What is the least expensive way to accept Credit Cards?
I was accepting credit cards on my online business, but it ended up costing me more to offer the service than what I was selling with credit cards. I hate to not be able to afford this service. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you for your replies.
Tags: Cards, Credit, Expensive, Least
Credit card services depend on your type of business and whether the cards are swiped or manually entered.
There are a lot of bad companies out there and there are good.
I would recommend http://www.goDataWest.com. They can setup the processing through your computer, a standalone terminal or some cash registers.
Instead of incurring unreasonable fees for processing credit cards, why not operate on a cash and carry system in which customer personal checks, money orders are fully acceptable. And are valid until these negotiable instruments clear the bank before the merchandise is shipped. That way, if there is any complaint brought by your customers, it will be you who will decide the veracity of their claims, not a middle-man credit card company attempting to arbitrate the matter.
Good luck!
You probably had a high monthly minimum (which most processing companies don’t tell you about) in addition to a monthly support fee and perhaps gateway fee. If your volume is low, these are questions you want to ask your provider: 1) What is the monthly minimum 2) What is the gateway fee 3) What is the statement/support fee. That way you know your total bill should a month go by when you don’t take any credit cards.
Another caveat: You never want to go with a company that has a contract or a termination fee. The reason behind this is, legally any msp can raise your rates as long as they give you written notice 30 days in advance. This includes any “surprise fees”, annual fees, etc. If you are locked into a contract, you are either stuck with those surprises or have to pay a hefty termination fee to get out of it. Reps may try to get you to think that a contract means the rates are locked in, but this is essentially false. Also, they can skew the question. For example, you might as “Do you have a termination fee” and they’ll say “No” but what they won’t tell you is that if you cancel you have to pay out fixed monthly costs times the # of remaining months in your contract. The best way to phrase it is, “If I cancel after one week, what do I owe you, AND what do I owe the back-end processor?”
I hope this helps!