When it comes to assessing your merchant processing rate a lot of new merchants stop at reviewing the interest rate only be it flat rate, interchange plus or some hybrid thereof. However, there is more; much more in fact. ALWAYS look at the fees in their entirety when assessing your rate. Too many processors give you a great rate only to couple with an abundance of other “junk fees”. For example, monthly PCI fees can range anywhere from $10 (quite fair) to $50 (excessive) with non-compliance fees hitting $30 (pretty standard) to $150 (downright egregious) until you have come back into compliance. If you are an e-commerce merchant; how much is the gateway? Sometimes it’s free sometimes it’s $20 a month. Are you paying for batch fees? Is 24-hour funding standard or do you have to pay an extra “percent” to get your money in less than 2-3 days? What are your transaction fees – 3 cents, 5 cents, 10 cents? And most importantly, what, if any, are the termination fees? The point is “rate” is but one component of “cost”. Add up everything, both fixed and variable costs, divide it by processing volume and THAT is your price. Then and only then are you getting a true apples to apples comparison among merchant services providers.
What’s My Rate?
