I recommend using quickbooks merchant services. They have great rates there is no contract agreements. I used them for my other business and haven't had any problems with them.

I am actually using QB Merchant with Billing Manager and it is AWESOME. I am transitioning from Paypal.


It's easy to use and Billing Manager is FREE.

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Monique Terrell, CEO
Sparkle Professional Office Services, LLC
www.sparkleofficeservices.com

what is biling manager? that is new to me.

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Miranda
My Busy Assistants

I just signed up and was approved for QuickBooks Merchant Services. I liked the fact that I am able to process everything through my QB program. Their fees were better than most I found and I don't have to use Paypal anymore.

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This sounds like a really viable PayPal alternative - can anyone share info on the fee schedule?

Thanks alot for posting this!

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It is $17.95 per month for the service, $59.95 set up fee, $0.23 per authorization and $0.23 per batch processing (no matter how many transactions you have in the batch) and 2.44% of charged amount since I am not swiping cards. I told them I wasn't ready to sign up yet and they waived the set up fee and my first 2 months of monthly charge ($17.95 each) just to try it. I felt the fees were minor as long as I am able to charge at least once during the month.

There are probably cheaper avenues out there, but I liked the fact that I can process the charges through my QB program.

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Oh and I chose not to accept AmEx cards because their fee was higher than the others. Plus I guess there is more you have to do when you accept these cards and I didn't want to deal with it. (at least not yet) I don't do enough charges yet to warrant the extra fees.

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Those fees are pretty high. Does that include the Visa or Mastercard surcharge? When I had a merchant account through my bank, the fee was $12.50/ month plus 5% of the charges. It was fine when I had a lot of charges (for a different business). No other fees.

Most merchant accounts that I am aware of charge varying fees for the type of card, whether it is debit or credit, Visa, Mastercard or Discover. One client has a gateway, and the card processor, both charge fees. At one time they were running a high dollar amount of internet subscription charges every month, so he felt it was worth the extra charges.

Maybe the time saving processing through QuickBooks is worth the additional charges. I'll be curious to see what the actual fees work out to be.

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Kathy Crofoot
http://www.kathycrofoot.com

I was looking at time saving options and I know that there are probably some that are cheaper. I haven't began processing any charges yet and will see what it actually works out to be when I get there. The nice thing is that I have 2 months free of fees so if I decide I don't want to use them I can change without a problem. And there was no contract which was appealing to me too, I want to be able to cancel with no hassles.

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Kathy,
You are correct their are a lot of other fees that can and are charge. I used to be and executive account manager for a merchant service company. What used to bother me the most was our competitors would give a quote with their rates but fail to disclose all the additional fees involved. For example, if you accept Visa/MC and the person or company you have accepted it from has either a frequent flier plan with their card or it is a corporate card you are charge additional rates. I have seen these rates as high as $0.95 per transaction (this is on top of the other fees). If someone says they didn't get the service they were promised and calls their bank they are guaranteed a refund and then the bank processes a charge back to the merchant which again has additional fees. You also want to check on their cancellation policy. Every company I knew had a clause which stated if you terminated your merchant account within the first three years (end time could differ) then you would be charged not only a cancellation fee of $300 (I've seen this as high as $600+) but also a percentage of the monthly fee through the term of your agreement. The only way to have this waived is to have this in writing where both parties sign. These are just a few.

When applying for a merchant account just know that most merchant service companies, including the one through Quickbooks, usually does not have a monthly fee they are charged. That means they have flexibility in whether they charge this or not since it is 100% profit to them. The set up fee is another fee that is 100% profit. In 8 yrs I worked with merchant services I did not know of one company that this was not true of. I had even seen companies charge as high as $300 for set up. You can also negotiate on the per transaction fee. FYI, the current per transaction fee Visa charged (the buy rate) to merchant service companies is only$0.08. They can pay less if their volume is higher. The discount rate (I believe somone said QB charged 2.44%) is always negotiable. For non-swipe transactions their rate is approx. 1.88%. As you can see this is a huge mark up. What is sad is there isn't now or has there been any regulations regarding what can be charged, the mark up, diclosure to the merchant of hidden fees, etc.

There are a lot more details and if anyone has any questions please feel free to email me. I hope this information helps answer some basic questions.

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LoriLee
Executive Virtual Staffing
(web site to come in near future)