The Merchant Services & Business Insider

No matter what kind of in person, or over the phone, merchant services processing you are doing the First Data FD100 is a simple and productive merchant equipment solution.  Choice Merchant Services offers the First Data FD100 for free to our medical merchant services merchants as well as our retail merchant services merchants.

To read more about the First Data FD100 view the link to the left.  Here are some highlights:

• Retails for $349.00 but Choice Merchant Services offers it for free.
• Accepts credit cards as well as debit cards with built in pin pad
• Touch screen
• Same day batching of transactions.
• Build in thermal printer for fast printing
• PCI/PED complaint for top security.
• Connect with both broadband & dial-up with SSL encryption

To get the Frist Data FD100 for free get a best merchant services quote from Choice Merchant Services.

The credit card processing industry is not heavily regulated. This results in one simple fact: merchant services processing companies raise prices on their merchants without warning or agreement from their clients.

Just like a bank that offers a generous interest rate on a checking account to only a few months after you sign up for it have your interest rate lowered to be about one half of what it is now, merchant services processors jack up discount rates and fees without warning.

This is why too good to be true merchant services rates should be not taken seriously, essentially by signing with one of the to good to be true processors, you are signing up with an aggressive and unethical merchant services processing partner.

The Vivopay 4000 tap and go and swipe merchant services equipment in the merchant equipment of the future.  Why?

It has the ability to accept merchant services transactions via swipe methods as well as cutting-edge tap and go technology.  In the future all credit and debit card transactions will be done via tap-and-go.  Essentially a tiny chip will be put into most smart phones enabling people to tap their smart phone to a merchant equipment terminal such as the Vivopay 4000 and complete their merchant transaction in much less time than with a traditional swipe transaction.

Some merchant services experts are worried that technology like the Vivopay 4000 will enable an increase in credit card fraud.  This will be quite the opposite in that smart phones can be setup to instantly scan a thumbprint placed on the smart phone screen before allowing a tap and go transaction to transpire.

So if you are looking to get merchant equipment that will last you for the next 15+ years, get the merchant equipment of the future with the Vivopay 4000 terminal.

Practical Ecommerce recently wrote a good article aboutthe use of deceptive merchant services teaser rates by many merchant services providers.  The author points out that there has been a strong increase in this practice since Congress passed the Durban Amendment in 2011.

Practical Ecommerce point out some merchant services processing rates that quote as little as .39%.  The fact is those rates would be sold at a catastrophic loss to the merchant services provider if they did not immediately jack up fees once the contact closes, or offer per transaction fees of several dollars per transaction on top of the merchant processing rate.

It is important to know that all merchant providers pay the same wholesale rate as Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express pass these charges onto the merchant services provider, who then marks up these wholesale charges, also called interchange, and makes a profit.  If you want to maximize your savings on merchant services processing ask for interchange plus pricing.  This will save you a nice bundle in merchant services processing fees.

You probably heard about the ease of accepting wireless merchant services payments through the iPhone Mobile Card Reader merchant equipment.  Now watch this 1 minute video about the iPhone Mobile Card Reader merchant equipment and see it in action.  It is the easiest and most mobile way to accept wireless merchant payments.

Then, after you watch the video, go to Choice Merchant Services best merchant services quote page and get free wireless merchant equipment and a processing rate as low as 1.05%.

No matter what merchant services need you have, if you are taking in-person credit card or debit card transactions the OmniVX 570 is a great terminal.  In short it is a simple all-in-one terminal.

It offers:

1) A built in thermal printer
2) A built in touch pad for acceptance of debit cards
3) Acceptance of every major credit card as well as gift cards
4) PCI compliance
5) Face processing speed
6) Quick download of processing speed into Quickbooks.

Choice Merchant Services offers the OmniVX 570 terminal for free to our merchant services customers.

TheLedger.com recently ran a news story entitled, “Small Businesses See Mobile Payments as Way to Cut Costs.”  Here are a few highlights from the article:

There is a card reader called “The Square” that can be used to provide wireless merchant services for as little as $9.99.  The Square card reader plugs into the headphone jacks of most smart phones and tablets and turns them into merchant services equipment capable of handling swipe credit card transactions.  This allows companies to bypass getting a merchant account and what is typically costly merchant services equipment.  The Square is sold by companies like Target for as little as $9.99.

