Smooth Easy Payments
Electronic commerce does not have to be confusing and complicated. Retailers have an advantage over pure e-commerce brands. By combining your online and offline efforts to deliver a seamless customer experience, you can do well in today’s retail world. If you stop focusing on how the Internet is killing your business, you will have time to focus on what matters: improving the customer experience. As a retailer, merchant services are a reliable tool that provides your customers with an easy and memorable experience. They’ll be itching to come back to your store.
What Exactly Is A Merchant Service Provider?
Merchant Services contribute to the development of your business, whatever its size. Merchant services allow you to take credit card payments from any credit card company globally and guarantee those payments during the approval period. Once approved, your merchant service provider offers you transaction solutions tailored to your needs.
Approval for merchant services can sometimes be challenging. You will need to qualify and be approved by an institution offering merchant services before you can begin to take credit card payments. If you cannot get approved for merchant services, you will have to look at other transaction solutions like Paypal or Square. Also, many merchant banking providers will offer you the following software:
- Analyze your sales, identify your best-selling items, and explore your transaction history;
- Build your customer base;
- Improve the management of your employees and increase their performance;
- Manage multiple stores from a single account.
Square is groundbreaking. This system works with countries besides the United States, A Fintech company, Square offers an appropriately sized terminal and other hardware that allows your business to accept multiple payment forms. It is well known for helping new businesses manage their customers and analyze their purchasing data.
- Print or email receipts
- No hidden fees
- Small business financing, payroll, and other services
- Sign up, and within seven days, you’ll get a reader free.
- Transparency
- Easy signup
- The credit card reader can plug into headphones and can connect via Bluetooth or a charging port.
- Can integrate with other Square services like P.O.S. system, Square stand, Square Terminal, and Square Online Store
- Square Order is a virtual terminal that can schedule and has invoicing features.
What Is The Cost Of The System?
The Biggest benefit is that, unlike most other companies, Square has no additional fees. Square charges 2.75% per swiped transaction or 3.15% per keyed-in transaction, and there are no annual fees, no monthly fees, and no long-term contracts. Further, if you use Square proprietary hardware, you will be offered lowered rates. But you still need to purchase the chip reader, which is $49, the Square register is $799, and the Square Terminal is $399.
Overall, a sound system with slightly higher rates but is transparent with its pricing model. The biggest gripe that has generated over 2500 complaints is that Square will freeze or hold your funds. The company does this to avoid FRAUD. It uses algorithms to determine if the transaction is fraudulent, and without warning, it can freeze your funds. Worse, the company will not give you notice, and it is almost impossible to contact them. If you fail to provide additional information regarding the transaction, they may even deactivate your account. The company does not specify what transactions are risky, and thus, the owner is in limbo.
Square is more reputable than most other companies and has no hidden fees. The system is easy to use, and there are no hassles. However, to reduce the risk of fraud, the company is known to deactivate your account. So unless you are dealing with questionable transactions, most business owners need not worry about account deactivation.
If you own a small or even a medium-sized venture or mobile business, this option is optimal. Flagship offers transparent pricing without hidden fees or startup costs, no long-term contracts, and is available in mobile payment processing, iPod P.O.S, payment gateways, and a conventional merchant processor machine too.
Summary Of Features
- Provides a variety of payment solutions for retail stores, restaurants, etc
- Accepts all major credit cards and payment types like google pay, apple pay, and Samsung pay
- The company offers month-to-month contracts.
- It is integrated with the Clover P.O.S. system.
- Free state-of-art card reader
- Good 24/7 customer service
- There are no early termination fees.
- Ideal for small businesses
- Free hardware when signing up
- It comes with an online reporting and account management tool.
- Many hardware options are available, including P.O.S. systems and smart terminals (e.g., Clover Mini, Clover Fex, Clover Station, Clover Go)
- Flagship also offers unique hardware that is N.F.C. and E.M.V. enabled
- Also able to accept mobile payments with the iPayment Mobile Pay Swipe and mobile app.
