Credit Card Processing for Store Front

Need help with choosing a CC processing company

[pknghiem]

Can someone advise me of which credit processing company to research or use for my salon? I have heard that a lot of them tends to freeze your account leaving u stranded on cash flow. any recomendation? which 1 have the lowest fees or seems resonable with good service. please advise

[jwolthuis]

If you have a salon, you should open a merchant account with whomever you have your company checking account.

[pknghiem]

i havent checked into local banks but I would think their fees are much higher

[jwolthuis]

Exchange rates are based on your deliverables. Operating a salon, where you hold the credit card of a regular client in your hand is much lower risk than accepting a credit card from a customer across the country whom you'll never meet.

MOTO (mail-order telephone-order internet) transactions generally carry a higher fee than Store Front transactions.

[techdmc]

Hi pknghiem,

I'd recommend Merchant Warehouse, or Flagship Merchant Services. I personally use Flagship, so far they have been great and have low prices. A good friend of mine used Merchant Warehouse and had good results.

Authorize.net is another to consider. Plus from the sound of it you'll need a physical terminal to process the cards, this is something else to consider.

Your best be is to call these companies, tell them what you want to do, and above all (from my perspective) be up front. If you get a little "sketchy" about your business while you are trying to get approved, they will turn you away, or flag you as "high risk". With respects to account freezes, it varies from company to company. That is a tough one to pin point. Hope this helps....

[piatkow]

You need one that operates in the same country as your bank. You haven't told us where you are so the advice that you have been getting may not be appropriate to your location.

[MarkOly]

If you have a salon, you should open a merchant account with whomever you have your company checking account.

I never gave that serious consideration. My bank always tries to sell me on their merchant service when I'm there. I am in the market for a new provider. I should check them out. I don't have a salon though - just ecom. Is this advice specific to brick and mortars?

[jwolthuis]

Is this advice specific to brick and mortars?

Your bank won't know anything about eCom, but they can set you up with a merchant account, which you can then use via a gateway like Authorize.net.

You need to tell them that you'll be doing MOTO (mail order, telephone order) transactions so that they can quote you the correct fee structure.

The only thing I never liked about my banks merchant account was the never-ending interchange rates (fees). They'd charge one thing for a credit card, something else for a Mileage Card, and a third fee for a GM Purchasing card. It's impossible to predict what your monthly statement will look like.

[MarkOly]

The only thing I never liked about my banks merchant account was the never-ending interchange rates (fees). They'd charge one thing for a credit card, something else for a Mileage Card, and a third fee for a GM Purchasing card. It's impossible to predict what your monthly statement will look like.

Yeah, that's the hard part to quantify when you're comparing merchant accounts. The mid-qualifying and non-qualifying rates.

A few years ago, I finally accumulated 20,000 points ($200) in 1% cashback rewards on my Visa. So I was eligible for the $10 gas cards. I just ordered 20 of those. Why waste points on the food processor that they double the price on? When I received the 20 gas cards, I remember wondering "Who pays for this? It can't be Visa. They would have lost $200 on me to date." It wasn't long after that I was on the phone with someone from my merchant provider and he explained to me that either the mid-qualifying or non-qualifying rates were to compensate for the 1% cashback rewards and things like that.

Then there's the 5% off fuel or food purchases that Visa and Discover offer each quarter. Who pays for that? It has to come right out of the vendor's pocket.