How to Read Your Merchant Account Statement (And know if your merchant processor is overcharging you)

As a business owner, you need to know how to read and understand your merchant statement.

Do you know if your merchant fees are reasonable?

Many business owners do not bother to read their merchant statements because they are intimidated or find it hard to understand.

It is imperative that you learn to review your merchant statement because ignoring it may cost your business a small fortune.

We recommend that you review your merchant’s statement every month as it arrives. Doing so will help you weed out mistakes and identify areas such as overspending – which in turn will help you save money on excessive processing fees.

There are several factors you must focus on when reviewing your merchant account statement.

• Markups – Check the markup rates you are paying – does your merchant competitive rates?
• Base Cost – is your merchant charging you a fair and reasonable base cost amount? Or if you can reduce this cost?

3 Steps to Assess Your Merchant’s Account Statement

Here is a simple 3-step process to assess your merchant statement.

Step 1

First, you must separate wholesales and base cost from the markups. Your assessment and interchange fees make up your “base” or “Wholesales” cost. Whereas, your markup is the only negotiable component of your processing cost and includes any charges on top of your base cost.

That said – you must familiarize yourself with your merchant statement to avoid any confusion during the review.

Step 2

Understand the pricing structure your payment processing merchant uses to access fees.

Tiered Pricing Model

A tiered pricing model divides your transaction into different tiers, aka “buckets.” Your merchant then charges you for each transaction based on its tier. Mid-qualified, qualified, and non-qualified are the three standard tiers, and each of them has different pricing.

Step 3

The last step will be to identify your merchant’s discount method. Most credit card processing
Companies apply daily or monthly discounts on their fees. The discount method affects the way the merchant calculates the total fees on your statement.

In the case of monthly discounts, your payment processor applies the discount when charging the entire processing fees at the end of each month.

On the other hand, with daily discounts, the payment processor applies a discount on each transaction and bills you the discounted charges at the end of each month.

4 Sections of a Merchant Statement

You can divide your merchant’s statement into four main sections. However, some statements may contain fewer or more parts.

Section # 1: Account Alerts

You can see account alerts on the first page of your merchant’s account statement. Here you will find reminders or notification regarding issues such as rate adjustments and PCI compliance.

Section #2: Total Charge to Your Account

Your total charges you are liable to pay are also visible on the front page of your merchant’s statement.

Section # 3: Summary of Deposits

This section displays the total card volume your business processed in a month. Moreover, you will find the information with a breakdown for each card type and a total at the bottom.

 Section # 4: Summary of Miscellaneous Fees

The summary section mentions your fixed monthly fee for PCI compliance and statement costs charged by your merchant account provider. You may also notice a “customer service fee” in this section.

Conclusion

Data One Merchant Services brought this article to you. We hope to win your business by helping you identify ways you can save an exponential amount of money by avoid overpaying your payment processing merchant.

We are a company you can trust, with a reputation for transparency and excellence.

Schedule a Call with Us

For a free statement review, quote or consultation, contact us at 800-818-0420.

WE AT DATA ONE would like to take the opportunity to reach out and share the recent class action settlement called the Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation, MDL 1720 (MKB) (JO).

The lawsuit claimed that merchants paid excessive fees to accept Visa, Mastercard cards because Visa, Mastercard, individually, and together with their respective member banks, violated the antitrust laws.

On December 13^th, 2019, the Court granted Final Approval to the Settlement of $5.54 billion!

Under the settlement, Visa, Mastercard, and the Bank Defendants have agreed to pay to merchants that accepted Visa or Mastercard credit or debit cards between January 1, 2004 and January 25^th, 2019.

At Data One, we have a specialized team who will walk you through the entire claim process.

You do not have to be a current or former client of Data One to take advantage of this service and to get registered with the claims administrator.

Please visit this website: www.paymentcardsettlement.com to learn more or reach out to me via email or phone with any additional questions.

How to Get Started

To get started, simply fill out the attached application and return it to us via email or fax.

Thank you.

Data One
info @ dataonems.com
1.800.818.0421 Fax

How to Lower Your Credit Card Processing Fees

Does your business take credit cards?

Of course you do!

Credits cards are the preferred method of payment for most customers; therefore, your business must have an effective means to process credit card payments.

That said – your credit card processing fee may vary depending on the type of your business. It can range between a couple of hundred to thousands of dollars per month.

Therefore, you must proceed with due diligence and choose a payment processor that offers the most competitive rates in the market.

