If you’re going to run any type of retail operation whether it is a bricks and mortar business or an e-commerce website, you are going to need to be able to accept credit card payments from your customers. Even McDonalds and Burger King are now taking plastic for purchases as small as $1.00. If you are going to have a successful retail business, making credit card processing available is a must.
There are a lot of different options that you have to choose from when setting up what’s called a merchant account in the industry. There are dozens of different companies, such as such as Merchant Express, North American BanCard, and Paynet Systems, that all offers similar services so it’s important to focus on the price that you will be paying and the quality of service that you will be receiving.
To compare different companies that offer merchant services on price, your best bet is to look at your transaction data if you’re an existing business or what you expect your transactions to be if you haven’t started yet. If you have a higher number of transactions with smaller dollar amounts, you’re probably not going to want to go with an account that charges $0.25 for the first $1.00 and $0.03 for each dollar after that. You might instead opt for a plan that charges a fee of $0.05 on every dollar and end up ahead. The key is to look at your average transaction size and minimize the amount that you end up paying for transaction.
You should also read reviews of each service that you are considering. Talk to their other customers and ask them if they’re satisfied with the service and with the fee structure. Talking to a company’s existing customers will also tell you how reliable the company is. You don’t to go with a company whose network is going to be down for 2-3 days each month because of reliability issues. You need to go with a company that is rock solid on reliability so that you can process credit card transactions whenever you need to.
If you are an online only business, there may be other options than a traditional merchant account. Some online merchants have successfully used PayPal and Google Payments to collect credit card payments without needing a true merchant account. These services will work for some very small retailers, but for larger retail businesses, a merchant account is a must.
