Rates for merchant accounts

I’m going to start accepting credit card payments on my site but I’ve had a hard time finding one with rates that seem reasonable for what we’re doing.

Each payment will be over $4,000 so we don’t want to go with a high percentage rate on each transaction. Even at 1% (which I’ve not seen) you’d be paying $40 each time.

I’d like to find one that has a much lower or non-existent swipe fee and maybe a slightly higher monthly fee.

All suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

I can’t speak authoritatively on this, but is my understanding that there is a LOT involved when dealing with credit cards.
eg. keeping it legal and secure
So what may seem “high” to you is a result of what’s involved.

No doubt, but the best service for the best price is what I’m looking for. For example, is Quickbooks the way to go or is there a smaller company out there who is reliable?

Shop around! Just because you see certain rates advertised it doesn’t always mean you can’t negotiate, especially if you’re dealing in high value goods.

Hi,

The payment processing fee rate normally depends on the total processing volume and not just on the amount of the separate transaction. Taking into account that you just start accepting credit card payments on your site I can presume that your current volume is not going to be very high that is why any way you will have to pay at least 1.5% till your monthly volume reaches several millions.

If you perform several transaction with a big transaction amount it is also not very good because high amount transactions carry the greater viability from the standpoint of chargebacks unless your total volume is significant the ISO’s and payment facilitators will not be willing to discount your processing rate.

In case you are dealing with government issued cards or purchasing cards you might look into Level III processing which is specifically designed for this type of cases.

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Hope it’ll help.

There are other companies out there.
I haven’t seen 1% either, however hypothetically if you are able to get that, I am interested how high would you willing to pay for monthly?
I agreed with the other replies that you can negotiate. Negotiate with the swipe fees. I’m not sure if you can negotiate on monthly fees as from what I know it comes from the bank. They won’t negotiate.

I hear merchants complain about credit card fees all of the time. Here is my take…

Would you rather have NO SALE because you don’t have an e-commerce site or won’t take AMEX or won’t pay the credit card fees, or would you rather have a SALE + FEE?

I’m not being sarcastic, either.

I have walked out of many a store that wouldn’t take my AMEX when it was all I had to pay.

As I see it - being poor - I would rather have the problem of making $40, $400, or like you $4,000 and paying a higher-than-desired credit card fee and just get the business in the first few years of my new business endeavor.

Once you have been working with payment processor for 2-3 years, have steady sales, and lots of volume, THEN you can complain about undesirable rates and try to negotiate things down.

My point being, “take the money and run” in the beginning. Unless you are selling candy bars for $0.50 and paying $0.15 in credit card fees, who cares?

See what I mean?