Retail Credit Card Processing

With about 7-15 transactions daily
and let say about $400 maximum daily.

Please help.
with low fees and easy to work with machines and customer service. thanks

I am assuming you are in a retail environment.

I would recommend you look at service as well as price. When you are talking about market rates that are 2 or 3 basis points different (100 basis points = 1%), the difference in costs are minimal. Watch out for low rates that you can't qualify for. Acquiring banks take the 200 or so Visa/MasterCard Interchange rates and put them in the categories of Qualified, Mid-Qualified and Non-Qualified. How they dump them into those categories is entirely up to them. You could have only a few Qualified conditions and many more that don't qualify. So, don't let the basic discount rate fool you. Read the fine print.

Look for a company that can evaluate not only today but every six months how your processing needs maybe changing. There are also special plans like small ticket merchants (under $25) that have different rate structures, which are actually better than standard retail rates. Remember the accounting mantra, "Never measured, never managed." If the company you choose can't defend through empirical evidence why a particular service or hardware is required, don't use them.

The hardware you purchase today should support your business for at least five years. I often describe the credit card processing hardware like a good refrigerator or mattress. You are going to use them for years, so get something robust, scalable and reliable.

Lastly, read CAREFULLY the contract terms. It can cost you a bundle to terminate your contract. And the term may be 3 or 4 years. Don't let them skim over those terms and conditions. Read and understand before you sign.

Jon

2006-08-03 00:39:20 by Ruthie S

www.elementps.com Credit card processing fees shouldn't be a mystery. Watch to learn how actual Visa and MasterCard fees can clearly be ...

This is for actual store owners/merchants. I am trying to get a better feel for what a good deal is for Credit Card transactions and with companies like PayPal and others offering the service for between 1.9% (over $1 mill) to 3% (0-$1000), I need to know if that is a good deal.

Geek is right - you only have part of the picture. But there is more to it than even he let on.

Let's start by saying that what you should try to gauge is the EFFECTIVE RATE. The effective rate is the total percentage paid in fees for your credit card transactions over a given period of time. Your target for your effective rate will vary depending on your average ticket, total volume, method of processing and card assortment.

Your average ticket plays a big part in targeting your effective rate. A smaller average ticket will be impacted more by per transaction fees than a larger average ticket.

Example with 2% rate and $0.25 total transaction fee:
$5.00 transaction-
($5.00 X 2.00%) + $0.25 = $0.35 or 7%

$100.00 transaction-
($100.00 X 2.00%) + $0.25 = $2.25 or 2.25%

Example with 3% rate and $0.15 total transaction fee:
$5.00 transaction-
($5.00 X 3.00%) + $0.15 = $0.30 or 6%

$100.00 transaction-
($100.00 X 3.00%) + $0.15 = $3.15 or 3.15%

This tells us two things. First, the smaller your average ticket the higher your effective rate will be. Second, with a higher average ticket you should be more concerned about the rate and less about the per transaction fee while the opposite is true if you have a lower average ticket.

Once you have determined what your expectations should be based on your average ticket then the total volume, card assortment and method of processing come in to play. For starters, it is important to note that Visa and MasterCard (the card associations), and not merchant services provider, receive the majority (over 75%) of the fees that merchants pay for their processing services. The remainder of the fees, or the margin, is what the merchant processor receives. What this means is if you pay $10,000.00 annually in processing fees, over $7500.00 of this goes directly to the card associations and is non-negitiable by you or your merchant processor. The card associations have also designated over 240 different card categories that each merchant processor must recognize and process. Every merchant processor, no matter how big or small, is charged the same rates and fees by the card associations and every merchant processor differentiates each card category utilizing exactly the same card category name as designated by the card associations.

The card categories are designated in the following manner:
1.)Industry – Retail, Restaurant, Hotel, Government, Utility, Service Industry, Gas Station, Supermarket, etc.
2.)Type of Card – Personal Visa or MasterCard, Visa or MasterCard Debit, Visa Rewards, MasterCard World, Commercial Visa, Corporate MasterCard, etc.
3.)Method of Processing – Face-to-Face (swipe), Mail Order/Telephone Order, Key Entered, E-Commerce, etc.
4.)Processing Efficiency – Address Verification, Authorization/Settle Match, Timeliness of Settlement, etc.

