Frank has been writing about payment processing and business services since 2015. He is a retired Air Force officer and a former practicing attorney. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from The Pennsylvania State University and a Juris Doctorate degree from the Ventura College of Law, and currently resides in Paso Robles, California.
There are so many processing companies, they all seem to be doing more or less the same thing, and they all have both glowing testimonials and terrible complaints. How are you supposed to choose the best company under these circumstances? Who can you trust? Read on to find out.
While merchant account fees are definitely irritating (and expensive!), they're often an inevitable cost of doing business. Even if you sign up with a payment service provider like Square that doesn't charge monthly fees, you'll still be paying the costs associated with maintaining your account in the form of higher transaction processing rates.
Credit card surcharging has rapidly gained in popularity in recent years as court decisions, and legislative changes have gradually removed legal barriers to the practice. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has greatly accelerated this trend. Nonetheless, the question remains: Should you add a surcharge?
There's a lot to love about Helcim. What we love is that you won't have to worry about the bait-and-switch tactics and long-term, binding contracts that plague the industry. Helcim distinguishes itself from many other providers by offering no binding contracts, exclusive interchange-plus pricing, consistently good customer service, and low account fees.
Choosing a high-risk merchant account provider isn’t the same as working with other payment processors. You can expect different pricing and contract terms — but you shouldn’t compromise on customer service. Here are six great providers that offer great service, fair pricing, and reasonable contracts for small businesses.
Your business obtains its MID when it begins working with an acquiring bank after opening a merchant account. Whether you want to work with an acquiring bank directly or indirectly with the help of a merchant services provider, you’ll need to complete a verification process to get your MID.
If you’re a new business owner, you may not know very much about PCI compliance – or even what it is. It’s possible that your first introduction to the subject might be an unexpected fee for PCI compliance showing up on your monthly processing statement. Like it or not, you can expect that PCI compliance […]
A merchant account is designed to temporarily hold funds from credit and debit card transactions until they can be settled. When processing is complete, these funds will then be deposited into the merchant’s business bank account.
This article will explain the four PCI merchant risk levels and show you how to figure out which one applies to your business. Don’t worry — it’s really very easy! We’ll also review the various requirements that apply to each of these levels.
A digital wallet is an electronic method for securely storing various types of sensitive information, including credit cards, debit cards, gift cards, electronic cash, tickets, and IDs. Not every wallet stores every type of payment information. While terms such as digital wallet, mobile wallet, and e-wallet all mean roughly the same thing, they technically cover slightly different services.
Whether you run a service business that mostly interacts with clients over the phone, a retail or restaurant business that regularly takes phone orders, or you just want to offer your customers more ways of settling billing with you, a virtual terminal may be a savvy choice.
In this article, we’ll walk you through the process of applying to become an authorized EBT retailer and discuss the hardware requirements you’ll have to meet before you can accept EBT payments. We’ll also recommend some top-rated merchant service providers that offer support for EBT payments at a fair and reasonable cost.
In this article, we’ll dive deeper into the world of ACH payments, showing you where to find payment processors, suggesting ways your business can use ACH payments to save time and money, and discussing what’s a fair price to pay for the service.
Credit card tokenization involves the use of systems that replace credit card information with random letters and numbers. Ready to learn more about tokenization and how it can keep your business — and your customers — from falling prey to cybercrime and fraud? Read on to discover what a token is and how tokenized payments work.
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to the question of whether debit card merchant fees are worth the cost, but for the majority of retailers, the answer will probably be yes. Due to a combination of regulation and fraud protection, debit card transactions are frequently cheaper for merchants to process than credit cards.
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The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation.
Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.
