The credit card processing industry can be anyone’s guessing game in terms of finding the right merchant to handle your business.
Why? Hidden rates and fees, difficult setup, half-hazard processing and, in many cases, non-existent customer service. Plus, no two providers charge the same; one vendor may advertise a low rate but charge more for service items, while another may charge for setup and administration but waive its fees on other services.
This makes finding the right merchant very challenging – and business owners must do their research. Here are 5 questions to help you in this process:
1. Does the vendor integrate with the software you are using? This is the most important question! When using POS and financial software, you need credit card processing to work, which will, in turn, save you time and human error.
2. What are your non-qualified rates? In other words, the highest percentage rate that you are charged whenever you accept a credit card for a sale under certain circumstances, such as keying in the credit card number rather than swiping it, lack of address verification or the use of a special rewards credit card. These may or may not be published.
3. What are your monthly (reoccurring) fees? Make sure you’re covering all of your bases.
4. What are your reward card rates? There are tons of ways a company can charge you for seemingly-promising rewards (which may not benefit you in any way).
5. Are there any setup fees, contracts or cancellation fees? Don’t sign up with a company that has a contract or isn’t willing to waive it.
When shopping around, an existing business should always ask potential merchants to do a rate review. Consider all costs by focusing on the effective rate rather than one particular rate or fee, in order to look at the big picture. Moreover, providing a credit card processing statement shows that you are a legitimate business, giving the merchant a better idea of what you process, and hopefully allowing the merchant to give you a more competitive rate.
Fourlane has partnered with the only two credit card processing companies that fully integrate with QuickBooks. This protects your bottom line and ensures your information is up-to-date at all times. Rather than sending you on a wild goose chase with processors that use middlemen to jack up your cost, the vendors we work with offer competitive rates.