These categories are as diverse as they seem. If a cardholder uses the same card to buy something from a retail establishment, lunch at a restaurant and pay their electric bill, all three of these transactions will be designated as a separate card and rate category. If a retail establishment accepts two different types of cards (ex. - a Visa Debit Card and a Visa Rewards Card) for a purchase of the exact same amount, both of these transactions will be designated as a separate card and rate category. The same is true for a Face-to-Face transaction as opposed to a telephone order. Furthermore, if a merchant does take a telephone order and doesn’t enter the required cardholder information, the transaction will be downgraded to a higher priced card and rate category than a properly executed telephone order.

Sure, some merchant processors offer a simplified statement format with bundled categories, but only to keep from disclosing individual rates. The simpler the statement format the less a merchant knows about what their true credit card processing costs are or should be. A simple statement also makes it very difficult to perform an accurate comparison to other programs. For many merchant processors, their most successful customer retention tool is their customer’s complete inability to understand their services. If you ask all of the right questions you will certainly be able to make an educated pricing decision.

There are some additional things to consider when making your merchant processing decision:

*Service, support, integrity and education-
Many merchants make their choice solely based on price. Be sure to ask questions about the service platform. The web is full of stories from merchants who have had horrible issues with a processor that they went with for a perceived $5.00 monthly savings.

*Leased equipment-
Always, Always, Always a bad deal. I have never spoken to a merchant who is happy that they did this. Do the math.

*Term agreements-
Avoid if possible and check the buy-out. Look for a processor who will sign you to an at-will agreement so you will always have open options.

*Beware "FREE" anything-
Free setup. Free equipment. Free software. These things cost the processor money and their margin is incredibly small - especially with small businesses. Ask yourself the what, when, why and how of your business giving away something for free and try to figure out what the benefit is of a processor doing it for you. If it is too good to be true........


If you have any additional questions, feel free to contact me at (920)993-9433 or jbordeaux@windriverfinancial.com.

2006-10-25 16:26:51 by Brett M

Built-in security, including the First DataTM TransArmor® solution, reduces risk and simplifies compliance
Every payment option-PIN-secured and signature debit, Visa®, MasterCard®, American Express®, Discover®, Diners Club International® and JCB®, plus First Data gift and loyalty cards.
Keeps lines moving with fast downloads, as well as a speedy thermal printer that's easy to load and jam-resistant

My wife is starting a business (Jazzercise center), and we need help navigating through the plethora of options available for both table top credit card terminals and merchants. Does anyone have any recomendations for solid performers in both categories? Is it better to buy or "lease" a terminal directly from a merchant? Do you recommend something like Quickbooks processing instead?

As far as use, she will be using the terminal to charge "partial months" dues for new students, until their info is set up via an automatic recurring EFT with corporate. She'll also be collecting joining fees with it, and from time to time use it for processing the sale of some actual retail items (apparel, shoes, nutritional supplements, etc.)

So the long and short is we need a solid solution that will have a long shelf life, but not something we'll be running hundreds of transactions on every day.

Thanks in advance!

based upon your condition,I think you should find something useful here.http://creditcard.expertips.info/america n-card-company-credit-express.html

2008-04-20 08:30:29 by dizzneeguy

Price: $5.95 $5.95

We provide credit card processing for retail merchants. We could use a POS company that would offer hardware and software for retailers Point of Sale activity at wholesale pricing.

Check out this site for a good listing of POS Equipments.

http://www.wareprise.com/content/point-o f-sale.html

2006-05-09 09:33:25 by Jesus R

So i have bad or no credit. Not sure. I think i may be too young to have it because I've been denied small retail store credit cards. I was wondering which card I can get with bad credit? I also am in debt and want to get a credit card and get a cash advance and pay off the credit card bill along the way. How much can I get out? any interest? Any help or answers you could give me would be helpful! and about how long does the process take to receive a card?

If you are being denied, then you should receive letter in the mail telling you the reason that you were denied credit and the credit bureaus reporting the information.

Bad credit is the result of you having credit and not making your payments on time. No credit is when you have never borrowed money to be repaid like a credit card or personal loan.

You will have to start building credit with secured credit to start. Go to the bank or credit union you do business with ask them if they have a secured credit card. Open an account with $300-$500, charge small amounts every month for gas or groceries and pay the card off in full each month.

After a few months ask the bank if they can convert the card to unsecured, if they can not apply for an unsecured card again. Gas and Retail store cards are normally easier to get.

2009-09-11 13:23:12 by Dazed & Confused