Switching Merchant Account Providers – The 7 R’s

Follow this simple formula to ensure that you choose the best merchant account provider for your business. Join the many merchants that have benefited from our industry expertise.

1. References – When choosing someone to handle most of your business’s revenue, make sure you obtain independent references. Don’t trust their website or blogs. There are many unbiased forums that discuss merchant accounts from an objective point of view. Contact a customer of theirs who is in a similar industry to your own. This information will be extremely valuable, since they will be one of your company’s key vendors.

2. Registered – Is the merchant account provider registered with MasterCard and Visa? There are regulations in place to protect merchants, but only if you’re working with a reliable business partner. The cost of registration also protects you, since “fly-by-night” operations likely wouldn’t have made this financial commitment.

3. Recommendations – A bank representative is not the best person to ask for a recommendation of a payment processing provider. A reputable merchant account provider represents several different banks and payment options, so they can be trusted to recommend a solution that’s the best choice for your business, and not just theirs.

4. Relationships – Great customer service is not just a catchphrase. Ask the merchant account provider if they have a dedicated customer service staff, and if you will be assigned an Account Manager to oversee and manage your account, monitoring your business’s monthly progress. See if they have a variety of payment processing options available, and if they talk about building long-term relationships with their clients.

PHN0cm9uZz4=5. ReliabilityPC9zdHJvbmc+ – In today’s world, you have to be especially careful to choose an honest, upfront credit card processing company. Ask them how often they raise rates and if they bill for additional services or enroll you in automatic free trial offers and then require that the merchant opts out if no longer interested. You’ll want to know if they bill for fees in the same month that they occurred or if they ever “back-bill.” These are just a few common and potentially costly tricks that unscrupulous companies use.

6. Rates – Low rates are great, but beware of a deal that seems too good to be true. Check with the MasterCard and Visa websites to make sure a rate given by a merchant account provider is not lower than what the credit card companies list. If it is, it’s likely they will compensate for this lower cost with another fee. All rates should be mentioned at the start, verified with your first statement and then updated every quarter.
Visa Interchange Rates
MasterCard Interchange Rates

7. Ready to Go – Before you switch payment processors, watch out for possible pitfalls. How are returns handled that arrive on the old account? Will your new provider help you integrate the gateway with your online shopping cart or retail terminals? What happens to your existing terminals? If the provider’s team is truly experienced, they will outline a protocol and give you a clear execution plan that will make the switch a smooth process.

Contact us at eMerchant today to learn more about the eMerchant Advantage! We look forward to being your trusted business partner.