Costco Merchant Services Review

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Merchant Maverick's Rating: (3.5 out of 5)

Last Updated: October 29th, 2011.

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Overview:
Instead of using my traditional rating format for this review, I'm just going to give you a quick overview of Costco's merchant services. Mainly because of the fact that if you're getting a merchant account through Costco, then you're essentially getting a merchant account through Elavon (NOVA), and I've already written a full review for Elavon.

Costco is just a reseller of Elavon's services, so the only benefit that you'll get by going through Costco are the so-called "discounted prices" that Costco offers its premium members. But the truth is, that a merchant account through Costco isn't as cost-effective as it seems.

I won't get into the details of why Costco's "discounted prices" aren't really discounted at all, because that's already been covered here, here and here. The bottom line is that although Costco does a wonderful job of offering low prices on poultry and Playstations, they aren't doing the same with merchant accounts.

You'll have a better shot at saving money if you use a reputable comparison shopping engine like FeeFighters or CardFellow instead of Costco.

In conclusion, I gave Costco a lower score than Elavon because I don't think that Costco should be in the business of reselling credit card processing services. By doing so, they're just adding a layer between the merchant and the processor (Elavon), and that layer isn't really offering anything special, except for a little confusion. I've dealt with plenty of people that don't even realize that Costco isn't actually in the business of offering credit card processing services. Most of the time, those merchants have no idea that it's Elavon who's handling their account. Again...confusion.

If you know what rate structure to ask for (interchange-plus), and what rates are fair, then you might as well go directly to Elavon, OR go with another provider who's main business is credit card processing. Anybody that understands merchant account pricing will have a much better chance of getting a superior deal than what Costco is offering through Elavon.

Stick with the wholesale goods Costco. That's what we love you for.