How to Shop for a Merchant Services Provider

Article Rating: 2 / 5 Votes: 4

Category: Sell Online , Developing An Ecommerce Strategy

Finding a partner for your credit card processing needs can be time consuming. So, here's a guide to help you streamline your search, with questions to ask as you call around.

Keep in mind: In addition to aggressive rates, you will want a processor you can trust. At $3,000 per month in Visa/MasterCard sales volume, the difference between a discount rate of 2.19% and 2.09% is only $3.00. Be sure to investigate the value-added services that the processor offers.

Questions to Ask

Business Best Practices

Are there live people answering your phones?

How long have you been in business, and how many employees do you have?

What is your customer satisfaction rate?

Do you work out of a commercial office space?

What references you can send to me?

Are your services PCI/CISP Certified?

Are you familiar with PCI/CISP Certification?

What fraud-prevention tools do you offer?

Is there an early termination fee?

Do I have to lease your equipment, or can I buy it outright?

How long does it take to get approved?

How long does it take to get my deposits?

Can I accept American Express and Discover cards using this account? What are the set-up fees? Are there any additional fees?

Tell me about your chargeback support. What is your turnaround percentage on chargebacks before a merchant gets involved?

Service & Support

Will I have my own dedicated team for all of my merchant account needs?

What gateway do you use?

Who handles your tech support? Is it done in-house for the gateway?

How long have you been working with your gateway?

Do you offer training on the gateway?

Is the gateway PCI/CISP Certified?

Does your gateway include a virtual terminal?

What is your gateway set-up fee?

What is your gateway per-transaction charge?

Does your gateway support recurring billing? What are your rates for these services?

What are customers saying about your gateway?

Regarding Rates

What is your discount rate?

What is your per-transaction charge?

What is your AVS charge?

What is your mid-qualified rate, and which card types fall under this category?

What is your non-qualified rate, and which card types fall under this category?

What is your monthly statement fee? Do you charge any other monthly fees?

What is your monthly minimum discount charge?

What is your annual fee? Do you charge any security fees?

What is your set-up fee?

What is your chargeback fee?

What is your retrieval request fee?