Many merchants falsely believe all of the fees they pay go to their credit card processor. If that was the case there would probably be a lot more credit card processors out there today. The truth is, your processor actually keeps a very tiny portion of the transactions. This blog is intended to provide a clear understanding of how those fees work, what they do for you, and how you can avoid additional fees that you don’t need to be paying. This is a guide on how fees are calculated for most merchant accounts:
The transaction begins the moment your customer swipes, taps, keys or inserts their credit or debit card to pay you for goods or services. Fees are usually based on the amount of the transaction. This amount is determined by important factors such as your merchant services provider, such as Remedy Payment Solutions, your bank and the customer’s bank, and the card brand, such as MasterCard, Visa or Amex that issued your customer’s credit card.
Some processors charge a fixed price per transaction without charging you any additional fees. Others charge a little more than what the credit card issuer would charge directly. Some processors have a tiered pricing system that depends on the type of card presented and other variables not within your control. These include rewards cards, government cards, corporate cards, non-rewards cards etc.
Different Types of Fee Pricing
Fees are based on one of three different pricing models.
Flat Rate pricing is the simplest to understand but, likely the most expensive of the three. The processor charges your business either a flat fee per transaction such as Square charges 2.75% of each transaction processed using a Point-of-Sale system or mobile card reader. Square charges a higher rate for manually keyed transaction. If you have low volume sales and looking for convenience as opposed to savings, this price model is probably okay for you. For moving companies that process more than $10,000/month, there are solutions other credit card processors like Remedy Payment Solutions can offer that are considerable cheaper.
Interchange Plus pricing is the model Remedy Payment Solutions uses for most merchants. It’s the most transparent. Card brands such as Visa and MasterCard charge a processing fee for each transaction. This is called an Interchange rate. The Interchange rate is set by the card brands and is the same for all processors. You might consider this the wholesale cost of accepting a credit card. A processor using Interchange Plus pricing will mark this amount up a little bit and charge you the increased amount. As an example, you might see a fee of 2.75% + $0.10 with 2.50% being the interchange rate that goes to the card brand, not your processor. The processor only gets to keep 0.25% and the dime.
Tiered Pricing is a more diverse array of cost structures. The interchange rates fluctuate based upon the type of card being used, whether it is credit or debit, and whether or not it is a rewards card. Someone has to pay for those rewards and that someone is the merchant. A rewards card has a higher cost to process and will factor into the fee you are charged for accepting the card. A small business may not find tiered pricing useful because it can get complicated. However, if you accept a lot of corporate cards, government cards and business cards, this structure may be perfect for you.
Negotiating Your Fees
The amount of money you are charged for each transaction isn’t set in stone. If your processor only offers a flat rate pricing model, then you are stuck and there is no negotiation process. For merchants using the interchange-plus or tiered pricing model, negotiating your card processing fee is possible. Negotiating involves talking to your processor and asking to get either the credit card processing percentage reduced, or getting a lower markup on the plus plan. For most moving companies, their average transaction is close to $1,000 and saving $0.05/transaction isn’t going to equate to much. Moving companies should pay close attention to the percentage fees paid. Remember, if your processor is already at rock bottom, there isn’t a lot of wiggle room. Keep in mind with card not present transactions there are additional levels of data moving companies can provide with each transaction to qualify at a lower rate. One last thing to know about credit card processing fees is that fees will vary based on how you process payments. Your payment gateway is either a Point-of-Sale system in the store, a mobile phone reader, or an online portal. Fees vary based on the risk of fraud posed by each type of gateway, with online or manually keyed transactions being the riskiest and therefore the priciest.
Should you have any questions about this article or need any guidance, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Remedy Payment Solutions at 714-461-2200 or info@remedypayments.com.
Remedy Payment Solutions is powered by Chosen Payments whom is a registered ISO and FSP of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Concord, CA and BBVA USA, Birmingham, AL., and Elavon, Inc., N.A., Atlanta, Georgia, and Evolve Bank & Trust; Memphis, TN., and Merrick Bank, N.A., Draper, UT.