Why You May Need Multiple Merchant Accounts

From time to time I review the search terms and phrases that being people to this blog to get ideas for posts. Today one of the first search phrases was “are you allowed to have two merchant accounts?” So here is a quick answer to that question – yes.
We have many clients that [...]

More on Free Authorize.net

Back in August of this year I wrote a post about freeauthnet.com offer of Authorize.net for “free;” you can see that post here. I tried to show that a free authorize.net account ended up costing an extra $232.40 more than if you just paid the $15 set up fee for authorize.net through my company, [...]

Straight Pass Through Highlighted by LA Times

Yesterday I saw the traffic of this blog triple and I had no idea why. I did a little research and I found out the Los Angles Times mentioned the term “straigh pass through” in a business focused column written by Karen E. Klein yesterday. You an go here to see the column [...]

Merchant Account Compliance Fees – Legit?

As you may know, I review business merchant account statements on regular basis. One thing I keep seeing more and more on statements are terms like “Annual Compliance Service Fee” or “PCI Compliance Program.” The shocking thing about these fees is how much they are; I have a statement on my desk that [...]

Visa and MasterCard Interchange Program Changes

I had planned to write this post several months ago but we have been so incredibly busy that I had to put this on the back burner. So finally, here is a summary of the key changes that occurred in October to Interchange from Visa, MasterCard:
Master Card
Change #1 – MasterCard will no longer require [...]

Quickbooks Compatible Merchant Accounts Can Save You Big $$

I just added a new client that uses QuickBooks Pro 2008 to run their transactions. They were setup with Quickbooks Merchant Services because they thought they had no other choice. Just to make sure that was the case they went searching on the internet and came across this blog. They [...]

10 Things Supermarkets Need to Know about Merchant Accounts

Do you or one of your clients operate a supermarket?  Is so, there are a few things you should know that could result in some significant savings on merchant account fees. Here is the list:
1. Visa has lower Interchange rates for consumer cards used at a supermarket:

TRANACTION TYPE
RETAIL
SUPERMARKET

Swiped Consumer Card

1.54% + $.10

1.24% + [...]

Video: Merchant Accounts – What to Look For and Ask About, Part 2

If you haven’t watched part one of of this two part series go here to watch the first video.
The theme of part two of this series is that there is much more than just price to pay attention to when shopping for a merchant account. Watch the video and take a look at my [...]

Free Authorize.net? You Got It!

That’s right I, Robb Lejuwaan, have chosen to give away authorize.net for nothing! My company has been charging a small fee of $25 up to this point but I just realized with a free authorize.net account I make more money!! That’s right more money for me if I give you authorize.net for free. [...]

Insiders Thoughts on Interchange Plus

I just ran across an article written by an executive at Global Payments about Interchange Plus. It was written for people who are inside the merchant account industry. In the article he concludes that Interchange Plus pricing is not the best thing for merchant account providers, for several reasons including a reduction in [...]

Video: Are Early Termination Penalties Really That Bad?

Watch this video to here a different poi of view on merchant account early termination penalties. Let us know what you think by sharing your thoughts in the comment section below.

Video: It’s Time to go Interchange Plus! (October Rates Changes)

Watch this video to learn about changes to Interchange coming in October and why, if you have a merchant account with tiers (qualified, mid-qualified and non-qualified), it is time to switch your account to an Interchange Plus price model.

Check back here in the next few days for more specifics on the coming changes to Interchange.

Video: Merchant Accounts – What to Look For and Ask About , Part 1

Watch this video and read this post to learn what to look for and ask when you are shopping for a merchant account.

What watch out for:
Super low discount rates – the lower the advertised rate is the greater your effective rate typically will be.
Free terminals or gateways – in business nothing is free in the [...]

Case Study: Napa Valley Winery

Case Study – Winery
Business Type: Napa Valley Winery (specific name withheld)
Initial Status: To the untrained eye this merchant account statement looked just fine; here are a few of the problems that stood out to me:

One merchant account for both their tasting room and wine club
25% of there Visa transactions going to a “non-qualified” status
Transactions being [...]

Video – It Could Happen to You! – Save 22%!

Watch this video and save significant money on your merchant account.