There’s an old adage: just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. As a business owner, you might be considering charging your customers a credit card processing fee. Charging the customer is an easy way of offsetting your own costs in that area. However, just because you can do this doesn’t mean that you should. There are different laws, card brand agreements and consumer laws that need to be followed depending on the nature of your business and where you’re located. To help you make the right decision, here’s what you need to know about passing credit card fees onto your customer. There’s a difference between Surcharge Fees and Convenience Fees. First of all, it’s important to understand that Surcharge Fees and Convenience Fees are not one and the same. Surcharge Fees occur when you pass the processing fee onto the customer to help minimize the amount you as the merchant pays for processing credit cards. Whereas Convenience Fees are charged when you’re providing the customer with a payment option that may not have been available to them otherwise. (For… Read more

Trying to get a grasp on your monthly credit card processing bill can make you feel lost, with a bunch of hard to decipher numbers and what-the-heck-does-that-mean jargon laid out before you. As a business owner, you want to make sure that you’re not paying more than you have to for credit card processing and that your costs haven’t suddenly increased from one month to the next. This starts by having a firm grasp on your monthly credit card processing statement. Trying to decode your statement? Here’s what you need to know. Compare more than two months of statements at a time If you’re looking to examine your costs from month to month, it’s helpful that you grab more than one statement to compare side by side. Because of the nature of credit card processing, it may take more than one statement to get a clear picture of one month’s worth of charges. Effective Rate The effective rate of a credit card processing statement is the total processing fees divided by total sales volume. In other words, it’s the percentage… Read more

When it comes to credit card processing, the future really is mobile. According to a recent Juniper Research study, by 2023, mobile point of sale systems (mPOS) will account for close to a quarter of all POS transactions globally. That’s an estimated 87 BILLION transactions annually. It makes sense. From arts and crafts vendors and food services to mobile businesses that need to make payments on the go, mobile point of sale systems are the way to go. Even brick and mortar stores and traditional restaurants are adopting mPOS as a way to make their business run smoother and more efficiently. So, you’re a small business owner setting up shop and you want to accept payments on your phone and/or your tablet. Now what? Here are a few key points you need to know about mobile processing. You need to have internet availability. If your business is operating in a remote area where there’s no wifi or cellular reception (or even an indoor space where getting a signal is challenging), a mPOS isn’t going to be the best option for… Read more

“Cash only” is so three decades ago. If you’re going to be running a business in 2018, you need to provide your customers with the option to pay by credit or debit card -- no ifs, ands, or buts. If you’re an online business, you can probably get away with having PayPal as your sole option, but as your sales grow you’re going to need to upgrade to provide more payment options. With that said, not all businesses are treated equally. Businesses are treated differently based on the perceived level of risk they present for the credit card processor. While high-risk credit card processing comes with its share of challenges, it doesn’t have to mean the end of your business. Here are a few important things to keep in mind while navigating credit card processing as a high-risk merchant. The processor determines whether you’re high-risk. When you apply for a merchant account your processor will determine whether you fall into one of their high-risk business categories. Unfortunately, there’s no negotiating here. What qualifies as high-risk varies based on the processor.… Read more

American Express was founded all the way back in 1850. Since credit cards obviously weren't around yet, the company's roots were in express mail. In 1891, Amex expanded to traveler's cheques. This helped them create a global presence. After first discussing the possibility of a charge card in 1946, the company spent over a decade to launch their Diners Club Card in 1958. By that point, there was so much demand for this type of card that the company issued over two hundred thousand prior to their official launch date. Since then, the company has added their Green, Gold and Platinum cards, as well as a number of branded partnership cards. This had led to more than one hundred million Amex cards being in circulation, with about half of those belonging to consumers in the US. While this may sound like a clear success story, the company has hit some obstacles along the way. One issue that plagued American Express for a long time was their practice of charging higher fees than other card companies. This made many merchants reluctant… Read more