integrity Fee (TIF) of $0.10 on transactions involving Visa debit and prepaid cards that do not meet CPS requirements. The Transaction Integrity Fee will not apply to Visa credit card transactions. Continue reading
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Credit Card Processing [Exposed]
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