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Small Business Merchant Account: Filtering Out the Noise
In a consumer culture that sees fewer and fewer people carrying cash, preferring instead the security of debit and credit cards, the ability of a small business to accept transactions using these forms of payment is indispensable. However, the vast array of options offered by payment card processing companies to business owners looking for a small business merchant account can make it difficult to find the right solution for your business. Making the best choice requires a business owner to know how to sift through the marketing hype and focus on the issue that stands out as most critical to your company: the amount of your earnings taken out in processing fees. The lower the fees on your small business merchant account, the more of your profits you can reinvest in growing your business.
Thinking Through Merchant Account Features and Costs for Small Businesses
To convince you to choose their solution over their competitors’, payment card processing companies compete to offer you the small business merchant account with the flashiest features, and the simplest setup process. For some larger companies, paying more for time-saving features may prove to be a worthwhile trade-off, since they are likely to make up the extra cost in savings on work hours. Because businesses operating on a smaller scale tend to have lower labor costs and need to keep a closer eye on expenses, choosing the turnkey small business merchant account with the fastest and easiest setup process is not necessarily the best way to go.
Ideally, you’ll only be setting up your merchant account once, but you’ll be processing transactions through it numerous times every day, and the fees associated with those transactions can stack up surprisingly fast. In addition to the basic small business merchant account fee — usually a percentage of the total processed earnings plus a set per-transaction charge — many processing companies tack on additional fees and charges that eat away at your business’s profits.
Looking Beyond Flashy Features in Payment Processing
As a savvy business owner, don’t be distracted by the processing companies’ promises of dazzling extra features and easy turnkey setup; look at what they’re actually offering you in simple numbers. Do they offer special rates for small businesses, which don’t have the same economies of scale working for them as larger companies do? Will any of the shiny features the processing company is offering actually have a positive impact on your business’s bottom line?
The miscellaneous features and options promoted and pushed by so many credit card processing companies can be excessive and distracting, making it harder to zero in on the solutions that your specific business needs. Small businesses today have increasingly diverse ways of reaching their customers, and the brick-and-mortar storefront is only one of many successful business models. Whether your business needs standard point-of-sale card processing, e-commerce solutions, or mobile or wireless payment card processing, you need to be able to trust that your small business merchant account will experience the same low fee rates any time you accept a credit or debit transaction.
Prioritizing Security in Your Small Business Merchant Account
Convenience may be the first consideration on your customers’ minds when they consider making a purchase using a credit card, but security is a close second. Given the recent, well-publicized data breaches suffered by large companies, the consumer public is keenly aware of the fact that they are putting their financial life in your business’s hands when they initiate a card transaction. Any merchant that accepts debit and credit card payments is legally required to comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) of information security. Most small businesses lack the manpower or resources to handle those security concerns on their own, and thus rely on their small business merchant account provider to maintain compliant security measures to protect their customers’ financial data. Essentially, this means that you’re trusting your payment card processing company with your business’s reputation as a safe place to shop.
Every payment processor will assure you that they’ve “got you covered,” but it pays to take the time to ask for details about their security features. When it comes to the protection of your customers’ financial information, it’s hard to be too careful.
The Value of Reliable Customer Support in Small Business Payment Processing
Likewise, it’s a good idea to ask a few questions about the customer support that comes along with your small business merchant account. As much as some companies may wish to preserve the polite fiction that nothing will ever go wrong with the services they provide, anyone with even a passing acquaintance with information technology knows that no system is completely safe from tech issues. Particularly if your business involves a great deal of travel and has you bouncing between time zones, or you maintain an e-commerce portal that your customers might visit at 3 o’clock in the morning, having access to around-the-clock customer support can spell the difference between a brief service hiccup and a lengthy, profit-devouring interruption in your ability to accept transactions. 24/7 customer support grants considerable peace of mind, but as with PCI DSS compliance, it never hurts to ask more questions about the nature and qualifications of your payment card processing company’s support team.
Making an Informed Choice for Your Small Business Merchant Account
Ultimately, the secret to success in choosing a small business merchant account provider comes down to doing your homework, and sifting through the marketing pitches being thrown at you to focus on the specific needs that your business has, and which payment card processing company is best equipped to meet those needs. You don’t need to pick the first company that offers you an impressive suite of options or a low-seeming fee; you’re planning to entrust your business’s profits and reputation to this company, so don’t be afraid to ask some additional questions and keep looking until you get answers that satisfy you.
National and International Options for High Risk Small Business Merchant Accounts
Durango Merchant Services works with several gateway processors and suppliers with sponsor banking relationships that provide both US based national and international credit card processing solutions. Our International small business merchant accounts include Canada, EU Countries, United Kingdom, Panama, Puerto Rico and US and UK Territories. We can provide merchant accounts for the small business under one of the following two options:
Requirements to Open a Merchant Account for Small Businesses in the USA:
- Company entity based in the USA.
- REPRESENTATIVE of the company based in the USA.
- Bank Account is in the USA
Requirements of the European Union Small Business Merchant Account:
- Minimum $ 50,000 USD per month in sales
- The company must be based in the EU
Merchant Service Prices and Contract Terms
If you are looking for a small business merchant services provider, contact us by email or call us today to discuss setting up a merchant account for your business. We will discuss the following:
Available prices for small business payment processing:
Where does your business fit with the following fee structure? Every industry is unique and banks vary rates based on a number of factors, which we will discuss with you.
- Discount rates that range between 1.95% and 4.95%
- Authorization fees ranging from: $ 0.15 to $0.25
- Monthly installments: rates ranging from $ 5.00 per month to $ 60.00 per month
Other terms of the small business credit card processing contract:
- Rolling reserve requirements that range from: 0% of the rolling reserve to 10% of the rolling reserve
- Variable contract lengths including availability of month to month
- Free application processing
- Direct financing with regular deposits (either daily or weekly depending on international vs. onshore)
Additional benefits of the small business merchant account:
If you get a small business merchant account with Durango Merchant Services, then you will also be eligible for other benefits that we offer, we can set you up with electronic commerce and recurring billing via our online portal. Businesses can receive the following additional benefits:
- Competitive rates
- Acceptance of multiple currencies and deposits
- Compatibility with major gateways and shopping carts
- Accept Visa / MasterCard / American Express at your store
- Integration assistance with more than 100 shopping carts
- Chargeback prevention tools and advice
- eCheck processing
- Our gateway comes with industry leading fraud detection and prevention tools
We provide small business merchant accounts for the following:
- Startups and existing businesses – we help all types of businesses
- If you have been Previously rejected or discarded by another processor, we can help you get back on track
- High ticket merchants and merchants with bad credit
- Minimum processing: $5,000 minimum for national accounts, $50,000 for international accounts
Durango Merchant Services is here to help secure your Small Business Merchant Account
Our dedicated team has negotiated on behalf of more than 12,000 clients. We understand the back and forth and give and take of negotiating processing accounts for high risk merchants, including hundreds of small merchant accounts.
We know that there aren’t always easy answers. But remember, there is almost always a way forward and if you can make it through the first 3 years with a good track record, life will become much easier and your business will be better for it.
