Check out our list of the Five Ways to Decrease Your Credit Card Processing Fees
Is credit card processing costing you too much? Here are five tricks you can do to lessen your rates.
- Credit card processing fees are regularly negotiable.
- Accepting card payments in person and making sure your account and terminal are appropriately set up can help save you money.
- Account fees can add to your general processing costs and some of these are also negotiable.
Credit card processing fees may not be something that automatically comes to mind for small business owners. The fees may not seem like a lot by themselves, but those small percentages processors take for every transaction can rapidly add up. When you combine transaction fees with assessment fees, authorization costs and monthly fees, your monthly credit card processing bill can inflate to a large amount.
Regrettably, you cannot avoid credit card processing expenses, but merchants can take steps to save hundreds and thousands of dollars each month.
You Can Negotiate With Credit Card Processors.
The top way to negotiate with payment processors is to show them you are a merchant that adds value, which can make the vendor want your business.
You can convey with credit card processors by leveraging the size of transactions. This is because the more you sell, the more transactions you make, and the more value it adds to the processor.
Lessen the Risk of Credit Card Fraud.
The higher security risk you show as a merchant, the greater your credit card processing fees will be. There are two main ways of decreasing the risk for credit card fraud: swiping credit cards and entering security information.
Merchants can also decrease the risk of fraud by providing security information that protects the cardholder and validates the purchase. An active way is to always enter the billing ZIP code and security code when asked.
Use an Address Verification.
To take a step further in decreasing credit card fraud, use an address verification service, a system that confirms the cardholder’s billing address with the card issuer. This fraud-reducing tool has a great benefit in the world of e-commerce, including limiting chargebacks.
During the checkout process, the customer puts in their address, which is then matched to the address on file with the issuing bank. Once the match is made, the issuing bank sends an address verification service code to the merchant, who can then use the code to approve or reject the transaction.
Major card companies like Visa and MasterCard both support address verification services globally, and in the United States Visa incentivizes businesses to use address verification services by providing a lower interchange rate when merchants perform an address verification service check on transactions.
Accurately Set Up Your Account and Terminal.
Sometimes, a humble mistake can lead to greater credit card processing fees. Dodge this by setting up your account the proper way from the beginning. If you set up your account improperly, you risk obtaining higher processing fees from providing incorrect business information.
Likewise, the way your terminal is set up and used will also affect processing fees. It has been recommended of making a habit of processing transactions within 24 hours, which lowers the number of transactions for that period and thus reduces processing fees.
Check with a Credit Card Processing Expert.
Most small business owners know almost nothing about credit card processing. Get a better understanding and an advocate by consulting a credit card processing professional. Not only can these professionals debunk credit card processing myths, but their familiarity and relationship with processors can also help you get lesser rates for your business.