What the article does fail to mention is that companies like Choice Merchant Services offer free merchant services equipment to all of their merchants.  In the end with merchant services solutions from Choice Merchant Services merchants get a better deal. The savings of merchant services processing fees that come as low as 1.05% and the free setup that comes with free merchant services equipment Choice Merchant Services offers lower setup and monthly costs that solutions like The Square.

TheLedger.com article states:

Users pay 2.75 percent per transaction. That isn’t a cheap rate, but it’s the only fee users pay, the company says, while traditional payment systems can charge activation fees, monthly or annual fees, gateway fees and hardware rental.

Like we said above.  TheLedger is missing the boat.  1.05% transcation fees and no setup fees offer a better merchant services and merchant services equipment solution to any merchant no matter if they are procesing $1,000 per month or $20,000,000 per month in transactions.

Business News Daily recently published an article called “Choosing the Best Merchant Account Service for Your Business.”  Here at Choice Merchant Services we strive to provide the best merchant services to our merchants and it shows.  Based on the recommendations of the article we are the winning merchant services provider. Here are some highlights from the article:

1. Average merchant services approval rating.  Most merchant services providers approval about 98 to 99% of merchants that apply.

2. Merchant Services monthly costs.  Choice Merchant Services beats the costs of the two companies referenced with only a total charge of $10 per month, whereas Flagship Merchant Servies and Merchant Warehouses charge more – a total of fees that add up to about $30 per month.

3. Startup costs.  Choice Merchant Services has $0.00 in start up costs.

4. Account Setup Time.  Choice Merchant Services has a 24-hour setup time which is tied to the other merchant services providers in the article.

5. Internet Based Features.  Choice Merchant Services offers integration with PlugNPay, iCommerceGatway, Authorize.net, and Quickbooks.

6. P.O.S./Swiper Based. The article talks about merchant equipment and the equipment that Flagship Merchant Services and Merchant Warehouse offer yet it fails to talk about one very important thing – free merchant equipment.  Choice Merchant services offers free merchant services equipment to all merchants.

So it seems that Choice Merchant Services wins the merchant services war in providing the best merchant services solution to any company.

This January Forbes ran an article about various merchant services for small business.

They list them as:

1. Credit Cards
2. Pin or Signature Debit Card Acceptance
3. eCommerce
4. Gift/Loyalty Cards
5. Mobile Processing

Here are the highlights:

1. Credit Cards – Accepting credit cards increases your sales.  If you are in retail, all you need is simple retail merchant equipment.

2. Pin or Signature Debit Card Acceptance – Accepting debit cards is a must for any business.  Doing this allows people without credit cards or people who prefer to use automatic debit cards to pay your directly.  You just need a pin pad that plugs into just about any merchant equipment to do this.  Or you can get all in one merchant equipment terminals to do this.

3. eCommerce – to accept payments online you need a merchant gateway, merchant account and a shopping cart.  There are many simple and easy to setup ecommerce merchant services solutions.

4. Gift/Loyalty Cards – Gift cards and loyalty cards have a dual function.  First, they increase the amount of money your business takes in.  Second, they act as a marketing tool that will promote your business.  Both are a great idea and can be integrated into just about any merchant services solution.

5. Mobile Processing – Wireless merchant services solutions offer you the ability to take payments anywhere at any time through a mobile device such as a smart phone like an iPad, iPhone, or Droid.

To see the full article from Forbes about merchant services solutions go here.

Think of all companies that made it to greatness in the USA.  What do they all have in common?  Great management.  The only exception that I can think of is Facebook. Facebook made it to greatness because of its unique value proposition.  All other companies had great management.

So this begs the question, what is great management…

Well managed companies have the following characteristics:

1. They focus on only a handful of goals or priorities at once.

2. They are innovative.

3. They find great leaders and give them autonomy.

4. They have a regular meeting rhythm.

5. The build their company around strong core values.

6. They solve problems for their customers.

If you run your company well and have these 6 characteristics, you just might have what you need to become a great American
company.

These are the things that I work to bring to Choice Merchant Services, merchant services equipment and merchant services solutions.

What are you doing for your company?