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MERCHANT ACCOUNT FEES WHICH CAN BE
AVOIDED
If you have come to the step of knowing
more about “Merchant Account Fees”, then
you must be sure about the benefits of a
merchant account for your business. It
is understandable if you are confused
about the various types of fees
associated with a merchant account.
There are several fees, rates, costs and
many other expenses that are charged by
the providers of merchant accounts.
Almost all of the charges and fees are
legitimate but there are some
unnecessary fees which should be avoided
and make your business more profitable.
This includes charges or fees’ such as
Foreign Card surcharges, Cancellation or
Termination fees, Reserve Fund, Annual
Fee, Daily or Batch Close – Out Fee,
Programming Fee, Swipe Terminal Hardware
Fee and Gateway Fee. This article
explains these charges and why they can
be avoided.
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Gateway Fee: the provider will
charge about $10 to $30 for real
time credit card processing.
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Fee for Swipe Terminal Hardware:
This is the cost of the hardware
found in most of the retail stores
where the credit card of the
customer is swiped to read the
details of the card. The cost of a
credit card terminal may cost you up
to three hundred dollars. If you are
running a small or a start up
business then you will not need a
high tech terminal machine.
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Programming Fee: Some merchant
account service providers ask the
merchants to pay about hundred
dollars if they want to change their
service provider. Never sign on an
agreement where you are asked to pay
such a fee.
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Batch or Daily Close – Out Fee: A
few providers charge about 10 or 20
cents to batch your transactions. If
your merchant provider is taking
such a fee from you then it is time
to re-negotiate the agreement or go
to another merchant account
provider.
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Chargeback Fee: This fee has to be
paid by the merchant in case of a
chargeback by the customer. However,
some providers charge extremely high
rates as chargeback fees. Find out
whether the rates charged by your
provider are according to industry
standards. If not then the time has
come to change your service
provider.
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Annual Fee: This fee has no
justification. It is only a method
of making some extra money by the
service providers. Annual Fees with
some providers is as high as hundred
dollars a year which should be
entirely avoided.
Then, there are several more charges and
fees’ which are charged by the service
providers to increase the bottom line of
their companies and decrease that of
yours. This can be easily avoided if you
do proper research and have negotiated
well with your merchant account services
provider. There are several merchant
account providers out there in the
market and due to the cut throat
competition you should be able to get a
good deal if you have done your
homework. Well if you don’t spend enough
time, then you may end up being locked
in an expensive agreement.
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