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  Credit Card Processing: A Guide to picking a processor that will help you.   In choosing a credit card processing company, there are many considerations and factors to consider. Do not attempt to do this alone, or without the advice of someone in the industry who knows what they are doing/understands. Its typical that merchants get set up by processing companies that do not have the best interest of the merchant at heart. This is seen in many situations where a credit card processing company hires sales reps on a commission structure to sell merchant processing/ credit card processing services to customers. If a merchant is set up this way, its most likely beneficial to the sales rep over the merchant processing the credit cards. How do you avoid this? Approach your local bank, however, ask if they outsource the credit card processing or do it in the house. Banks tend to outsource this processing of credit cards to sales negotiable negotiable negotiable have high turn-over, thus giving you a rep who isn’t looking out for your best interest. On the other hand, its somewhat better; because now you have a point of contact when a problem/fee arises on your statement that you didn’t know was going to be there. Rates often change , so its typical for processors to add fees to your account to offset the fees, and gain higher residual profit. Picking a processor   What is the best way to select a processor? Ask a friend who owns a company or do your research. Its important to understand the difference in pricing models for credit card processing. Some processors will charge interchange, and others tiered rates; as previously mentioned in our blog. Make sure you know how you are set up, so you know what you are paying. This factor is critical in determining a start to understanding your rates for processing credit cards. Furthermore, you must understand that you are not safe just because you have interchange pricing, but you are at a start to being safe. What are other measures to make sure you are safe in credit card processing; so you aren’t being ripped off? Well, this is a complex question, so we’ll try and give a simple answer; as best as we can, in regards to merchant services. Credit card processing and merchant acceptance for credit cards is charged based on rates of the interchange. After you pay a surplus above the interchange rate, you will notice misc. Fee’s that are tacked on monthly, and sometimes annually. We’ll break down the monthly common fees, which are negotiable, and touch on the annual fees you may see later on your credit card processing statement from your merchant services provider. Monthly, you will see fees called: Statement fee, batch fee, monthly minimum, and on file fee; Along with PCI fee, and other misc fees that are listed. The true cost of merchant services is around $6.00 to keep an account open (on file), so we’ll need to make sure that monthly you are not paying too much over that; if no cards are ran. This can add up though, however, to much more if priced high, and can be very dangerous and costly to the merchant for processing credit cards. Picking a processor with least fees   The last thing to touch on is the annual fee, or fee that is charged annually. This is a big part of the problem merchants see when processing credit cards. The reason they see such issues is because they are never told about a fee annually, and this could be related to the PCI Fee, or Annual Fee and cost to keep accounts open. This fee captures extra profit for the merchant processing company to allow for additional profits to be spread throughout the account and give a buffer on the annual residual the account pays out. This fee is very high typically around $100.00 on average and ranging up to $500.00 on some cases, but rare. You want to ensure you are not overpaying for merchant services and credit card processing in this area, and make sure that an annual fee is set and is fare. In a lot of cases, and in the cases with Centurion Payment Services, we’re always looking to avoid an annual fee at all costs, in addition to giving you the best credit card processing rates monthly as well, and lowest monthly fees.

Credit Card Merchant Processing   Credit Card Merchant Processing is a very difficult and complicated industry to understand when you are a merchant. Most companies are not very honest, and those that do not have honest sales reps to relay messages of transparency. Most incentives by Credit Card Merchant Processing companies are done off commission.  The commission is determined by a percentage of the residual difference in the cost of the processing the merchant does to the rates set up by the Credit Card Merchant Processing company. How are rates set and what makes them? This is 100% up to the merchant services rep who sets your merchant account up for credit card processing.  This must be done by someone who doesn’t just enter the market in an overnight frenzy, and is a truly established business and has truly established representatives.   Credit Card Merchant Processing: a guide to processing correctly Many credit card processing companies today do not inform there representatives on how to sell to benefit the customer/merchant; they sell to benefit themselves and the company (merchant processing company). This leads to a  huge conflict of interest for the sales rep and typically lies, and promises that cannot be kept are told to merchants to attract them to switch and sign up for processing credit cards. This is extremely dangerous, as merchant processing companies lock those into agreements with early termination fees and leases that cost thousands. If you do not know what you are doing in merchant processing, you will sure end up with a bad deal, and something you cannot get out of.   Credit Card Merchant Processing services By having these issues, we’re aware and understand that merchant processing is a delicate topic. We are here because we have a dream that one day, all merchants will be able to understand what they are paying for there credit card processing, and thus will give them a better deal, and change the industry forever. How can we do this? We can’t do it alone, we need word-of-mouth help, and others to engage into the systematic process of selling credit cards. Since most customers have been mistreated in our industry, we have to defend our representation of our beliefs as best as we can to give the customer the best merchant processing for Credit Card Merchant Processing available and also educate the customer.  In the end, we do not want the best for us, but a mutually beneficial relationship that a customer can find true value in when processing their credit cards for their business.

Merchants unaware of Chip Card Requirements by Visa and Mastercard, a big issue for liability if not addressed. Merchant loses chargeback rights   With turnaround being rapid in the merchant processing world of sales, we know that customer service is lacking. This doesn’t only affect merchants waiting on long hold times for customer service through their processor, but it means that they are uneducated about major changes going on in the credit card processing industry. The biggest change impacting merchants is happening this year. It requires a complete terminal replacement because credit card processing is going to be done differently. Currently in Europe, all merchants use a chip/EMV credit card processing solution; thus not using the swiper on a credit card for transactions. What does this mean? Well, it means that merchants have more secure transactions; due to chip cards assigning a random code to each transaction. This random code in the chip card technology (EMV chip cards) allows for merchants to be able to have less of a risk of a data breach of credit card numbers and personal data. This is a requirement by Visa and Mastercard, and yet most merchants do not have a clue. Merchant loses chargeback rights if this isn’t handled The purpose of this blog post is to educate merchants on this change and give them the options they need, and knowledge to reduce liability by the October 2015 deadline. Why is this important? Well, if you do not have a credit card processing machine that is working through the chip system by October 2015, you will be liable for your chargebacks. An example is if a merchant sells a wedding ring to a customer and the customer has the merchant swipe the credit card transaction rather then EMV chip card run the transaction, the transaction is 100% liable to the merchant, regardless of proof due to not having a chip-card reader. If the ring was $20,000 and a customer swipes there credit card (Visa and Mastercard), this transaction could 100% be disputed, and in addition, will give the customer 100% chargeback rights and allow the customer to even keep the ring. This is a terrible and horrible risk that is not necessary, and can be avoided by getting a new credit card machine, such as a $150.00 ICT220 by Ingenico. We must make sure all merchants know this so that they can avoid being scammed by customers who know this, and Merchant loses chargeback rights I’d like to see every merchant have this machine before October 2015, so we can make sure transactions are not liable on the merchant’s side because they were not aware. This will be a costly mistake for merchants who aren’t educated, and we must change this immediately. If we do not promote this and educate all merchants, whether they are processing with our credit card processing company or not, we will see a huge issue with chargebacks and fraud. We want to avoid Merchant loses chargeback rights.