3 Very Important Factors When Selecting the Best Credit Card Processing Service for your Small Business

By Alexander C. Hemenway

It can be a daunting task to choose a credit card processing service for your company. The industry is convoluted and can be complicated to understand. Here are 3 simple things to look for when choosing a merchant account provider.

What are the Costs

Cost is probably the most important factor when selecting a processing company. There are 2 main types of fees, Transactional Fees and Monthly Fees. In terms of monthly fees, pay attention for the monthly statement fee (around $10), monthly minimum fee(between $15-30), and if you are doing credit card processing over the internet the monthly payment gateway fee (between $10-$20).

Important transactional fees to consider are the discount rate fee (in the 2% range) and the account provider transaction fee (about 20-30 each transaction) and the address verification fee (5 cents each time).

Account Setup Ease and Speed

Being able to quickly and easily setup the credit card account is the next most important item to consider. Take note of the Average Approval Rating when shopping around. It is a metric that measures what percentage of merchants gets approved for credit card processing, the higher the better.

Another important service related item is how long it takes for the service provider to setup your account. The better ones can do this in 2 days. Also, pay attention to how long it takes for the money to settle into your account. A good provider can do this in about 2 days, obviously the quicker you get your money the better.

Customer Service and Features

Having access to good customer support for your merchant account can save you a lot of hassle. Find out if customer service is available 24/7, whether they have phone, instant message and email based support.

If you do business from a "brick and mortar" establishment you will need to check if the credit card service provider includes and Point of Service system to swipe credit cards.

Some due diligence in the areas of cost, setting up the account and customer service can result in finding the best credit card provider for your business. - 29971

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