Which merchant account is best?
I just got approved for an account I signed up for 3 weeks ago. It is from national merchant bancard and they use Authorize.net gateway. I guess the monthly fees add up to about $30.
I was temporary using Alertpay. Here are the pros and cons:
Alertpay:
-Does not allow customer chargebacks
-Does not charge monthly fee
cons: -Charge .50 for each transfer
-high transaction fee
-takes 5 days to process a bank deposit before sending it
-requires creating a customer account (customers don’t like)
-at times will reject customers and not let them purchase (loss sales)
-Does not integrate with ebay
-Unknown
Other merchant:
-deposits directly
-cheaper over all
-does not require registration
-integrates with ebay
cons:-very poor customer service
-does not protect against chargebacks (but does provide security)
I wanted to know which was better. I am leaning towards Alertpay because it protects against chargebacks and there are a lot of scammy people. If I get a chargeback then I would get that plus a fee taken directly out of my account then a fee to investigate it. Then again, I’d get more customers with the other merchant. Hmmm… What would be the better investment?
Leave a Comment
Comments on Which merchant account is best?
The better option is a merchant account. It will save you a lot of money. Although chargebacks are an issue, if you follow certain best practices and use common sense, you will be alright. Let me give you a breakdown of the fees and charges that are associated with a direct merchant account.
1. Discount rate – the amount a merchant is charged by his acquirer for processing the merchant’s transactions. It consists of a percentage fee (e.g. 2.19%) and a fixed, per transaction, fee (e.g. $0.25). You should not agree to anything higher than 2.19% + $0.25.
2. Authorization fee – another “per-transaction” fee. You should not pay more than $0.12.
3. Application and set up fee – one-time fees to apply for and set up your account. You should NOT pay ANY set up or application fees!
4. Monthly maintenance fee – as the name suggests, it is charged monthly to keep your account on file. You should not be paying more than $10.
5. Support fee – another monthly charged for customer service. You should NOT pay ANY such fees.
6. Virtual terminal fee – a virtual terminal is the application that you will open in your browser and enter the payment information as you are taking it over the phone or getting it from a form you got in the mail. It should be provided for free.
7. Gateway fee – it should not cost you more than $15 per month.
Once your selection is made and all required paperwork is submitted, the set up of your merchant account should take no longer than two business days.