Most of the time when I am speaking to a potential client, the first question asked is “What is your rate?”
Of course, I know this is coming, but I am still surprised each time it is asked, because the answer is – “Well, the rate is not everything.”
So… I ask you instead: Rate or cost – which is it?
There are so many ways my industry hides fees and charges that I have taken on the personal and professional mission to talk about the total cost of processing, rather than just the rate.
Other than the “rate” percentage, here are a few more things that can affect your monthly costs:
- PCI fees
- Item fees
- Monthly fees
- Quarterly Billings
- Annual Billings
- Processor Specific Program Fees
- Banking Changes
- Mark up – rewards cards
- Mark up – cash back cards
In the end, I have worked with some new clients who were quoted a very low rate and felt great walking away from the conversation and signing their agreement. Low and behold within the first several months they began to feel that they were paying more than before they changed to their new service provider. When I helped them with a complimentary review their overall fees and statement, they were paying closer to 6%!
Please – take my cautionary advice in this regard – it is more than the rate. It is about the total cost of processing. There are many pieces to this puzzle.
My team is here to help you. We look at everything that goes into your cost of processing and make sure that we are giving you the overall best cost that we can for your business. Plus, we never make you sign a contract which means if you come on board with TransAct and later need to stop processing merchant services we will never make you pay a termination fee. We want you to be happy with our services and our overall cost of your credit card processing business.
~ Mary Ann