Credit Card Processing Blog Posts | Page 14

Credit card associations, like Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover, charge fees for their services every time a credit card is used. If you take credit cards, then card association fees are a necessary evil, since these fees comprise a part of wholesale fees you have to pay in order to take credit card payments. Here’s everything small businesses need to know about card brand fees.

Unhappy with PayPal’s merchant services? Looking for a new processor? Whatever your reason for not choosing PayPal’s credit card processing, there are plenty of other options. Check out our choices for fair, affordable and practical alternatives to PayPal.

Free credit card processing sounds great, but the fact is, it’ll never be completely free. You’ll always have some fees to cover on your own, plus you need to consider whether it’s actually a good fit for your business model. Here’s what you need to look for.

Despite what Visa and Mastercard’s advertising would have you believe, most businesses accept American Express cards. However, for merchants looking to add Amex to their repertoire of payment options, the company has been a challenge. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at American Express’ fees and processing rates.

Is there anything you can do to get your funds from your payment processor more quickly? Yes, but if you think being able to accept credit cards instantly means you’ll get paid instantly, it’s time to think again.

So many processing companies offer Clover POS products that trying to wade through them and pick one can seem very daunting. We’ve put together a list of the best and worst companies so you know what to look for — and beware of!

While many of the more reputable merchant account providers have abandoned terminal leases altogether in favor of selling the terminals directly (or allowing you to reuse your existing equipment), there are still plenty of other providers that are still pushing terminal leases. Check out the best credit card processing companies for some good options that let you buy your credit card terminal at an affordable price.

If you don’t understand basis points or the other aspects affecting your credit card processing rates, do some research or ask someone to explain it to you. If your processor can’t do that, you probably want to start looking for a new one. You can start by checking out our top-rated credit card processors for small businesses.

Of course, everyone’s experience with a particular processor won’t be the same. It’s important to weigh the complaint volume of a company against its processing volume. A processor serving a hundred thousand merchants with 100 complaints is a much different scenario from a processor serving ten thousand merchants with 100 complaints. That being said, a processor with a lot of complaints about the same issue should be an immediate red flag.

We’ve identified seven different features that you need to look at very carefully in selecting a merchant account provider. They’re all equally important, and you’ll want to examine each of them when evaluating any merchant account provider you’re thinking of signing up with. While it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to come up with a precise estimate of your overall costs, you should be able to get a pretty good idea by evaluating these seven features.