By John Robinson, of Cocard Synergy
For the remainder of this discussion, I’ll discuss interchange fees and then a little about the fees to the merchant account provider. The assessment fees paid to the associations, both being small and not negotiable, can wait for another day.
Interchange fees usually make up roughly 80% of the fees you [...]
How challenging can managing a merchant account be? I review 5 – 10 merchant account statements each week and almost everyone one starts out looking like it is written in a foreign language! Some statements have fees from three separate months! Other statements are extremely vague and seem to be intentionally hiding information. So the [...]
Many merchants believe that adding a cardholder’s three or four digit CVV2 code for a “card not present” (CNP) transaction will help qualify the transaction for a lower discount rate. However that is not the case; the CVV2 code is only valuable to protect against credit card fraud and has nothing to do with [...]
Check out this very simple flash presentation from MasterCard that reveals visually how merchant accounts work:
How MasterCard Works
Straight pass through has to do with merchant account risk. Visa and MasterCard have set specific rules to deal with these risks. For example, a keyed in transaction is a higher risk than a swiped transaction, because many times the card holder is not physically present. For keyed transactions, processed correctly, Visa [...]
I am reviewed three merchant account statements today and they all have one thing in common - these businesses are not receiving a reduction in rate when a customer uses a debit card. On one statement there is no debit card activity noted at all. So just in case you have not heard [...]
Have you heard of Interchange Plus for merchant accounts? What used to be the exclusive price model for larger businesses is now being offered to companies of all sizes. So what is Interchange Plus?
First lets start by defining Interchange. Interchange is the set price from Visa and MasterCard for various [...]
Part of my job is to review and analyze merchant account statements from various businesses around he country. When ever I see the categories of “mid qual” and “non-qual” I get a big smile on my face because I know my potential client is being taken advantage of.
Here is how these tiers work to [...]
Each day Google sends me a list of blog posts written about merchant accounts. Today I followed a link to the Fashion Incubator Blog. Below is a portion of what the blogger, Kathleen Fasanella, wrote about working with on-line shopping carts and merchant accounts:
“I signed-up for the recommended merchant account provider and was surprised to [...]
