Full Version: Credit Card Processing
From: Vicky (ANDERI) [#9]
17 Mar 2007
To: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#8] 17 Mar 2007
Yup, just checked the last couple of months' worth. Exactly 2.2% of my CC sales.
Like I said, I don't know if it includes corporate cards. 2.21% is the rate for hand-keyed/telephone sales. If you have mostly card present sales (i.e. you're swiping the actual card through your terminal), then your rate is more along the lines of 1.9% - possibly lower, I'm not sure on that so don't quote me. ;-)
Now, bear in mind that you have to be a Costco Executive member as well. Also, I'm not sure if this is available in the US. I'm pretty sure you can find out if you go to Costco.com...
ETA: Here's the US version of the program:
http://www.novainfo.com/costco/index.asp
EDITED: 17 Mar 2007 by ANDERI
Message 6349.10 was deleted
From: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#11]
17 Mar 2007
To: Vicky (ANDERI) [#9] 17 Mar 2007
From: PenTrophy (PENINSULATROPHY) [#12]
17 Mar 2007
To: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#11] 17 Mar 2007
and if you use the american express card you get 2% back from Costco purchases and 2% back from American Express.......
pays for the membership over a year.
From: precisionlaser [#13]
17 Mar 2007
To: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#1] 17 Mar 2007
David, I have to thank you for bringing this up for discussion. I use Quickbooks Merchant Service and after doing an analysis of my costs, I am astounded to find that I paid an average of 3.9% of each VISA and MasterCard sale last year. You'd think that I'd be tracking this, but what with one thing after another, I wasn't paying attention. You can bet I'm paying attention now, and will be cutting the Quickbooks service off as soon as I can get another account established.
Like the old saying says, "if you find you're doing something stupid, quit doing it, Stupid!"...I will investigate the Paypal option as well as the Nova processing option. I'm still in shock...if you ever get to Memphis, you have a steak dinner and a beer waiting on you!
From: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#14]
17 Mar 2007
To: precisionlaser [#13] 17 Mar 2007
Mark,
You are welcome. It's good to check in on this topic every once in a while to compare what rates we are all receiving.
For qualified customers, I still try to encourage them to use my in-house credit terms. I'd much rather give them 15-30 days to pay, versus paying the credit card processing fees.
EDITED: 17 Mar 2007 by DATAKES
From: precisionlaser [#15]
17 Mar 2007
To: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#14] 17 Mar 2007
I do have a number of customers who pay via check and have 30 days terms, etc., but I also have some long term customers who like to pay via card, so that option is there for them...I just didn't realize how much I am paying for that from QB.
I like the looks of the Nova option and will investigate further. I did notice that they have a QuickBooks plugin available, so it looks as if moving from the QB service to Nova might be a little easier and it's cheaper for sure.
I am a Sams Club member so I checked out their credit card processing deal, and it's substantially higher than the Costco deal (2.39% vs. 1.99%), so it looks like I might become a Costco member.
From: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#16]
17 Mar 2007
To: precisionlaser [#15] 17 Mar 2007
From: John (ICTJOHN) [#17]
17 Mar 2007
To: precisionlaser [#15] 17 Mar 2007
Mark,
I too have been checking into credit card processing for the past week. I currently am with NOVA and found out that Costco goes thru them. I was able to come up with 1.64% with Both Costco as well as SAMS.
Both companys' programs are similar but SAMS has another option called "Business to Business", which will give you 2.04% for ALL transactions, not the 1.64%, 1.78% 2.83% or 3.35% (plus 26 cents each trans) for the different levels of reward cards.
Most all of my cards have some type of rewards program (military & city gov.) attached so I am paying the higher % for most of the cards, so I will run several months thru Excel and see which program would work the best for us.
BTW, what started this was I received a letter saying my card machine was "Old" and would cost more to process cards since it couldn't use the newer security features. So I bought a new unit on e-bay for less than half the price that NOVA wanted for the same model.
Attn: David Takes,
The closest Costco to me is 175 miles away (Olathe) but I still feel it pays for itself. :B
Just my % worth............... want credit?
~
From: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#18]
17 Mar 2007
To: John (ICTJOHN) [#17] 18 Mar 2007
John,
I'm getting more and more out of state business, which means my percentage of hand-keyed transactions is growing. My current provider hasn't threatened me yet, but a letter is likely coming soon with a new and improved rate because of the excess hand-keyed transactions. (new and improved for them) :-( My rate was based on a very small percentage of transaction being hand-keyed.
Does the Sam's processing allow unlimited hand-keyed transactions?
I used to live less than a mile from where that Costco is located in Olathe.
I do belong to Sam's Club, although I've only stepped in the store once in the past year. Maybe something like this would at least help justify the membership. I'll investigate that option as well.
From: precisionlaser [#19]
17 Mar 2007
To: John (ICTJOHN) [#17] 18 Mar 2007
Thanks John
The vast majority of my business is outside of Memphis, so we rarely get the chance to charge a card present, so the rate I'm most interested in is the MOTO and ECommerce rates. We have a couple of older card machines from the days that we had a retail kiosk in St. Louis, but I'm sure that they don't meet the requirements now...after all, they're almost 5 years old now!
From: John (ICTJOHN) [#20]
18 Mar 2007
To: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#18] 18 Mar 2007
David,
I don't know if they accept "Unlimited" manual transactions, but I have not ever been questioned and I am doing a lot of manual transactions like you. The salesman might not be the person to ask that question of, because he will probably agree to anything before the sale.
I'm still trying to analyze the pricing structures and how much it would cost for all processors I am thinking about.
~
From: John (ICTJOHN) [#21]
18 Mar 2007
To: precisionlaser [#19] 18 Mar 2007
Mark,
what does "MOTO" stand for, I saw it in the application for SAMS under advertising but it was not defined and I could not make out what they were referring to.
~
From: Dave Jones (DAVERJ) [#22]
18 Mar 2007
To: John (ICTJOHN) [#21] 18 Mar 2007
From: John (ICTJOHN) [#23]
18 Mar 2007
To: Dave Jones (DAVERJ) [#22] 18 Mar 2007
Dave,
B-)
I do both so I will make sure it is included with the new processing company.
Thanks,
~
From: UncleSteve [#24]
18 Mar 2007
To: precisionlaser [#19] 18 Mar 2007
I had my machine updated a year or so ago and it wasn't a problem or too expensive. It is an old Tranz 330.
From: John (ICTJOHN) [#25]
18 Mar 2007
To: UncleSteve [#24] 18 Mar 2007
If anyone is still printing the complete credit card number on the customer's copy of the receipt, then they are breaking Federal laws governing that issue. Hope everyone has updated their software by now.
I had the Tranz 360 and it is somewhat newer than the 330, those are "old" technology machines and cannot handle the new security features. They will be phased out eventually. The newer machines need more memory, at least 512K to capture additional info from the card - such as zip code, and the cvs number on the back of the card. One way the processors are phasing out the older machines is to increase the processing charges on those particular machines, like my processor (NOVA) is starting to do now.
Just something to be aware of and look around for newer machines for the future. I think it is better to buy the machine at a good price than to keep leasing them - In less than 10 months, I will have broke even by buying my new machine on e-bay versus leasing.
:O)
Show messages: 1-8 9-25