Credit Card Processing

Business and professional recommendations.
Post Reply
User avatar
gardengirl
Walks on Forum Water
Posts: 14277
Joined: Mar 23rd, 2006, 1:01 pm

Credit Card Processing

Post by gardengirl »

Looking for suggestions for credit card processing.
Small business, not a lot of monthly transactions, but want to offer it to clients.
Do people still use Paypal or is there something better?
Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death.
User avatar
GordonH
Сварливий старий мерзотник
Posts: 38862
Joined: Oct 4th, 2008, 7:21 pm

Re: Credit Card Processing

Post by GordonH »

https://www.payfirma.com/engage/canada- ... rocessors/

shows pro's & con's of many available in Canada
I don't give a damn whether people/posters like me or dislike me, I'm not on earth to win any popularity contests.
Even Steven
Guru
Posts: 8313
Joined: Mar 24th, 2015, 7:20 pm

Re: Credit Card Processing

Post by Even Steven »

PayPal is good but fees are fairly high. But it's good if you want something simple.

I'm with moneris.
User avatar
gardengirl
Walks on Forum Water
Posts: 14277
Joined: Mar 23rd, 2006, 1:01 pm

Re: Credit Card Processing

Post by gardengirl »

Even Steven wrote:PayPal is good but fees are fairly high. But it's good if you want something simple.

I'm with moneris.


Any idea about the setup fees, annual rates, processing fees?
We used to be with Global Payments and they had an annual fee for about $150 in addition to a percentage of sales. I can't remember the rate offhand, but I am thinking it was around 4%.
Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death.
Even Steven
Guru
Posts: 8313
Joined: Mar 24th, 2015, 7:20 pm

Re: Credit Card Processing

Post by Even Steven »

gardengirl wrote:Any idea about the setup fees, annual rates, processing fees?
We used to be with Global Payments and they had an annual fee for about $150 in addition to a percentage of sales. I can't remember the rate offhand, but I am thinking it was around 4%.


Global Payments is kinda famous for having outrageous rates. Four percent sounds like them alright.

Anyways, with all processing companies you're looking into 2 kinds of fees - percentage and fixed costs. If you don't have huge volumes, fixed costs can affect your bottom line so you want to pay attention to them.

Percentage fees - percent of the transaction amounts. They're slightly different for Visa and MC. Debit is always fixed amount, something laughable like 3 cents.

Visa and MC consist of premium and non-premium cards. Non premium cards are the cheapest to process and it's also the rate most companies compete on - so when you call them for quotes they'll throw a number at you specifically around non-premium cards. But premium cards costs more and with most cards out there being premium cards, you want to pay attention to that number, not the cheapo one.

For example, with Moneris I pay 1.29% + 0.49% for premium cards = total comes to 1.78% (or something close). Now, a lot of companies eager to sign you up will tell you - "Oh, we only charge 1.1%, sign a contract with us!". What they don't say is that they charge extra 0.9% for premium cards, so most of your transactions end up over 2% or more. I get these calls all the time from Moneris competitors.

The transactional fees differ depending how you take them. Online seems to be higher because there's higher risk of fraud - that's why Square and Paypal are usually in 2.5% or higher mark. With chip cards available, processing live cards with PIN verification is the cheapest of them all - like I said you can process them for 1.3-1.8%. The terminals are also nice because you can have a tip option available, don't know if it's available with PayPal and other online processing companies.

Fixed costs - statement fees, batch fees, monthly fees, equipment rent fees, etc. You should ask about them, and they should be laid out in the paperwork. Some fixed fees you can't get away with - for example I have a long-range terminal, and I pay $45/month for it (lease payment). For hard-wired office one it might be different, it might be free, I don't know. They can also now do smartphone system where you just plug a little thing into your smartphone and it processes the payments through it.

Other fixed costs should be minimal. I don't pay batch fees, monthly fees, or etc. But some companies who like to lowball people into signing up hide these fees and use them to pad their bottom line, so make sure to ask what other fees you'll be responsible for. Global Payments has a variety of them.

