Wholesale merchant services expert, Robert Vines of 99 Merchant Account, encourages small businesses to seek better rates for credit card processing as they are potentially losing money on credit card transactions. His new website provides information on how to avoid paying hidden card processing fees unnecessarily.
For detailed information on finding affordable and transparent credit card processing fees, visit the 99 Merchant Account website: http://99merchantaccount.com.
Often small businesses end up paying too much for their credit card processing fees, because many card processing companies deliberately obscure the fee structure by adding hidden markups on top of the card merchants– fixed interchange fees, making it confusing to decipher.
Instead, Vines advises that businesses seek out card processing firms, or Independent Sales Organisations (ISOs) that offer a transparent fee structure, preferably one that doesn–t add any extra charges on top of the merchant fee, to maximise the profitability of each transaction.
Tiered pricing structures by credit card processing companies are to be avoided at all costs, Vines stresses, because the card processing companies themselves determine how cards are categorised, whether qualified (lower rates), semi-qualified or unqualified (higher rates), and are at liberty to change the categories whenever they see fit. Typically, businesses that accept tiered pricing structures are lured by very low rates but end up paying much higher rates for most transactions.
Another product to be wary of is credit card processing services by Intuit Quickbooks. A business can easily start using Intuit if it already uses Quickbooks for its accounting, due to the seamless integration and compatibility between the two products. However, with all the monthly fees including usage and software fees, transaction and swiped transaction fees, batch and PCI fees, small businesses can be up for almost $4,000 in extra fees per annum for the privilege, Vines reveals.
He also warns of the Costco credit card processing product, explaining that, œThe company has partnered with Elavon and promotes seemingly attractive rates, however in examining the fine print, not only are they using the tiered pricing structure to lure small businesses on board with the qualified (lowest rate) card tier, they also require that users sign up to three-year contracts that incur hefty cancellation fees if they decide to leave earlier, which many do”.
Also, he says beware the seemingly œfree” card transaction terminals, as card processing companies seek to recoup the cost of the devices in a short timeframe via various means, such as hidden and tiered pricing fees and substantial cancellation fees.
Businesses with a high volume of card transactions from foreign visitors have a profitable opportunity; if the business already accepts Discover cards, it is automatically compatible with one of the largest card products in the world, China–s UnionPay card, which allows overseas travellers to conveniently use cards in their own local currency (the transactions are automatically converted at the time of payment).
Card processing services by 99 Merchant Account provide only wholesale rates on both card transactions and equipment, offering full fee transparency with a $99 (or less) monthly membership fee plus 10¢ per transaction with no volume penalties. The company does not add extra rates to the card merchant interchange fee. The 99 Merchant Account website provides more information and tips.
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