- If fully PCI compliant
Unfortunately, Flagship is not very transparent regarding its payment plan. You can only get the pricing when you call the rep. The company does state it has competitive rates and even offers a $200 American Express gift card if you can find someone else with a lower processing fee. Flagship also offers a month-to-month contract, and you can cancel at any time. If you decide to cancel and return any new or even unopened equipment within 30 days, there is a restocking fee of about 20%
Flagship has an overall rating of 7.5 out of ten. There are many negative reviews about its pricing structure, and the company is not transparent about costs. You might suddenly get a big bill at the end of the month. They have accounted for almost every service. Our best recommendation is to shop around because it appears that Flagship has not done much to improve its customer service or pricing transparency despite years of negative complaints.
How Does Merchant Banking Help your Business?
Most merchant banking systems are equipped with management and accounting software, which significantly improves your retail business management. It is up to each merchant to identify their precise needs in this area to opt for software sufficient to deal with their needs and adapt to changes in their commercial activity.
Credit Card Terminals For Small Business
Intuitive and easy to use, the most basic of these – digital sales terminals, or a credit card terminal machine, accept all means of payment (credit card, check, cash, restaurant vouchers, etc.), records them, publish receipts, invoices, apply discounts. Etc. Transaction records are easily accessible to the seller from the sales terminal or the software interface’s back end.
In addition to the interface dedicated explicitly to sales and accounting, merchant banking systems have management and accounting displays that can be viewed directly on the POS system screen. Each operation is listed and automatically transmitted to the company’s central IT system – if you opt for this – which simplifies the management of the trade, everything will be centralized securely and efficiently accessible to the manager. Inventory management, profit margins, real-time inventory, commercial activity monitoring, attendance, hourly, daily, and weekly sales curve, etc. Each machine can be equipped with management and accounting software that best meets each business’s specific management needs.
Even small businesses need a breath of fresh air! At ProMerchant, as long as you don’t have a high-risk business up your sleeve, these guys have your back. No long-term contracts and there are zero penalties for early termination of the agreement. It used to be associated with Flagship Merchant Services- which has a terrible reputation. Today, Promerchant has no association with Flagship.
- Offers credit card processing for most businesses
- Offers month-to-month contract plans with interchange pricing
- No equipment fees
- $50 AMEX gift card/price beat guarantee
- Free equipment placement
- Easy to set up and learn
What Is The Cost Of ProMerchant Services?
- Keyed in rate and the swiped rate is Interchange + 0.5% + $0.15
- The payment Gateway fee is $25 a month.
- No termination fee
- A batch fee of $0.10
What Do The Reviews Say?
So far, it appears that this is an excellent company with the fewest number of complaints or negative reviews. It seems to be a very reliable service, but there have been very few reviews since it is new. If you are beginning in business, the ProMerchant would not be a bad place to start. Promerchant has excellent customer service and is willing to work with the customers to ensure that both enjoy a positive impact.
Merchant Payment Processing – Choosing The Right Hardware
Each business has its particularities, and an extensive range of options allows you to find the perfect machine that meets all the needs of a particular physical business. Newer POS solutions now enable local merchants to be able to collect payments remotely.
Imagine the case of a hairdresser who also offers home services. Card readers linked to the central sales terminal via smartphone application now make it possible to secure payment by credit card at a customer’s home. All of these digital sales terminals are accessible from a single application on a computer or phone!
What began as a subsidiary of eBay, used chiefly for transactions between dot-com buyers and sellers, PayPal has become its own entity entirely, at least since 2015. It remains the most user-friendly service for electronic payments, mainly because it permits anyone with an email address to sign up, send, and receive payments from others.
- It is a third-party processor – also known as a merchant aggregator.
- Well established and been around for many years.
- Has a solid reputation
- Pricing is upfront and transparent.
- Allows acceptance of payments and processes credit card payment
- You can use it all over North America.
- The system integrates with Touchbistro, Vend, Lavu, Revel, and several others.
- Paypal also offers a Mobile option. You only pay 2.7% per swipe and no additional fees.