Can't remember if I had to pay a setup fee. It's possible.

PS: Don't get locked into contract. Run from them. I've heard horror stories from people who signed contracts and companies basically stealing money from them by taking money out of their accounts for inactivity, or low volumes, etc. They tell you they're protecting you from rising fees, but fees have been declining (and will keep declining) for the last 10 years, so there's no point of being locked into rates. I actually call Moneris every year and ask them to lower my rates - and they always do. Not by much, but still.

PPS: I like how the link https://www.payfirma.com/engage/canada- ... rocessors/ rates everybody as poor .... but the company that actually provided the overview. It's not very accurate also.
User avatar
gardengirl
Walks on Forum Water
Posts: 14277
Joined: Mar 23rd, 2006, 1:01 pm

Re: Credit Card Processing

Post by gardengirl »

Even Steven wrote:
gardengirl wrote:Any idea about the setup fees, annual rates, processing fees?
We used to be with Global Payments and they had an annual fee for about $150 in addition to a percentage of sales. I can't remember the rate offhand, but I am thinking it was around 4%.


Global Payments is kinda famous for having outrageous rates. Four percent sounds like them alright.

Anyways, with all processing companies you're looking into 2 kinds of fees - percentage and fixed costs. If you don't have huge volumes, fixed costs can affect your bottom line so you want to pay attention to them.

Percentage fees - percent of the transaction amounts. They're slightly different for Visa and MC. Debit is always fixed amount, something laughable like 3 cents.

Visa and MC consist of premium and non-premium cards. Non premium cards are the cheapest to process and it's also the rate most companies compete on - so when you call them for quotes they'll throw a number at you specifically around non-premium cards. But premium cards costs more and with most cards out there being premium cards, you want to pay attention to that number, not the cheapo one.

For example, with Moneris I pay 1.29% + 0.49% for premium cards = total comes to 1.78% (or something close). Now, a lot of companies eager to sign you up will tell you - "Oh, we only charge 1.1%, sign a contract with us!". What they don't say is that they charge extra 0.9% for premium cards, so most of your transactions end up over 2% or more. I get these calls all the time from Moneris competitors.

The transactional fees differ depending how you take them. Online seems to be higher because there's higher risk of fraud - that's why Square and Paypal are usually in 2.5% or higher mark. With chip cards available, processing live cards with PIN verification is the cheapest of them all - like I said you can process them for 1.3-1.8%. The terminals are also nice because you can have a tip option available, don't know if it's available with PayPal and other online processing companies.

Fixed costs - statement fees, batch fees, monthly fees, equipment rent fees, etc. You should ask about them, and they should be laid out in the paperwork. Some fixed fees you can't get away with - for example I have a long-range terminal, and I pay $45/month for it (lease payment). For hard-wired office one it might be different, it might be free, I don't know. They can also now do smartphone system where you just plug a little thing into your smartphone and it processes the payments through it.

Other fixed costs should be minimal. I don't pay batch fees, monthly fees, or etc. But some companies who like to lowball people into signing up hide these fees and use them to pad their bottom line, so make sure to ask what other fees you'll be responsible for. Global Payments has a variety of them.

Can't remember if I had to pay a setup fee. It's possible.

PS: Don't get locked into contract. Run from them. I've heard horror stories from people who signed contracts and companies basically stealing money from them by taking money out of their accounts for inactivity, or low volumes, etc. They tell you they're protecting you from rising fees, but fees have been declining (and will keep declining) for the last 10 years, so there's no point of being locked into rates. I actually call Moneris every year and ask them to lower my rates - and they always do. Not by much, but still.

PPS: I like how the link https://www.payfirma.com/engage/canada- ... rocessors/ rates everybody as poor .... but the company that actually provided the overview. It's not very accurate also.


Thanks so much.
Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death.
Even Steven
Guru
Posts: 8313
Joined: Mar 24th, 2015, 7:20 pm

Re: Credit Card Processing

Post by Even Steven »

No biggie. Let me know if you have any questions. I'm not up to date, but did a lot of research when I was shopping around.
Post Reply

Return to “Referrals”