Credit Card Merchants

3Kings Plumbing

I 've been thinkng about acccepting credit cards for my plumbing business.I found this Buyers Zone and 3 different companies contacted me (First Data Merchants, Premire Merchant, and 1st American Card Services) Have you guys ever heard or use ant of these companies? If not what Merchant do you use? Can you tell me some Pro and Cons of these or the Merchant you are going through.

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threaderman

I use Orion.I accept only MC. and Visa.It is good to have .I frequently get calls where the owners say "They just shut-off my gas because of a leak,I need heat ,do you accept cards?" Or, "I live out of town but mom needs work at her house,can we put it on my card?" You betcha! It runs me $8.00 a month whether I use it or not.

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Joe ---International Code Council Member

Your plumbing & gas specialist proudly serving Oklahoma City OK, Moore, Warr-acres, Norman, Midwest City, Edmond, Bethany, Forest Park

threaderman

I didn't fully answer your question.The rates vary tremendously,so your best bet is to call and ask what their monthly fees are,and what they charge per ticket,and per batch at the end of the day.Most importantly,I have a rep. in my area that I can call on anytime ,face-to-face to answer questions.

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Joe ---International Code Council Member

Your plumbing & gas specialist proudly serving Oklahoma City OK, Moore, Warr-acres, Norman, Midwest City, Edmond, Bethany, Forest Park

3Kings Plumbing

Orion Merchant?
Do you have an 800# or a web site I can go to???

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threaderman

Headquarters in Houston,Tx. #877-934-6500.I didn't see a web address on my invoice.Hope this helps.

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Joe ---International Code Council Member

Your plumbing & gas specialist proudly serving Oklahoma City OK, Moore, Warr-acres, Norman, Midwest City, Edmond, Bethany, Forest Park

Double-A

One thing to be sure to do is to check with your local bank as well.

Ask for a copy of the agreement you'll be signing and call your local bank, ask who does merchant card services and take that agreement to them and let them look it over.

You can buy the equipment to accept credit cards from Sams at prices much cheaper than most national merchant card folks will sell them to you.

You might be surprised at the fees and monthly cost differences. Such as if you swipe the card, call in the number, or take an imprint. All of these will cost you a different percentage.

We run ours through our local bank. Flat $7.50 a month, no other fees other than a flat percentage that is nationally competitive, which varies with the cards we accept.

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"My clients’ wishes are the center of my attention." -- David Guido, a contractor in Woodstock, N.Y.
New York Times, July 20, 2006

lawndart

I too have a merchant account with my bank (Washington Mutual). The rates and flat fee like Double-A posted were the best I could find.

Dale S.

Read ALL of the fine print. For our first merchant, we didn't read it all and got stung pretty badly. It was a real mess to get out of...
dale

PARA1

I've found it best to use the bank you bank with, why make it more difficult ?

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YESTER DAY IS HISTORY, TOMORROW IS A MYSTERY http://paradiseplumbinganddrains.com...bers-dallas-tx

Greg P

I've used various types and now, I send invoices with Google Checkout. Typically what I bill is less than $1000 and I pay 2% and .20 per transaction.

It works out well for me personally. I don't know if it's a downside to sending the bill when you get home vs handing them a slip...but it also makes bookkeeping easy too.

Greg

Jason Whipple

We've just begun looking into that ourselves. These guys are the best deal we found so far. $5 a month, they supply a link that works with our Quickbooks. They get the invoice via INTERNET and click the link to pay. If we want the equipment for swiping the card it's $10 a month. There is a .27 per transaction fee along with a charge less than 2%. They also get the funds transfered within two working days (thats the part I like the best). I don't want to wait 10 -14 days for my money!

http://www.northamericanbancard.com/

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Jason E Whipple, General Manager
Historic House Restoration, Cincinnati, Ohio
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3Kings Plumbing

Thanks for all the replys, I looked into my personal banking but their rates were higher than the other offers. I'm going to check out the Orion and the North American Bank Card. I also had another place to check out. I do gas piping for this heating company, and he told me about the place he goes through. He has a portable terminal which looks like a cell phone with a card swiper built into it. He leases it for $59.00 a month which seems expensive. But it's a tax write off while you lease it for X amount of years vs. buying it and writing it of only once. I'm in no rush to choose which and who I do business with.

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Debs

Paypal is another option for credit cards, its becoming very popular. You might want to check out there FAQ page at paypal.com

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Deb

Jason Whipple

Pay Pal looked very expensive to me in my caparisons.

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Jason E Whipple, General Manager
Historic House Restoration, Cincinnati, Ohio
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BACKWOODS

Paypal works but it is expensive in the fee dept.
You need to let your client know if they pay with Paypal it will be extra.
It is OK for limited usage.

lawndart

Stay away from leasing the equipment if you can. You can buy these machines for $200-300 in most cases. Why would you let someone take $59 from you every month for 3-5 years.

I'm surprised your bank wasn't the cheapest, because in most cases they are. For example my bank gave me my equipment for free. There is a .15 cent fee for every transaction, and for visa/mastercard I'm paying 1.23%. That was the best deal I could find.

threaderman

I've got a Hypercom T7 plus and an imprinter ,all for 125.00 brand new,and I own them.Never heard about renting that stuff but it sounds like a terrible deal.

__________________
Joe ---International Code Council Member

Your plumbing & gas specialist proudly serving Oklahoma City OK, Moore, Warr-acres, Norman, Midwest City, Edmond, Bethany, Forest Park

artinall

3Kings Plumbing,

Know that many customers might be able to do chargebacks on you, and for this reason, I would strongly suggest taking checks or cash only. This greatly lowers your exposure.

Customers period to do chargebacks can extend for more than (1) year to (18) mos. following purchase (Visa and Mastercard basically write these rules, in favor of the purchaser - I have heard that even if the customer receives a valid service it is still possible to do a chargeback)

In addition, there are many types of fraud that are hard to either prove or disprove. Say for instance, someone uses a card, signs off on it, and later you find out by way of mail, after a debit has been applied to your bank account several days prior, that the buyer wasn't 'actually authorized to use the card.' You can find yourself right in the middle with this dropped in your lap. Especially if you don't take physical possession of the card on an internet purchase. It flourishes on the internet. There are countless false company fronts put up i and instant and buyers transposing single characters and digits of cards in order to 'look like them'.

Then, the credit card company may come to you and say 'here is a claim of fraud, from a cardholder -- now the burden is on you to prove otherwise' . And they will debit your account you gave them permission to under the terms of the agreement.

Credit card companies can shirk responsibility off on the merchant. Often they get away with it.

Add to this: your monthly fees, possible yearly compliance fees (not cheap >$100) and transaction fees along with setup, etc.

Take caution with this. Be extremely careful.

lawndart

Art, there is a degree of risk in any transaction we make. Unfortunately thats business these days. If you want to limit your risk from taking credit cards, make sure you are getting a clearly detailed contract signed for by the card holder. I even ask to see their drivers license, and write down the number.