- Available in over 200 countries
- It comes with many developer tools like PayPal checkout, PayPal invoices, PayPal subscriptions, etc.
- Easy to set up
Paypal fees are fairly standard in the industry. You pay 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. This is a no-frills system that is ideal for most small businesses. Paypal also offers discounts to nonprofit businesses. There are no other hidden fees. Overall other than withholding funds, there are no negatives about the company.
- It is challenging to get hold of someone if there is an issue.
- It usually takes a day or more for PayPal to reply to a query.
- To prevent fraud, Paypal is known to freeze accounts. It uses complex algorithms to detect fraud, and without informing the customer, your account can be frozen. Getting the account reactivated can be a real hassle.
- When the customer account is terminated, it will hold on to the funds for 3-6 months without an explanation.
- Flagging of accounts is a common complaint- but overall, the numbers are small considering that 20 million businesses use PayPal regularly.
- If you conduct unscrupulous transactions, you can be flagged to be high risk, and your account will be frozen. Things considered high risk include adult entertainment, drug sales, multi-level marketing, real estate sales, etc.
Credit Card Processing Terminal
Your investment can vary from $500 to over 3,000 dollars, depending on your needs. Using a very sophisticated model with all the additional equipment, the digital checkout can meet all physical business needs. Establishing a relationship with a trusted merchant service provider is probably the wisest solution to make your business flow much easier and keep your customers and yourself happy!
Free Credit Card Processing
In a perfect world, there would be free credit card processing for all, and though it’s not impossible to find free credit card processing, it’s more likely you’ll be choosing the right way to pay. Assessing credit card transaction fees for merchants can be challenging so take the time to find the right program and fee structure based on your specific situation.
Bigger isn’t always worse than encountered here. J.P. Morgan Chase Bank offers merchant services as reliable as they come. Chase processing enables the lowest processing rates on the market; there are even options like next-day funds clearance and a wide range of services, like commercial banking, business accounts, business loans, and cash advances.
- Convenient
- Well established and been around for many years
- Customer service, both day and night
- No long-term contracts
- Offers month-to-month rates
- Small and large businesses can use it
- Retail credit card processing plus the ability to accept chip cards, mobile wallets, and contactless cards
- Online credit card processing
- It also features a virtual terminal that allows credit card acceptance using a computer
- Chase has a solid and reliable customer support
- Is PCI compliant
- Fraud detection features
What Does The System Cost?
Chase offers several flat-rate plans. For businesses that process less than $5000 a month, the rates are competitive. For high volumes, one should negotiate the rates with Chase.
- Chase will even offer you better rates if you are with another company. Also. Chase will review your contract and offer better rates.
- In-person rates with a card reader cost 2.6% plus $0.10
- Manually entered transactions cost 3.5% plus $0.10
- The contactless mobile card reader is $50.
Chase has transparent pricing, which comes as flat-rate plans. Further, to use some of the processing features, you must have a Chase Business Banking account. Overall, Chase is a good provider, and the rates are reasonable. However, be warned this is a large provider and offers inferior customer service. The company has such a monopoly in the market that it does not provide competitive customer service.
Card Processing – Interchange Fees:
Usually, it’s a percentage of each purchase in addition to a flat fee. For example, you could have a card charge of 2.1% plus 0.12% per transaction.
Card Processing – Assessment Fees:
In general, these are percentages of your calculated monthly sales volume, e.g., 0.1% of sales to 1,000 and 0.11% of your next 1,000.
Terminal Fees: Debit Card Processing Fees
Quite simply, this makes up for the cost of leasing a physical payment terminal for your business. There are various card processors, and your business needs may benefit from one over another. Several services scrap any fees and only base your fees on each transaction.
Our best advice to retailers thinking about merchant services is to analyze the package’s total cost concerning their business size. Recurring fees should also be closely looked at to make the best choice depending on your needs. Then you can reasonably approach your store every day without an ounce of worry on your mind. Probably chanting a hum beneath your breath: “happy customer, happy you!”
