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HOW TO CHOOSE THE CORRECT
CREDIT CARD PAYMENT PROCESSING PROVIDER
Many owners of small
businesses don’t want to provide their
customers with the facility to pay using
credit cards because they are scared
that the equipment costs and fees will
eat in to their profits. However, fees
aren’t the one and only thing you should
consider while you are looking for the
right payment processor.
First, you should be sure
as to which type of company you would
like to be associated with. There are
banks which offer services to accept
credit card payments and also
independent financial institutions.
There are also credit card companies
which do this.
The major advantage of
doing business with the same bank where
you have your accounts is that you trust
the bank and also since you are already
involved with them, you will have a one
point contact source to solve all your
problems.
However, the independent
financial institutions are more
experienced and are also more flexible.
They are ready to work with more kinds
of businesses as they are willing to
take higher risk.
While you are looking for
the right processor by looking at the
different packages offered by each of
them, there are some other things that
you should see:
You should find out from the previous
customers whether the processor’s
network is reliable or has too much down
time? How long do they take to rectify
the network? How good is their customer
support and also how responsive they
are? Whether their customer support is
available 24/7?
What are the different payment
processing products that are available
through them? Are they willing to help
you to make the right choice of
processing?
What other types of payment can be
processed with this system? Example, can
electronic checks or electronic gift
cards be processed by them?
However, the only factor
that people consider when opening their
merchant account is the cost. There are
several kinds of fees which are
associated with credit or debit card
payments which include transaction fees,
discount rate and application fees,
among others.
There are many other
fees’ such as statement fees, minimum
monthly fees and so on.
You should look at all
these costs before making your decision
and not only the initial cost of the
account, because, those companies which
offer low initial cost will have
exorbitant rates and fees. Suppose, you
expect customers to make several
purchases of small amounts using their
credit cards then you should opt for low
transaction fees. On the other hand, if
your business attracts customers who
make large credit card payments then you
should open a merchant account which has
low discount rate.
The last thing you should
consider is: are there any charges for
buying or renting equipment? There are
few companies which give free equipment
for their customers and this can be
useful for the small businesses that
don’t have enough capital to pay for the
processing equipment in the initial
stages. |
