Getting accepted by a merchant account provider is an essential step for a business wishing to take payments via credit cards. Not only do they process the payments for a business they also are likely to provide the hardware and software to facilitate it.
I want to take a look at reviewing a merchant, comparing merchants and the fees to expect from a merchant account provider.
Merchant Account Provider Reviews
I have a rule that whenever I am faced with something that will cost me financially that I take the time to thoroughly look into the charges I might face. Doing merchant account provider reviews is to be recommended. I would be looking for things like reputation of the merchant, what others are saying about the merchant, competitiveness of their fees, their support system and probably most important how quickly will they transfer me my money!
Merchant Account Comparison
In looking for a good reliable merchant I would use online comparison methods first and thoroughly research at least five merchant account providers so that I have a good idea about which of them would be a good fit for my business. It would be import to me at this stage to have a check list of features that I need from them so that I know I am comparing “like with like”. I know in doing that process that I will find the best deal!
Merchant Account Fees
Unfortunately to make money by offering a credit card taking facility I wasn’t surprised to find that I have to spend money to operate the process. Unfortunately there is no way around this. Here are some of the merchant account fees that I found to be common:
- Discount & transaction fees
- Monthly service fees
- Application fees (sometimes)
- Hardware & software rental fees
- Internet gateway fees
- Verification Fees
- Cancellation fees
- Chargeback fees
- Hidden fees
These are the main fees but there may be others so I know this is one occasion that I must read the small print very carefully before committing to a contract. In particular I found users online of these services were caught out on the small print when cancelling their merchant account provider contact.
Obtaining an account with a merchant account provider I found wasn’t that difficult. It takes a little time to complete the research into them but I was confident that in doing that process and looking at things like reviews on the merchants and comparing their service and fees that I would be well informed to make the right choice for my business in the long run.