For small business ventures seeking processing at the best prices, these guys have the competition almost entirely beat; they are well known for that. The monthly fees are low, if not the lowest on the market, and their credit and debit card transaction fees allow for some free tools, like special hardware, to new businesses.
- It is suitable for many types of businesses.
- Accepts high-risk transactions
- Monthly minimums under $20
- Complimentary E.M.V. equipment
- $500 guarantees you’ll save on processing
- Offers Clover P.O.S. systems and other add ons
- Offers Merchant accounts
- Card terminals and P.I.N. pads are available- but there is no pricing information.
- Mobile compatible services
- Has shopping cart integration
- Allows check processing
There are some negative reviews that state that the company has deceptive advertising and sales tactics. There is no transparency in the pricing and early termination results in a fee of $300 or more. The internet has a few complaints about Leaders. They often offer a free terminal but then tie you down to a long contract, which comes with prohibitive cancelation fees should you decide to go elsewhere. There is limited pricing transparency,
- Monthly statement $10
- A monthly minimum fee of $25
- Chargeback fee of $35
- PCI compliance fee $129 a year
- PCI non-compliance fee $40 a month
- Gateway fee $25 a month
- Set up fee of $25
- Equipment service fee $5 a month
- Per transaction fee varies from $0.18 to $-0.30
- An early termination fee of $350
First Data is popular with many business ventures, whether it’s restaurants, retail stores, salons, cell phone services, and more. Credit card processing is their specialty, and they are pretty good at it. Using an efficient and affordable business model, the company delivers premium card machines and P.O.S. systems.
- A complete line of Clover mobile, terminal, and P.O.S. systems
- Offers competitive interchange-plus rates
- A loyalty program
- Analytics
- Rewards
- Has global recognition and reputation
- Has advanced analytics
- Offers a variety of credit card terminals -both wireless and wired
- Allows mobile processing
- With Clover systems, you can perform eCheck processing.
- Payeezy Gateway offers all types of online payments.
- It comes with an integrated Omnichannel payment platform.
- Solid security
What Is The Cost Of First Data Services?
- Keyed in and the swiped rate is 2.69% + $0.19
- Early termination fee $495
- PCI compliance fee $19.95 a month
- Equipment Lease 4 years locked in
- Many hidden fees- this is the most common complaint.
While First data does provide good services, be very careful as it has an overpriced equipment lease program. Plus, there are recurrent accounting fees that crop up regularly. The company requires a 4-year contract with a liquidated damages clause- meaning the merchant will always lose out financially. First Data is also one of the most expensive services on the market, and small businesses will not negotiate good contracts. Plus, if you close early, the company will hold your funds for various reasons because of the four-year contract. Despite its global popularity, first data is not known for being small business-friendly. Common complaints include holding funds, poor customer service, HIDDEN FEES, and very high processing fees.
PaymentCloud is helpful as a C.C.P. service for high-risk businesses that require a reliable provider. This service is ideal for B2B and B2C ventures, online or in-person, with a wide range of payment and processing options. There are even gift cards and checks available.
- 24/7 toll-free phone line
- 98% approval rate
- Affordable pricing
- No initial fees
- Free virtual terminal
- Easy setup
- Tailored C.C.P. solutions
- Next day funding
- Offers high-risk calculations
- Use state-of-the-art technology to facilitate payments.
- Allows mobile processing
- Solid customer support
- Equipment leasing service available
- It is ideal for high-risk businesses.
- PCI compliant
- Processes all types of debit and major credit cards, including Discover, American Express, and Apple Pay
What Is The Cost Of The Services?
- Monthly fees are $10
- Mobile payments 0.08% + $0.10
- Online payments 2.95% + $0.10
- POS payments 1.59% + $0.10
- Payment Gateway fee $25
Most users of Payment Cloud are happy and have no complaints. When the company first started, a few negative reviews were published – primarily outside of North America. In the U.S.A., the company has an outstanding reputation with an average rating of 9/10. The company does offer competitive rates, and there are no hidden fees. To date, no widespread issues have been reported.
