Merchant Services, Credit card Processing?

Emibub

PFG, Picture Framing God
Joined
Nov 2, 2001
Posts
9,246
Loc
Centennial, CO, USA
I've switched banks and have to come up with new credit card processing service since my existing one was actually done by the bank I was with. I am getting much conflicting info. Previous threads have recommended NOVA which I have checked out through Costco. They seem okay but want a two year contract which I don't really want to do since I am unfamiliar with them. Most others want a reprograaming fee for my machine anywhere from $100 to $200. Some have statement fees some don't. They all seem to have similar rates. After doing all this research I definitely want to get a debit card keypad because with our high ticket sales I would think that could be a good savings at anywhere from .35 to .55 cents a transaction.

But meanwhile, I feel like I am chum swimming with a bunch of sharks, hungry mean sharks with sharp teeth. The reprogramming fee is way cheaper than buying a new machine right now but is it legit? Any thoughts greatly apprecitated, I need to do this like yesterday...........I guess I'll put merchant service salespeople in the same category as used car salemen......
 
This is NOT an easy thing to sort out. They each "hide" their costs somewhere. If you can get a salesperson to talk to you, you can undoubtedly get the re-programming fee waived. I did.

Talk to your new bank. They probably work with someone and can give you a "referal."

I switched last year. Although it will save me money over time, it was ****!

In particular it took me a while to get them to take their "cut" at the end of te month and not with each transaction. (Makes bank reconciliation so much easier.)

Good Luck!
 
One of my favorite subjects. Seems easier to stay put than to change for all the hassles, but I know one day I will have to change.

Meantime, Cliff - reconciling was my worst nightmare and mine said they would batch monthly but didn't and it is so frustrating to deal with them I just let it go. I do find it much easier to reconcile from my own bank statement rather than trying to reconcile from their statement. I compare the two but the "time periods" differ so I just take my statement and reconcile accordingly. It has worked for nearly 2 years now without a problem.

Kathy, let us know how you work it out.. I'd be VERY interested..
 
Ya know Cliff, the bank did give me a referral and this guy was the biggest snake I've talked to so far. I think it was EBS? I hate this process, I don't seem to recall it being such a pain when I first set up the account. But, the bank I was with did their own processing.

But, Jerome on the chat line suggested Discover and heck I'm already set up with them for Discover only, never knew they took all cards. It looks promising......
 
Kathy, my old company was EBS. never had a problem, but their rates seemed high. I am with First Horizon now.

Roz, I verify their deposits against my daily deposits in QB. If they don't deposit what I expect it get's messy and I don't really trust them to just "take the right amount." This way I get to check their calculations at least once in a while and can tell when "some fee went up" that they "passed on." happens!
 
Kathy, We don't use it but know others who do, the state Retailors Associans have good rates. South Dakota has one surely Colorado does.
 
Kathy-
We have been happy with Nova. We take MC, Visa, Discover, and Amex. Just added Amex about a year ago. At first they were deducting the discount from the settlement amount, which is crazy to balance as mentioned, but after a short while we were able to transfer it to a monthly version where the settlement amounts match the actual bottom line on the slips. (They call this "pay in gross billing".)

We get separate monthly statements for Discover, MC+Visa, and Amex, and reconcile these with the bank statement. Only occasionally does the Amex statement contain two days' sales added to get one deposit amount. It's pretty easy to figure out what's happening when checking the deposits.

I just recently got a new terminal (an Omni 3200SE, which I bought from Merchant Warehouse-- thanks for the recommendations from Grumblers on that). Even though I didn't buy the terminal from them, Nova did not charge me to download the programming or for training. The people were nice and the process was easy.
Hope that helps. Good luck.
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Rick
 
We're thrilled with Nova too.
 
We just switched to Heartland Payment Systems , which is cost plus and takes out many of the hidden fees. They show you the rate that they pay and how much over that rate you'll be charged. I don't think that they charge a programming fee for terminals that are compatible with their system. Everyone that we talked to required some form of committment, whether it be 2 or 3 years. Heartland will run their statements to coincide with your bank statment if it is not the first to first of the month. They will take their fee on a transaction basis or on a monthly basis.

When anyone asks your volume, fudge as high as you can to get a better rate.
 
I seem to remember a minor hassle when I last switched.
And I also remember that there was not much of a deal anywhere, the rates were comparable across the board.
I also remember that the programming fee and/or set-up fee were negotiable. I didn't pay either.
It worked out well, though, and we were able to add American Express and take advantage of some sort of introductory offer that allowed the first six months of transactions to be discount (their cut) free. It was a nice way to ease into it. I can't imagine not accepting Amex now.
I remember my salesgal was very low-key and BS free. It made the transition relatively painless.
And that's all I remember.
Good luck Kathy!!!

edie the wearyourkevlarbodysuit goddess
 
Kathy, before you go switching, find out if it is really necessary. Just because you switched banks doesn't necessarily mean you have to switch your clearing house. You may be able to merely change your deposit info with the processor.
 
Thanks for all the leads everybody. Now at least I have some company names to go on. Didn't know this was going to be so complicated. Just knew I didn't want to take a half hearted attempt at it. I'll share my findings......
 
.....and dang it Edie, I got two companies to say they would waive part of the reprogramming fee and one that would not budge..........since I think it is a bogus fee I don't want to be charged for it, I am hanging tough. Funny thing is, some don't charge at all. But, they have some hidden charge somewhere. I literally need to graph it out and add up each company to see what the final charge is.......
 
I'm surprised that no one mentioned float time....how long after the transaction do you acutally see the money deposited into your bank account. Since a significant percentage of our transactions are now credit/debit, 24-48 hours can make a real difference, especially at the end/beginning of the month.

We see our money the next business day.
 
Good point Rob,

If I remember my Heartland documents, Credit Card transactions are batched at midnight, local time and deposited as quickly as the Federal Reserve routing will allow. Debit Card transactions do not route through the Federal Reserve system and are deposited at the mercy of the banking systems involved... if memory serves me, but that's one reason that we run everything as credit cards. It takes a bunch of savings to pay for the PIN machine.
 
I had already thought to ask about the float time....of course, there again varying answers. Good to know about the pin machines too Rick.
 
I use NPC Merchant Services in both of my locations. They are a straight forward company with no hidden charges.

1-800-928-2583

I own my own equipment.

From what I have read, no matter which company you use, it ultimately goes through National Processing Center. My banker also confirmed that.
 
I use the same bank for my checking and merchant account so my account is credited hours after the settlement. Plus when I have a problem I can go to the office and talk face to face with the person who signed the merchant account.

Rob, that’s a very good point. I'm monitoring a charge from American Excess right now. The charge was on 2/9 and I haven't been credited yet.

I'll post the date that I receive the credit. I'm at 3 days right now!
 
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