NBS Agents >> Merchant Account Agent and ISO Programs

How can a merchant give me a slip to sign for one amount, I don’t include a tip on the charge, but the point of service swipe on my card is for the purchase PLUS the tip? Again, this was done at point of service, not after the fact. (NOTE: This was corrected when VISA received the signed slip)

next time you draw a neat line in the Tips field and confirm by rewriting the Total amount at the bottom of the slip.
If you just sign and leave the fields blank is like signing a blank cheque.

It doesnt matter if you left tips separately, the credit card payment in restaurants and services like Blue Van supershuttle allows for a tip to be added every time a c/card is used. It is up to you to protect your own S by drawing the —-across line on the Tips field and rewriting clearly the total amount at the bottom.
If your tip was not appropriate or you were a pain in the S or left no tips the waiters will take care of you

I saw a report on the news that said credit card companies do not like that when merchants do that. They said to call their customer service line and inform them of which businesses are doing that.
But it ends up hurting the business in the long run. If I go to a store once and they deny me from using my credit card, I won’t ever go back there again even if I have cash in the future. They’re losing a repeat customer.

Technically no, they can’t require a minimum. Their merchant agreement with VISA/MC/Discover/Amex will require them to accept all amounts without charging the customers extra or enforcing a minimum. They do not get to pick and choose which transactions they will accept. They either accept credit cards or they don’t.

However, many small businesses do require a minimum amount in violation of these rules and count on the customers not raising a fuss over it. Why do they do this? VISA charges a percentage of each transaction as a fee but there is also a minimum charge per transaction. I don’t know the exact numbers but it’s something like a quarter or fifty cents minimum processing fee. On sales smaller than $3 or $5, the store is probably paying more to VISA in processing fees than they are making in profit on the sale. Large grocery stores can absorb these costs, small businesses can’t.

You can raise a fuss and try to make them process the transaction but I seriously doubt complaining to VISA will cause them to lose their merchant agreement. Or you can realize that they are just trying to make their business profitable. I never carry cash on me so I’ve run into this many times. If you are polite and reasonable and explain that you just don’t have cash but you HAVE to have the $1.29 soda put on your card or you will walk out the door and go to their closest competitor, they may just take care of you in the name of customer service.

It’s not a question of legality since this type of thing is not really governed by federal, state, or local laws. It’s a question of contract breach between the merchant and VISA

I have been running a small business for nearly 20 years and my current bank has decided that they don’t want me as a customer. My current relationship includes the following products:
-Business Checking
-Merchant Services
-Business Credit Card
-Business Credit Line
-SBA Loan
-Home Mortgage
-2 Personal Checking Accounts
-2 Personal Savings Accounts

Ideally the bank I choose would be able to handle all of this.

Wells Fargo, B of A or USAA

Is it standard to pay a small fee, like .25 per credit card swipe plus the interest fee with all merchant service accounts?

It depends on which company you are registered with — the company our business is registered with charges a percentage and a transaction fee based on qualified and non qualified purchases along with the percentage and transaction fees from the credit card companies. We are also charged regular monthly fees for statements

You probably should read your contract.

One of our online customers placed an order 11 times during the month of August. Each worth about $80. He, then, filed chargeback(s) with his credit card company claiming that those charges were frauds.

However, all the credit card information matches (billing & shipping addresses) with his.

Most packages were shipped via UPS and were delivered to his door. Some of them were left in front of the door and some of them were hand delivered.

After all those chargebacks and 2nd chargebacks, our merchant service rep is trying to convince us to to file the Arbitrations for those transactions. He says we have all the required documents and the customer’s credit card information matches, there is no reason why we would lose the cases.

The thing is arbitration costs $500 for each transaction. If we file the arbitrations for all 11 chargebacks, it would cost us $5,500 plus the lose of merchandise due to chargebacks.

What should we do? Do we have the case here?
Sorry, Yahoo wouldn’t let me type in more detail in the original question due to the 1,000 character limit. Thus, I’m adding an additional detail here.

Regarding the fees, both parties must make deposit of $500 for each case. Once the case is over, the losing party will lose all that money. In this case, $5,500 for 11 cases. Of course, winning party takes back all his deposits. In other words, if we win, we get back $5,500 deposit + the original sales amount (approx. $1,000 for 11 sales.)

We declined to file arbitrations by taking $1,000 lose due to chargebacks, but our merchant service rep keeps calling us to file the cases.

May be, he filed the arbitrations already without our approval, thinking that we will. I don’t know. It’s just my assumption.

7 little known Visa credit card facts to bowl you over

1. Visa stands for Visa International Service Association. The company consists of six different entities. Each segment focuses on one particular geographical area, providing offers and meeting regulations that vary from region to region.

2. There is a huge variety of credit cards suited both to the corporate and consumers. For every $100 that consumers spend, approximately $14.60 is spent with a Visa-branded product.

3. More than 500 million Visa credit cards are currently circulating in United States. This is the nations leading electronic payment brand.

4. No credit cards are directly issued by Visa. An association of member banks provide cards to its wide customer base.

5. Visa is accepted in over 150 countries around the world. This makes it as one of the most universal credit cards available. The wide acceptance of Visa is substantiated by the fact that more than 20 million merchants accept Visa cards across the globe.

Read more from: http://www.credit-card-gallery.com/article/211,7_little_known_Visa_credit_card_facts_to_bowl_you_over

Hi everyone —

I run a start up. We’re looking for a way to pay freelancers via a (low-interest) credit card.

The problem is that most freelancers aren’t equipped to accept payments via credit cards. Anyone know of any online service that would help here?

Perhaps freelancers could set themselves up as merchants on PayPal? Would oDesk be a solution?

(I’m well aware of the risks of using credit cards in this fashion. We will be responsible. We’re waiting for a VC investment to come in.)

Your advice is welcome.

PayPal?

I use Redwood Merchant Services through Yahoo! Stores for my online store. I just tried to manually process a credit card (like I always do, and normally works fine), but this time I get a "Failed" message. I confirmed through Redwood Merchant Services that it’s because the Credit Card is based in the UK, and so the "AVS" doesn’t work on teh Manual Transations part of Store Manager in Yahoo! Stores. So, what should i do? Are there Y! Store owners who process International Manual transations in some other way?

Thanks!
John.

if possible,you should email the yahoo store and ask for instructions on how to fix your problem.

http://www.CharlesBaratta.com http://www.gomsg.com Credit card processing and merchant services accounts for Beauty Salons. New York City, Miami, Chicago, Atlanta, San Diego by Charles Baratta and Merchant Services Group.

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I am making a website for someone who wants to accept payments online. The group already has a merchant account, so they can perform the credit card transactions by hand. They just need a secure service that will store the credit card information for later access. We don’t have a secure server, and would like to find a 3rd party service that can do this for cheap (or even free!). The group is a non-profit, if that makes a difference.

all this information makes a very big difference.
This is actually exactly what I do.
I would avoid paypal and the fees they charge.
Your better off going with a processing company

You should contact me at mbader@prairieprocessing.com

I could give you several ideas or you could give my contact information to the group

Charles Baratta with www.businesscreditcardprocessing.com talks in part 5 about wireless credit card terminals, wireless credit card processing for merchant accounts.

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