You have many options today, for taking credit cards. And you’ll see special advertised deals with rates as low as 1.59%.
But don’t be fooled by these low advertised rates. You need to look at the whole picture. And in the Merchant Agreement, they list all the other fees. Sometimes these fees are spread out in the agreement, so you need to read it thoroughly or you may miss some of the hidden fees.
Along with that 1.59% transaction fee, watch out for:
- A Setup fee
- Monthly Statement fees
- PCI Compliance fee
- Currency conversion fee
- Monthly minimum charge when you don’t have the minimum number of charges that month
- Interchange fees that are charged on rewards cards
- Extra fees for taking American Express
- Early termination fee since you need to sign an annual contract
- No setup fees
- No statement fees
- No PCI fee
- No monthly minimum charges. They cost nothing if you have no charges that month.
- No interchange fees.
- No American Express fees
- No early termination fees because there is no long term contract to hold you hostage. You can cancel at anytime.
Square charges 2.75% per transaction. This is perfect for swiping cards on the spot. Square gives you a free card swipe, that you plug into your Android phone or iPhone. Anywhere you have a cell signal, you can take a credit card.
Depending on where you take credit cards, either of these solutions will be great for you. And you can have both, since there is no cost at all, until you make a sale.
While I really like Square, there is a couple other competitors. See a comparison.
Remember, look at ALL the fees involved in the processing of your credit cards to determine your true cost.
