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Have we had a post comparing all the merchant accounts' rates so we know what we're all paying? I will give info on mine to start. This will also help some of us if we are unhappy with our current merchant account or if you're brand new here shopping for a merchant account.
My merchant account is with Costco
1.99% per transaction + $.27 and $20 monthly fee.
I currently use Paypal Pro. They are quite expensive. The fee is 2.2% or more 25 cents per transaction and 30 monthly. I am definitely looking at changing before I officially launch in February.
Or merchant account that we do all our swiped transactions is 1.69% + .30 per transaction.
For our website, we are using paypal pro. Depending on your monthly sales, it can be 1.9-2.9% + .30 per transaction or .25 per if you're using the merchant rates.
Please mention the name of your merchant account providers. Thanx
I don't know my rates with Authorize.net off hand but I will say they don't seem to have the most updated address verification database. Lots of declined transactions and customers complaining. Looking for a new one...
We use Wells Fargo for out POS merchant account. We tried to get our online merchant account through them, but they said that we had to have our website up and running so that they could look it over before they could approve our account, so we decided to go with Paypal instead.
What percentage do you actually pay per month? (I know that will vary each month depending on volume.) No matter what the transacton fee & statement fees are, the bottomline is what does it equate to? There are so many 'extra charges' for taking various reward cards, corporate cards, etc.
You get that % by taking the total of amount processed for the month by the actual amount you were charged that month. (Charge divided by total processed.)
We end up paying between 4% to 7%. 4% during our busiest months (sept-dec), 7% slowest (jan-feb) ... we average out at about 5% over the year. That is $1.00 for every $20.00 shirt we sell.
We have two different merchant accounts, one for online and one for swiping at our events and inspite of slightly different base fees, the percentage is close to the same.
One of my pet peeves are the 'additional' charges for rewards, corporate cards, etc. Why is the merchant 'penalized' for taking these cards? I get absolutely no additional benefit if a customer uses one VISA card over another. If Marriott wants to entice you to use their VISA rewards card, they should (and probably do) pay a premium to the merchant provider for that. Why do we pay again? Makes absolutely no sense to me.
One of my pet peeves are the 'additional' charges for rewards, corporate cards, etc. Why is the merchant 'penalized' for taking these cards? I get absolutely no additional benefit if a customer uses one VISA card over another. If Marriott wants to entice you to use their VISA rewards card, they should (and probably do) pay a premium to the merchant provider for that. Why do we pay again? Makes absolutely no sense to me.
I hate that too. Another pet peeve is PayPal gets a highly discounted rate for bank transfers and they still charge the merchant 3%. If bank transfers and e-checks had any benefit for me I would definitely push them on the site.
The one thing you have to remember about paypal is, even though their rates are high, you do not need to get your own secure gateway with them which can be anywhere from "free" to $600.00 depending on the provider.. Paypal uses its own gateway which is what makes the $30.00 a little better if you dont want to pay a lot out of pocket..
BTW, if ANY of you know they you get a free gateway with certain merchants, PLEASE post that info as well.. i am interested to know
POS: Merchant Card Services. Using my equipment (bought for $75 on ebay) The base fee is 1.98% with flat fee of 8.95/mo. no per transaction fee. And... American Express is a separate service starting at 5.95/mo no additional fees up to a certain amount of sales, then they switch you over to a per transaction charge. We are small scale and will never reach that amount
ONLINE: Free Paypal buttons - 2.9% +.30 per transaction.
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This place gives you access to the Authorize.net gateway with free setup. Costs are:
service fee $10/month
gateway fee $15/month
2.09% per transaction +$0.19
Does that sound good?
Also, for anyone that know, what do you have to do to get a merchant account? Is it all included in the process when you sign up at one of these places?
fender.. THAT is more expensive than PayPal!! Since you have to pay monthly for your gateway, you are now paying $35.00 a month just to run your merchant services...
Merchant Accounts and Their Rates 
