If you're anything like me, then you get 7 or so spam mails a day saying ACCEPT CREDIT CARDS! Of course, if our dear friends those spammers really cared about targeted leads, they might have already done their research to find out I already accept credit cards (except I don't shout it). How about you? Trying to peel away all that lands in your email and determine where to get your merchant account?
That pesky merchant acount.
If you want to accept credit cards, you need a "merchant account" - that's just the way it is. This is usually through a real bank somewhere who will take the money directly from the credit card companies, say Visa, and dump it in the bank account of your choice. It can be a bank account not at that financial institution, so don't feel like you have to open an account at that bank; if they say you have to, the rest is your choice. For this lovely service, you will pay a monthly fee to the bank with whom you have this merchant account and some may take other fees.
What are the fees like?
I think I am paying $20/month to the merchant account people but that is some sort of minimum no matter how much money I process through cards that month... so it's not ADDED to what I do. Within this fee are per-transaction fees, which I think for me are 30 cents US each. I also lose a percentage of each transaction to the credit card company or whoever is keeping that money. :)
Are the fees different for different types of businesses?
YES. Be aware that different industries and different banks will treat you differently and charge different fees. Also, I found out recently when changing addresses with American Express (who made me close my old account and start a new one) that the company that I found online who had signed me up for all of this had lied about my type of business to get me a lower rate. That's nice, but when I told American Express what I did to start the "new" account at the new address, my rate suddenly shot up. I think I'd prefer to be honest... Also, I believe my rates are a bit higher anyway because as a company that doesn't normally have other people's credit cards in my hands (mostly because many of my clients are in other time zones), I have to use their billing address to prove that I'm not taking stolen cards. I guess the banks see this as a bit of a risk as I can't match signatures and see the person and the like.
