With cash and checks going to the wayside and more customers wanting to pay by credit card, businesses need to make sure they can accept credit cards. However, certain types of businesses may find it particularly difficult to find a merchant processing account that meets their specific and specialized needs. Certain types of businesses like small law firms and construction businesses face a particular challenge when looking for the right merchant account since they are likely going to be processing very large payments, sporadically. Also, most businesses for convenience are going to want to accept payments over the phone, online, or in person with a credit card reader. All these factors can drive up the cost of using credit cards which can make accepting credit cards for these businesses difficult.
Therefore, these types of businesses need to be particularly careful when choosing a credit card processor because they can end up paying higher transaction fees that cut into their profit margins. Consequently, when researching a merchant account, these specialized businesses need to look for several features listed below to get the right merchant account that meets their needs.
- Be Honest about the average transaction amounts and volume: To get the most accurate quotes business owners need to let the merchant sales rep of the companies their getting quotes from have an accurate picture of their credit card processing needs. Keeping in mind not all their customers may want to pay with a credit card especially if they plan to roll over any additional credit card processing costs to their customers by adding a credit card fee.
- Make sure the Contract Length is Right for your Business: Many credit card processing companies will want to lock you into a long-term contract with large termination fees. Therefore, business owners need to carefully read the service terms of any credit card processor to make sure they understand the length of time, and they are committing to using the credit card processing company.
- Ask about Fees: Many credit card companies charge monthly and sometimes yearly fees and may have a monthly minimum. They may also charge incidental fees like chargeback or network fees. When an owner asks for a quote from a credit card company they need to make sure to request a fee schedule. Then owners can compare the fee schedule with the contract they have been sent and clarify any fees that they don’t understand
- Ask about Interchange Plus Pricing: Interchange Plus pricing is a processing model that separates out the components of the total processing cost which has two benefits over a tiered pricing. One it is generally cheaper for the merchant and two it will give the merchant a better understanding of how a certain credit card company’s pricing compares to other companies.
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