I see a lot of recommendation for CCs, mortgages, car loans but nothing for merchant account services. I know just about every bank does those and then there is Intuit QuickBooks and paypal. Any suggestions? What do you guys with small businesses use?
* propay may be the cheapest, * Costco is pretty cheap.
kenblakely
Senior Member - 2K
posted: Oct. 13, 2009 @ 1:12a
sethdallob said: This has been discussed in about 50 prior threads.That's pretty !helpful there. Whyntcha just reference a few and help the guy out instead of dogging him out?
Arikson77, you may have already noticed, the search function on the site sucks. instead go to google. Type into the search box your query, then add to the end " site:fatwallet.com"
Arikson77
New Member
posted: Oct. 13, 2009 @ 10:18a
Thanks for your suggestion....did people list the topic "Merchant account service" or is there another name that i should search for since i am not getting anything but my own question. i also tried Credit card processing without any good results.
cfeldhaus
Addicted Member
posted: Oct. 16, 2009 @ 1:42p
I just set one up not long ago and I compared against like 15 people and I ended up going with MerchantOne.
I like them because she ended up getting me no monthly min., and very low rates. I gave her all the quote I received and we basically took teh best of everything and matched it all. Amazing if I do say so.
Here is her info: Christina Valenti 888.382.6860 Direct Christina (at) MerchantOne.com
PM me if you have any questions on my setup.
sethdallob
Senior Member - 1K
posted: Oct. 16, 2009 @ 11:32p
Arikson77 said: i searched without any relevant results..could you please post a reference to one here? thank you
bankdealsrule, Are these great vendors with good deals or did you just look up business sites for some banks?
bankdealsrule
Senior Member
posted: Oct. 18, 2009 @ 11:31a
These are the best merchant account service providers with very good customer service and a local presence; of course depends on your location. It really depends on what you want; i deal with the one mentioned because it's local and the services have been great. So, its very ymmv and depends on your own business and what you're looking for.
barryliuu
New Member
posted: Nov. 2, 2009 @ 12:36a
There are many areas of fees that you will be charged. Make sure you compare all of them line by line. Many will show you what you want to see on the main credit card type. But they over charge you on the other type of credit cards being used by your customers such as reward point cards, corporate cards, AE/Discover cards. What you get charged really depends on which card your customers pull out of their wallet. It's like a tiping scale. They under charge you on one thing and over charge you on the other to balance the scale. So be very careful of what you are being charged line by line.
I know all these because I am an account director with Okmerchant.com and we are a processor. If you want to know more, you can email me directly at Barry@Okmerchant.com. I'll be happy to answer any questions or look at your statement to tell you if you're getting the best industry rate. I am sure I can save you at lease 40% every month.
Barry Liu
ImNotCheatin
Member
posted: Nov. 2, 2009 @ 6:09a
Stay far and I mean far away from MerchantOne. I just got finished going through a huge fight with them. They lied about their rates. They promised the moon but somehow very few of my transactions qualified for the low rate that they quoted. When I wanted to leave they threatened me with a large cancellation fee even though they promised me early on that if they didn't make good on their quotes, I could leave at any time without paying a cancellation fee. I was eventually forced to pay the fee because they threatened to send a collection company after me and damage my credit.
Also, record your phone conversations with whatever agent you go through. An upper-level manager at MerchantOne said that if I had a phone recording of what I had been promised he would have honored it... live and learn.. live and learn...
I would recommend Flagship Merchant Services. They are one of the highest rated processors in the industry.
ImNotCheatin said: Stay far and I mean far away from MerchantOne. I just got finished going through a huge fight with them. They lied about their rates. They promised the moon but somehow very few of my transactions qualified for the low rate that they quoted. When I wanted to leave they threatened me with a large cancellation fee even though they promised me early on that if they didn't make good on their quotes, I could leave at any time without paying a cancellation fee. I was eventually forced to pay the fee because they threatened to send a collection company after me and damage my credit.
Also, record your phone conversations with whatever agent you go through. An upper-level manager at MerchantOne said that if I had a phone recording of what I had been promised he would have honored it... live and learn.. live and learn...
I would recommend Flagship Merchant Services. They are one of the highest rated processors in the industry.
I am in a similar situation - take consignment credit card orders over the phone for one of my clients. Small, home-based business, process between $5k - $50k per year. As we do not own the product, I found that many banks are unwilling to offer a merchant account, and was relieved when Costco ---> NOVA, now Elavon set us up with a $20 min per month back in 2003, using PC Transact-It.
I called Elavon to ask about Win 7 compatability to install on a new computer, and learned that they will be discontinuing the software early next year, in favor of an on-line solution. Sounds great - EXCEPT they want an extra $179 for set-up, plus an extra $8 per month - even though I have been a customer for 6 years, and paid for the software!
Upon initial review, the merchant bank business appears to be a minefield, and despite some of the comments above, I am unable to find factual, objective information anywhere on FW, or other online forums. Sure, there are all kinds of review, but many appear to be biased and untrustworthy.
UPDATE: Decided to sign up with Intuit - $14.95 per month, first two months free, $50 AMEX GC upon approval, no minimums, cancellation fees, etc, using their online interface. Includes Discover and AMEX at no extra charge!
shura7400
Ancient Member
posted: Dec. 18, 2009 @ 6:05p
I find info on MerchantOne very interesting, however I did NOT have any trouble from them. But, then again: I did not try to cancel. What I found for myself is your best bet would be to actually READ the terms. It is long, boring, but it showed me some ways to save. Recently I've seen an add @SunTrust like "We guarantee the best rate" ~1.69% ( or they promise to pay ~$1000, if you find better. ALL rewards cards will be charged higher % and most CC now are with rewards.All business CC do not qualify for discount rate. If you process a lot, you are better off looking for lower surcharge rates, as MOST transactions will NOT qualify for the discount rate. If you are very small you may actually ask customers not to use rewards cards (would work for a church, non profit,...) If you are small, you might benefit from accepting only debit cards: I found once a processor that charged flat 21 cent with NO % on debit
Payment processors: I see, they all STINK! You just trying to minimize that.. Oh, and yeas: they ALL invent new charges later on - bite-and-switch...
victimofelavon
New Member
posted: Feb. 18, 2010 @ 10:43p
I used Elavon/Costco before, my only comment is "they suck". You can find a lot of complaints from www.complaintsboard.com, www.west-wind.com, www.thepissedoffconsumer.com, and www.ripoffreport.com and Businessweek. They can empty your bank account without any rerason. even you do not have any chargeback or fraudulent problem.
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