Credit card payment processing involves several parties, such as banks and intermediaries. Therefore, business owners must pay a fee to these parties for rendering their services.

Credit card payment processing is a complicated domain.  The payment processing companies have become adept at making you believe that you are getting a reasonable rate, whereas, in reality, you overpay.

4 Ways to Reduce Credit Card Processing Fee

No company likes excessive fees and over the top charges eating into their profits. Fortunately, there are many ways you can reduce the credit card processing fee, and here are four of them to get you started.

1. Set up an Address Verification Service

Did you know that AVS is a great system to minimize the risk of credit card fraud and chargebacks?

The good news is – it is a simple process to verify the cardholder’s billing address with the issuing bank. In case the entered address does not match the customer’s address in the bank’s record; the bank will decline the payment automatically.

Also, note that many payment processors encourage small businesses to use AVS and offer incentives in return.

AVS is a recognized fraud-fighting tool to reduce your credit card processing fee significantly. Speak with your payment partner and understand how you can add this valuable tool to your payment gateway.

2. Settle Transactions Promptly

Most businesses report their business transactions in batches at the end of each business day. Batching helps you consolidate a set of transactions executed over a specific period and submit to your bank for processing.

The credit card issuing bank processes the payments and transfers the money into your bank account.

You should keep in mind that settling your charges within 24 hours of the transactions can usually get you the best interchange rate. Otherwise, you might be subject to an interchange downgrade.

For example, if you run a retail business, do not make the mistake of putting off your clearing call.

3. Choose a Credit Card Processor Carefully

Just like most businesses, credit card processors have to compete to attract and retain their clients. Therefore, credit card processing fees may vary considerably depending on the company you choose.

For example, one company may offer a low rate to lure new customers, while another charge more for the same service. In any case, it pays to shop around and find the best deal.

4. Reduce the Risk of Credit Card Fraud

Credit card frauds are devastating to small businesses in the US, costing them about $190 billion every year.

This often drives up the credit card processing fee along with the losses. However, as a business owner, you can protect your business against credit card fraud by mitigating the causes.

One of the best ways is to ask your customers to verify their personal details, such as the card’s billing address.

Conclusion

Data One Merchant Services brought this article to you. We hope to win your business by helping you identify ways you can save an exponential amount of money by avoid overpaying your payment processing merchant.

We are a company you can trust, with a reputation for transparency and excellence.

Schedule a Call with Us

For a free statement review, quote or consultation, contact us at 800-818-0420.

 

Cash Discounts vs. Credit Card Surcharges

Do you accept credit cards but want to reduce your fees?

If that is the case, you might have heard about cash discount processing as well as surcharges relating to various credit card transactions.

Keep in mind that both these processes help businesses save considerable money on their merchant processing expense. And you can do the same. You can do this by passing a modest cost of this process to the credit cardholder on each credit payment transaction.

Note that many businesses prefer this method, making it a highly desired solution. The method is convenient as it helps your business save a lot of money on the charges that you pay to accept credit card payments from your customers.

We will compare these two methods to simplify and explain credit card surcharges and then cash discount programs.

Credit Card Surcharge

We can define credit card surcharges as the fee that you may add to each credit transaction. Note that it makes up the total expense you will pay to the credit card association to process each credit card payment. While many major card associations, such as Visa, Discover, MasterCard, and American Express permit this practice, some states in the US do not.

Also, remember that you can’t add a surcharge to a debit card payment. And when it comes to applying surcharges, remember that each credit card association has its unique guidelines that you will have to comply with, which is important.

As a merchant, you have to check all the regulations and rules with your credit card brand on a frequent basis. You also have to comply with the rules and regulations that are implemented by each credit card brand. And it is important to double-check to determine if your business is operating in a state where the application of surcharges is permitted by relevant law to avoid any penalties.

There are many states that prohibit the use of credit card surcharge. Some of them are as follows:

California
Connecticut
Colorado
Florida
Kansas
Massachusetts
Texas
Maine
Oklahoma
New York

What Are Cash Discounts?

The idea behind cash discounts is very simple.

1. You have to encourage your customers to pay in cash for every sales transaction
2. Give them a discount if they pay in cash
3. If they don’t pay in cash and use a credit card, you can charge them the full price

This means that when your customers opt to pay using either a credit card or debit card, they won’t be able to receive any discount on that transaction.

This is great as it allows your business to easily cover the credit card fees without having to add a surcharge on each transaction, which is convenient. You can provide a cash discount to your customers as an alternative if you operate your business in a state where surcharging is either illegal or unfavorable. If you do it, your customers will be more inclined to pay you in cash and you can save a lot of money.

