OK. The standard discount rate (Qualified Rate) applies to "swiped transactions" electronically authorized and closed in a daily batch; this means the card was in your hand and you swiped it through a terminal OR you used software to process a bunch at a time in a batch and the cards are cool because the system can check the billing addresses. I've always found it funny that they called it a discount rate since they are taking my money and nobody is getting a discount. But what they are saying is that this type of transaction brings the least amount of risks to the universe as we know it, so to thank me for processing cards that way, they take less of my money. "Manually keyed" transactions closed in a daily batch (Mid-Qualified Rate) get a slightly higher percentage rate (more of your money taken from you), and transactions which do not meet the above criteria (Non-Qualified) will bring an even higher rate. MasterCard and Visa business cards and manually keyed foreign transactions will always fall under the Non-Qualified rate. Oy. Example: The Qualified rate on a card may be 2.65% (that means that percent of what you processed is no longer yours). The Mid-Qualified rate may be 3.05%, and the Non-Qualified rate could be 4.05%.
How do you process these cards?
There are two main ways to process credit cards. One is a terminal, which you can rent from your merchant account bank people. This is the type of thing you see in shops where they swipe your card in a little device with its own little printer. You too can have one of these, and I think they run around $40 US per month depending on the model. I opted for software. I have Windows software that lets me put in as many transactions on as many different types of cards in batches. I then process the whole batch, which uses my computer's modem to dial up to my merchant account bank and process the whole thing. I am immediately returned authorisation numbers, just like the people who use the terminals, and I can print out my own receipts if I want. The software cost me $400 and is a one-time purchase. I have seen websites who want you to sign up with them, and they are offering the same software for less (I just happened upon $279 for it). I wish it held on to credit card info for repeat customers (like people who pay me for web hosting monthly and YES they've authorised it), but I guess for some sort of safety, it does not.
