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If you own a business and accept credit cards you are probably paying a lot more than you should for your merchant account. You're probably overpaying without knowing that you are or really even caring that much. But when you find out by how much you're overpaying, you'll be much more likely to switch to a new merchant account. When you initially researched your merchant account for pricing information, you probably did so looking for the least expensive discount rate or percentage rate. Many advertised rates pull the "bait and switch" where you are drawn in with some insanely low rate only to realize after you start processing that the low rate originally advertised isn't for you. Most merchant accounts have a qualified rate, a mid-qualified rate and a non-qualified rate. There are per transaction fees for every merchant account. Sometimes this fee is not charged if the merchant has history and does a flat rate on just the discount rate. But even if the fee doesn't show up on the statement, the merchant account provider and the bank still have this fee. They simply make it up in the discount rates. Flat rate pricing has one advantage and that is simply for accounting. It may be easier to know that every transaction is subject to a flat rate, either a flat per transaction or a flat percentage or discount rate. For merchants processing smaller ticket items, such as fast food restaurants or convenience stores, the per transaction fee usually represents a larger percentage of the overall transaction and can significantly increase the overall percentage you're paying for accepting credit cards. Merchants processing high tickets, the discount rate will usually always overshadow the per transaction fee simply because a $.25 per transaction fee for a $5,000 product is extremely small where a higher discount rate of say .5% higher on that $5,000 transaction represents an increase of $25. So if you process the higher ticket items, you need to negotiate as low as you can the discount rate even if you pay a higher per transaction fee. Switching your merchant to a new provider is easy. Generally it only takes a few minutes to complete an online application and a few minutes of verifying your prices and fees to know that you're saving money. Although the time span for switching to a new account isn't quick, the actual time you personally spend is typically less than 30 minutes. One of the reasons many merchants won't switch their merchant accounts is because they have an existing contract for which they have an early termination fee. The irony here is that for most accounts, the savings on switching to a lower priced account far exceed the early termination fee. Some merchant account providers even offer a waiver or reimbursement to provide incentive for merchants to switch so if you find the right merchant account provider to go through, you'll have that early termination fee with your existing processor covered. Getting new equipment can also be a benefit of switching your merchant account. Competition for new merchant accounts is fierce so some of the incentives that processing companies are offering include new equipment. So, if your equipment is older or if you just want new equipment, make sure to ask about that and make that a part of your switching strategy.
Article Source: http://www.ezine-directory.info
Business merchant accounts are something no business can be without. Getting a merchant account setup is very easy and can usually be done in only a couple of days. Contact Brian through his website dedicated to merchant services.
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