Credit Card Processing Blog Posts | Page 5

If you want to sell online, you need more than a website. A payment gateway connects your payment processor to the internet and conveys the transaction information so that you can get paid.

Tiered pricing was supposed to simplify the costs of accepting credit cards but more often than not it’s an opportunity for processors to charge merchants more than they would pay with other pricing models. Here’s what you should know about tiered pricing and the best alternatives to it.

Negotiations aren’t just the realm of lawyers. As a business owner, you can negotiate with merchant account providers to get a credit card processing agreement that works for your needs.

Wondering how to accept credit card payments without a merchant account? Learn what third-party payment processing is, and the pros & cons for small businesses.

A free credit card swiper can be tempting for small businesses, but some are better than others. Check out our rundown of the best free card readers.

A particularly confusing and misunderstood fee is the monthly minimum. Rather than a direct fee, it’s the minimum amount in processing fees you’re required to pay your provider monthly. If your processing fees fall short of this minimum, you’re billed the difference; if not, there’s no extra charge.

When choosing an internet merchant account for your eCommerce business, you’ll need to understand how a merchant account interacts with the other elements necessary for selling online, such as payment gateways, payment processors, and shopping carts. Some services combine one or more of these elements, but it’s still important to distinguish these elements from one another.

Wondering about using a manual credit card machine? A credit card imprinter essentially uses a miniaturized version of printing press technology, capturing a copy of the credit card for you to process at a later date. Credit card imprinters let you take payments without internet, but it also means extra work.

If you’re excited about all of the benefits of recurring payments, you may be wondering about the next best step. If you already have a payment processor, make contact and see what already may be available to you and how to implement it easily. You likely also have the option to integrate a payment gateway if you have an existing site, and your current payment processor may have a list of available options for you.

The business of credit card processing is changing quickly. These days, only the old-line established processors have long contracts with ETFs that penalize you for ending a contract early. Newer processors with different business models can offer you better deals, and you can easily shop around and avoid contracts with ETFs.