Are you a business owner who has been bitten by the sales spiel with an offer that seems perfect for you only to find out months later that it wasn’t?
Well, you are not alone, here at Acceptcards we hear from many business owners who find themselves tied into lengthy contracts with buy out clauses running in to the £1000’s. These are typically only uncovered when either challenging savings that aren’t at the level promised when switching provider and/or unwarranted increases in charges that start to appear! In most cases, this is the result of a commission-hungry salesperson who sells on incentives and not what is best for your business.
We believe that this needs to stop and we are here to help provide some education so you can steer through the maze that is the payments industry.
Our Card Payment Solutions
Why would we do this you may ask? Well in simple terms it’s what we do and it’s because of our values to provide impartial advice that works best for the business. As we are a broker, we are unique in the card payments industry and because of this independent impartiality, we are trusted by our partners which include leading challenger banks, accountants and trade bodies in supporting their customers/members alike.
Keep Things Separate, Keep Things Simple!
We know that for the customer to get what’s best for their business then they must be in control, and this is why we educate our customers on the principle of “Keep Things Separate, Keep Things Simple”.
The two main elements in all merchant card services are the rates and additional fees being charged by the Payment Processor / Acquirer and the equipment that allows you to take the card payment (Hardware e.g. PDQ Terminals /or online payment gateway).
Rates And Additional Fees
Let us start with the most important aspect to a business’s bottom line “The Rates and Additional Fees”. These are the charges you attract from taking payments from credit and debit cards, these transactions affect you the most and the ones you must keep your eyes on in case they start to increase. You will enter into a contract for anywhere from 1 – 36 months depending on the processor/acquirer you go with and in signing this contract you are committing to use their service for that length of time, all pretty simple so far.
PDQ Terminals
The next part is the Terminal, sometimes known as a PDQ where you’ll sign a separate contract of anywhere between 12– 60 months depending on your price point and budget.
So how can the merchant account contract not tie in with the length of the card machine agreement you may well ask. Simply put this is to indirectly bind you to the processor/acquirer for the length of the terminal contract. This is an approach we see being used by third-party sales organisations who incentivise their sales teams to sign the terminal contacts for as long as possible and at the highest price possible.
Remember, Simplicity Is Key!
Acceptcards believes in ensuring the control of this aspect of your business stays with you and that’s why it’s important to offer unlocked card machines, meaning they will work with the widest selection of card acquirers, not just one or two. Our approach gives you the ultimate power and flexibility because if the processors/acquirers rates rise then we can review your pricing and you have the ability to switch to a better deal after the minimum contract period if you wish, as your card machine will just need a simple download to reconfigure, SIMPLE!
So, remember its best to Keep Things Separate so you are in control, and that Keeps Things SIMPLE!
