QuickBooks Merchant Account Service

clifpa

CGF II, Certified Grumble Framer Level 2
Joined
Sep 18, 2002
Posts
319
Loc
Huntington Beach, CA
Hi All,

Is anyone using this service? Currently $1.89 per swipped transaction?

Looks to me like Nova, recommended by PPFA, has the better rate...but what about service?
 
darn...this should have gone in business.
 
I had been using the Quickbooks Merchant Account Services up until last month when I was sent the message that my version (Quickbooks Pro 2000) of Quickbooks was going to be "retired" and that to continue to be able to process credit cards online I would need to upgrade. Rather than spending money on something I didn't really need I took a good look at the cost involved with this Wells Fargo merchant account.

For the amount of business that wanted to pay with a charge card at my shop the monthly service fee of $14.95 was steep, and when someone would use a card it bugged me to have to loose a percentage of that to Wells Fargo Bank, on top of it all.

It was a good experiment, but the whole thing was awkward for me. My internet connection at the shop was slow, and I didn't have a seperate phone line. This meant that after spending about an hour with someone design a frame job, it took what seemed to be FOREVER for my connection to connect, just so they could pay. I'd have to make little jokes about not wanting to take their money, ha-ha.

My shop is very small potatoes, so I can't give you any idea of what how Quickbooks Merchant Services would work for a larger volume frame shop. All I know is that I am back to cash or check, no Earthlink, no Callwave, and I feel great about it all.
 
My CPA advised against using the QB online cc service due to the fact that he (and other clients) had had some problems with it and in getting the money straight. Also in letting QB do the payroll thing had been a struggle as well. If there was a problem, the money had already been taken from the account, and getting it back and/or corrected had been a nightmare.

With all the cc fees discussion I will say that we pay a rather high percentage (not gonna say what it is to stem off the criticisms) but I will say that we do both phone and mail orders (which means I do not have the card "in hand") as well as regular retail sales. In 15 years I have never had a charge back or denial or problem with the service. I have it through a local bank, who by the way was willing to give a very, very small homebased business an opportunity. I have the "knucklebuster" which I take to shows and use in the shop. I get all my forms free and help is only a phone call away!

Last December I had an unusually large transaction that went through. They called me from the bank to ask if it was correct so that there wouldn't be any problems if by chance there had been a mistake.

I love it when someone looks out for me! :D

Betty
 
Thanks Katie and Betty!

I just bought Quickbooks 2003 Pro and am already having problems with support.

More and more (large) Companies are making it difficult for consumers to navigate around their web pages and near impossible to get to customer service? When you're busy, like us all, it really takes a chunk out of your day just to get some help.

Katie, you bring up an excellent point, and one that was of concern to me, Intuit forcing you to upgrade their product before continuing with credit card processing.

Intuit might just be out the door on both sides, for me! Back to Nova?

Thanks a bunch for your input!
 
Betty -- Are you still calling in all your authorizations and taking copies of the slips to the bank? If so, I suggest you make a visit to your bank and get them to set you up with a swipe type system with a printer. We do some outside sales, using the knucklecruncher, and key them in later.
 
Neat idea! I never thought of doing it that way. Since a huge percentage of my cc sales were without the card, I just figured this was still the best way to go. I'll look into that.

Back to QB, I love all the stuff I can do with it. I love being organized, and I love the reports, but, (you knew there was going to be a "but" didn't ya!) But, I hate not being able to "cut and paste" info and having to key it all in again. And I hate the fact that they wanted $169.00 to update my payroll info. I have to manually figure and enter the fica, etc. If I had 5-6 employees I might do that, but for one or two, naaaa. For $169.00, I could buy a whole new QB which would come with all the updated stuff! (It hasn't changed anyway!)

Yeah, they got us over a barrel on this one.

Betty
 
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