NBS Agents >> Merchant Account Agent and ISO Programs

I have this Merchant services company (First Data) that I contacted for credit card processing fees trying to bill me now for there services. I never signed anything with them and when I called them to find out what their problem was I was told that they have my IP address and that was as good as signed contract. If I want to cancel the 1 yr contract it will cost me $$$.
Where do I file a complaint?

You should certainly contact the BBB but usually there is a clause that you have 45 days to change your mind about the contract. That’s pretty standard in the industry.

I’m looking to put my offline business online.what are the most important factor when thinking of getting merchant payment services?

consider your customer bases and how much the fees will be. consider the prices and setup. If your credit isnt good i would suggest going here they will work with you for a high risk merchant account.
http://onlinemerchantsearch.info/

I have a business in the service industry that I recently got credit card services. What do you think of these sign up and monthly fees?

$100 sign up
$10 per month
$2.5ish%
$25 monthly minimum. I just discovered what the hell that means, and they (CC services) wants you to think it’s only $25 you have to process.

I was sort of lied to by the people who signed me up. When I asked what that minimum monthly they said it didn’t apply and got me to focus only on the $10 per month. I’m a little pissed and feel deceived. Nevertheless I’m stuck on a contract, but I would like to know if these fees are reasonable. Btw, I had no idea accepting credit cards costs the merchant so much.
meant to say 2.5ish% per transaction.

Actually, those look pretty typical. I’ve seen some as high as 4% per transaction. The $25 minimum for low volume is also typical.

Yes, credit cards cost the merchant. Most consumers don’t realize this. When I set up our Homeowner’s Association to accept credit/debit cards, I used Pay Pal because they have no minimums, just a straight percentage per transaction and no other fees at all. However, a web based solution may not work for your business.

i got info, but need to know if anyone uses this service? we are starting up a business and need help in setting up our credit card machines…..i contacted them, but it sounded to good to be true! if anyone knows of any legit companies ……….please let me know!

When I first started my business I chose Costco merchant services but it turned into a nightmare after I found out they sold my account to a different company and my rates skyrocketed. They made me pay a cancellation fee too, I was so upset I switched a few times and am now with North American Bancard. The customer service agents are really friendly and honest. When I received my statement everything was exactly what they quoted me. Solicitors call me everyday and they try to beat the rates I have but give up after I tell them what I pay.

credit card company

No. There is no company just called "Merchant Services". It is not possible to register that name for a business as it is the name of the industry. It’s just like a company cannot call itself "Laundromat" or "Restaurant".

i am having someone develop a site for my new company and i want to have an ecommerce section. i use quikbooks now and love it and would like to use Intuit’s merchant services for my customer’s shopping cart functions. is this possible in wordpress? if so, any walk-throughs or instructions online?

This will not be a free Wordpress at Wordpress.com – you can’t advertise there.

For any shopping cart service, you will have to buy a domain name, have it hosted at a hosting company compatible to your shopping cart. You can also have wordpress installed on the domain – but you don’t really need to.

Looking at the intuit.com site, they say hosting packages with large companies such as homestead, godaddy, ultracart are all compatible with their payment method. So what you do is get a hosting package with either the Fantastico (Cpanel product) or other MySQL database – install Wordpress on the database – hook it up to the shopping cart (make sure you get a SSL), then connect it to your merchant services. Sounds complicated, but not really.

I am in the process of starting up an online business and I need a good merchant services provider. I have looked into paypal and google checkout…they have some restrictions on certain products and are a bit pricey. I want that is reasonably priced, with not too many hidden fees and restrictions….let me know if there is anything better

Costco Merchant Services

If I process credit card payments using PayPal Merchant services, do I still need to get a manual imprinter and plate so I can keep a record of the transaction or do all disputes go to PayPal and that’s that ?

You definitely want to have one as it dramatically increases your chances of wining a dispute. It proves that the customer was present which reduces their opportunity to claim a variety of reasons for the dispute. Plus, if you lose your dispute with Paypal, you can still challenge them in court and use it to prove the purchase was legitimate.

Someone called me after I complied to an ad about making money at home. They claim that they can take contact information and such from businesses I provide. I’m talking to a "compliance officer" from VISA right now.
Help?

I’ve never heard of them. Usually merchant services providers don’t do referral but do a commission based program where they have sales agents who sign up the deals for them and then make a cut of the processing fees. This usually turns out to be a much better deal.

Which merchant service company would you use if you operated a small business and why?

It’s hard to say since both use independent sales agents to establish accounts. These agents can set their rates to whatever they want them to be so they’ll fluctuate from agent to agent even within the same company. You’ll have to get rates from several agents from each company to see which is better.

As far as EVO , Heartland, and any other company goes they’re all really just about the same as far as services go. Once you’re signed up and running it all just works.