Customers expect to use cards. Pew Research found in 2022 that 44% of Americans used cash for some purchases, while 41% made no cash purchases in a typical week. At many small businesses, choosing a processor is one of the most significant decisions.
Offering your customers the cards they want means choosing the best credit card processor you can get. The best ones match their features to how you take payments, price themselves clearly up front, and let you manage everything on their platform. Good support is a must. They’ll act like partners, not gatekeepers. Here’s how to find your best processor, no matter how much you do in sales.
Review a Few Things About Your Own Business
Some providers come recommended because they offer features suited to particular lines of work - restaurants or high-risk industries.
Here are some things to weigh as you look for a payment processor:
Some industries have a much higher risk of chargebacks or fraud, which means many processors won’t take them. An adult novelty company might have to reach out to a specialist processor, just like a bitcoin trader.
Most providers take American Express, Visa, Discover and Mastercard. Some customers want to use digital wallets like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay.
Figure out your typical sales volume. Count the total dollar amount you take in every month, and break it down by payment type, then into card-present transactions and card-not-present transactions.
Then there’s the question of how your customers will pay you. Will you take card and phone payments on a website and in-person at a storefront? You might need to handle international payments. Do your customers need memberships or subscription payments? If you have an app, do you need a gateway that can work with it?
Take a look at your most-used business software and jot down the systems that your processor needs to integrate with. Do you have a hosted shopping cart, a POS system that you’ve already invested in, or accounting software that keeps the books, such as QuickBooks or Xero?
The type of equipment you need will depend on where you sell. Some providers offer card readers that work with cell phones, both iOS and Android.
Some processors give merchants the option to cover their payment processing fees with surcharges to their customers. If that option is important to you, be sure to check what each provider has to say about it.
Compare Processors
Once you’ve put together an idea of your card business, you can compare processors to see which best suits your business. Compare monthly fees in multiple scenarios.
Running cost scenarios before you pick a merchant account gives you a head start and helps you find the best pricing model, flat rate or interchange plus, for your business. Take advantage of anything your payment provider has to help figure out the costs. If you’re looking at Payment Depot, it offers cost calculators.
You can make your choice based on several factors.
Payment processors may charge fees for implementation of the payment processing system, PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) compliance, and early termination. Be especially careful about chargebacks and hidden fees. The important thing is how much you’re left with once you’re through processing.
Email, phone and chat availability vary from one provider to the next. Some offer 24/7 support, others only during weekday business hours.
Transparency varies widely from one credit card processing provider to the next. When you’re gathering information, notice whether sales reps answer your questions thoroughly - especially about something as important as your fees. That’s a sign of how well the processor will work with you.
You should check out your statement and reporting capabilities when you’re picking a payment processor.
As you shop around, take some notes on the integrations and hardware each provider has and how they fit with what you’re doing now.
Confirm your provider accepts the payment types you need, like mobile wallets. Cost structures differ from one payment type to the next, as with ACH (Automated Clearing House) versus Google Pay or Visa.
For e-commerce businesses, the right merchant account offers a PCI-compliant payment gateway. If you have a store set up on another platform, confirm ahead of time that it has a connection for your account.
Security is crucial, so check out what each provider offers. A service should clearly show its data handling policies, fraud and chargeback prevention steps, and what tools it has for merchants to tighten up security.
Understanding how your processor will handle chargeback disputes will help you figure out if it’s the right payment processor for you.
After you have narrowed down your list of potential processors, you’ll need to choose some providers to get quotes from. Following up with questions is a good way to test the sales team. Jotting down response times and rates in a spreadsheet can make comparing their answers easier.
Some questions to ask potential payment processors:
- Are there extra fees to integrate a new system with a payment gateway?
- Who’s responsible for PCI compliance? Do you charge a PCI compliance fee?
- Can I see a sample contract? How long is the contract?
- Do you provide free or low-cost equipment?
- How quickly do deposits appear in my account?
- Can I see a demo of the platform?
Payment Processing Companies
To find candidates, visit the websites of established providers and review their rates, features, and details. From these, pick out a few payment processors that sound like good fits, and request cost figures tailored to how you do business.
Among the many payment processing companies out there, some may offer options that seem like perfect matches.
ProMerchant is a flexible merchant services provider, with options for high-risk, retail, restaurant, and mobile businesses. It works on interchange-plus and zero-cost models.
Stax, formerly Fattmerchant, runs a subscription model where you pay one flat monthly fee plus interchange, passed through at direct cost. It gives businesses an all-in-one platform that can grow and add features as needed. The platform includes 24/7 support.
Payment Depot runs a flexible membership model, takes in a variety of payment types, including digital wallets, and offers many hardware options.
If your company has a brick-and-mortar store and wants a POS system with payment processing built in, Clover might be a good fit. It’s an integrated POS and payment platform that also includes a virtual terminal.
Merchant One offers card readers for mobile phones and a free online shopping cart.
Helcim stands out by not charging a monthly fee and offering no long-term contracts. It offers free invoicing software. The company also offers various hardware options that businesses can use to accept payments.
Square offers processing, hardware and POS (point-of-sale) solutions for small businesses that want to offer online, mobile and in-person sales. It charges a flat-rate fee.
About Delancey Street
Delancey Street is a premier, and award winning, business debt settlement company that helps business owners nationwide. Our goal is simple: help you escape debt in a safe and legal manner. Based out of New York, we can help in 49 of 50 states. We tell you how it is; because your business and future is on the line.
