Key high risk merchant account fees for businesses

It can sometimes be hard to understand the terminology and information associated with merchant accounts. This is the reason why it’s important to know everything about a merchant account before acquiring one. You need to understand the amount of money you are supposed to pay monthly, the costs that appear on your transaction statement and many more. 

Remember that a merchant account can allow you to accept debit cards or credit cards. Ideally, the account service provider tends to deposit the money they charge into the merchant’s bank account regularly.this service provider can charge a fee for the purchases or even pass on a service charge it incurs. There are various fees that a merchant needs to pay. This article discusses the key merchant account fees for businesses. 

Methods of payment

As a business owner, it’s crucial to choose the best way you want your customers to pay you for the services and products you provide. The way you get paid can affect your financing and profitability. Therefore, you need to figure out the payment methods that suit the operations of your business and it should be convenient for your customers to use. 

When considering the payment methods, you should think about the costs associated with the payment process, the delays that arise before receiving the cash in your bank account, and the administration costs. Below are some of the payment methods worth considering:

Cash

The good thing about dealing with cash is that it’s simple and there is no processing cost. Many businesses begin operating by accepting cash only, especially small businesses that sell low-cost products. Cash doesn’t leave a trace, so you can have better security and higher administrative costs. 

The best way to deal with cash is to have a separate record so that you can determine the amount of money you have. You also need to spend some time counting the cash to ensure you have the right cash on hand. To make sure that the cash is safe, you need to have a safe to keep your money.

Debit cards

Many customers like to use debit cards, and they happen to be convenient for both customers and merchants. With debit cards, they are reliable and lead to instant payment. 

The fees for debit cards can be quite low compared to credit cards, especially for high purchases. Even better, the administration cost can also be low, and you can choose to have a software to import transactions using an accounting application.

Credit cards

Many merchants find that credit cards can be more expensive than debit cards, though they are important because some customers prefer them. Customers don’t need to pay high risk merchant services or credit card companies immediately after using them to make purchases. There are even some credit card companies that provide reward points or other incentives for using them. 

Remember that merchants need to pay processing fees. And, many merchant credit card accounts tend to have various fees that you need to pay. Besides the monthly charges for account administration and card reader rental, you can also face several other charges for some transactions. Also, merchants can incur cost compliance with some private legislation concerning customer information. 

Checks

There are many risks when you accept checks. The good thing is that the processing costs of checks are quite low and they have a simple administration process. This is because a check can appear as a separate transaction in the bank account. The right way to reduce risk is to make sure that you have a check verification system in your business to scan the check. This system can also send information to the bank accounts of your customers for immediate processing.

The fees associated with a merchant account

As explained earlier, there are several fees related to a merchant account. Here are some of these:

Set-up fees

The first step for your business to do when a service provider accepts you as a merchant is to make sure that you pay a fee called a set-up fee. It’s worth noting that the fee can vary depending on the service provider. Some merchant services suppliers can reduce or even waive off this fee. However, many merchant service suppliers usually replace the upfront fee with annual fees or monthly fees. 

You also need to read the contract properly to uncover any merchant account termination fees. Some merchant service suppliers can charge a lot of money when they terminate a contract agreement, so you need to make sure that you choose the one providing affordable termination fees. 

Capture

When it comes to credit card acceptance, the first stage is usually to capture the information on the credit card. Retail businesses can provide terminals that you need to lease or buy, but there is a fixed fee a month. If you have an online business, then you can have a shopping cart designed to record customers’ credit card data.

The systems can vary a lot when it comes to the cost, so make sure that you compare the prices before getting one. Keep in mind that prices for online e-commerce systems can vary depending on the volume you are expecting. With higher price and volume systems, you should expect to have a low processing cost. There are also many suppliers out there that can charge an extra per-sale processing fee or even a fixed fee. It’s worth it for you to know about the SERP so that your site can rank well. 

Processing

Merchant account service providers tend to pass the credit card data that they capture to the card processing network. These networks refer to the key partners that these credit card companies work with. Therefore, they can charge discount fees and even add some extra fixed fees. This discount rate can include a small percentage and some extras for network access, security assessment, and interchange fees. The good news is that a discount rate that applies for a non-credit card transaction like a debit card may be quite low. 

Above all, when you add together all these fees, especially for a small business that has low order volumes, there is an affordable cost when it comes to credit card costs. Even a fixed charge per month can also be fair, meaning you should try to get a merchant account to improve your business.

Interesting Related Article: “What Is A Merchant Account And Why It Is Important?“

------------------------------------

By: Stephanie Ross
Title: Key high risk merchant account fees for businesses
Sourced From: marketbusinessnews.com/key-high-risk-merchant-account-fees-for-businesses/273892/
Published Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2021 17:20:12 +0000