Merchant Service 101
WHAT IS YOUR RATE?
Is this what you ask when a merchant service sales rep walks into your establishment?
It's the wrong question!!
A smart sales rep will be only too happy to entice you with a below-market gimmick
rate to draw you into a contractual obligation with their company, usually with multi year
contracts with stiff early termination fees.
Having a little knowledge about merchant service pricing, will help you avoid the kind of
pricing that can affect your bottom line negatively.
Are you quoted or paying one "qualified rate?"
And then are you pay for "mid & non qualified rates?"
You should avoid this pricing structure!
With this form of processing you may not be able to qualify for all the reduced incentive
interchange pricing levels available to you from Visa and MasterCard!
Most transactions that once were in this category (qualified)
Have moved into the mid and non qualified category and at a higher cost!!
With the advent of "rewards cards", and other enhanced card types (that fall into these
categories) that now a quickly becoming a major percentage of your transactions.
Most merchants see only the qualified rates:
So the merchant service providers can build in expensive additional margins to their
mid and non qualified pricing
Ask about "INTERCHANGE PRICING" as this is the only way you will know exactly
what your cost will be, ask a lot of questions, and get clear and concise answers. It is your
money that your asking about, and it your right to know. Any double talk means that either
the salesperson doesn't know what they are talking about or they are trying to avoid an
answer!!
This illustrates the benefit of having a Professional Payment System Consultant work with
you to analyze your processing activity to find the best rate structure for your specific
business.
Beware!! ---
Annual fees ... MID & NON Qualifying rates ... Research fees ... Install fees....
Compliance fee .. Research fees ... batch fees... Club fees.
Ask a lot of questions!!! It's your right!!!!! IT'S YOUR MONEY!!!
If they won't tell you... WE WILL!
You can learn more about applying for Interchange Plus Pricing through Prime Merchant Services by clicking on the link above or contacting us. Also, learn more about Visa and MasterCard Interchange rates.