As of now, in the US, your business is legally permitted to provide cash discounts to customers in every state.  However, it is important that you take some time to thoroughly evaluate and then implement the cash discounts into the prices of your products. The best way to this is the integration of the cash discount formula into your POS.

Note that it will allow you to automatically apply a discount to each item whenever a customer uses cash, a check, or their debit card in order to pay for the goods or services. And it is important to ensure that you add the discount in addition to any other discount you are offering on the item.

Conclusion

This article was brought to you by Data One Merchant Services. We hope to win your business by exposing you to some of the ways you could be overpaying. We are a company you can trust, with a reputation of transparency and excellence.

Schedule a Call with Us

For a free statement review, quote or consultation, contact us at: 800-818-0420.

What is Cash Discount Processing?

Are you a small business owner wondering what cash discount processing is and if it is right for your business? If the answer is “yes,” you have come to the right place, as we break it down for you.

Credit card payment processing is becoming expensive for merchants. Thus, they are searching for avenues that somehow help reduce this expense.

Cash discount processing is one such solution that helps reduce your offsetting payment processing expense by incentivizing the customers when they pay via alternate methods.

Cash Discount Program
Cash discounts allow you to offer a reduced cost to the customers when they pay by check or cash instead of a debit or credit card.

Yet, as a merchant, you may ask, “but what is in it for me?” The answers are the advantages that come with it, and they are as follows:

Reduced Fees

As a business owner, it is one of the most desirable and obvious benefits for you when you adopt a cash discount program. It reduces, and in some scenarios, eliminates card-processing fees.

In simpler terms, deciding not to accept card payments will help you avoid the fees associated with the card payment process.

Increased Cash Flow

While modern-day customers prefer using plastic cards for payment, offering a discount can make them opt for a cash payment without any complaints. It will allow you to have instant access to cash flow while avoiding the extra-expense of card processing. Thus, it is a win-win situation for you.

Reducing Chargebacks

As you reduce the frequency of card payments, it will directly reduce your chargebacks too. If your business has struggled with a high volume of chargebacks, opting for a
cash discount program could drastically reduce their cost.

Increased Traffic through Your Doors

It can work as a marketing trick to entice your customers as well, and who does not like saving money? While the cash discount you offer may be small, it is enough to attract more customers through your doors. Hence, it will increase the chances of additional purchasing by the customers.

[ DOWNLOAD OUR CASH DISCOUNT PROGRAM FLYER ]

Is It Right For You?

While cash discount processing offers many benefits, it may not be ideal for every merchant. Here are a few things you must consider before deciding to implement it.

What Payment Methods Do You Prefer?

Offering cash discounts will increase cash flow. But, evaluate if your business is OK to operate on an increase in cash payments instead of debit or credit cards.

For example, taking a lot of cash payments makes it more susceptible to get stolen by external burglars and in rare cases by the employees.

Additionally, if your product is a necessity, a customer would not mind using a payment method of your choice. But, if it is a discretionary product, certain buyers may walk away due to the inconvenience of having to get the cash to pay.

Evaluate Before Execution

Now that you know the basics of cash discount processing, you can evaluate your business needs. This way, you can safely implement this strategy for your daily payment processing operations.

[ DOWNLOAD OUR CASH DISCOUNT PROGRAM FLYER ]

Conclusion

This article was brought to you by Data One Merchant Services. We hope to win your business by exposing you to some of the ways you could be overpaying. We are a company you can trust, with a reputation of transparency and excellence.

Schedule a Call with Us

For a free statement review, quote or consultation, contact us at: 800-818-0420.

It’s YOUR Money…..

What should you do if your payment processor holds your funds or freezes your account?

According to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and a host of other sources, the payment giant Square, is holding funds from their merchants and freezing accounts.

This is a common practice among some processors, but during COVID-19, this is causing massive outrage among business owners. The New York Times states:

“Thousands of small enterprises that use Square to process their credit card transactions — including plumbers, legal consultants and construction firms — have complained that the company recently began holding back 20 to 30 percent of the money they collected from customers.”

Over the last month, around 1,300 business owners have signed an online petition asking Square to end the withholding.

“It may not be the coronavirus that puts us out of business but actually the greed of Square that breaks the camel’s back,” said Jesse Larsen, the owner of PennyWise Contracting, a construction company in Olympia, Washington.

What can you do?

If you want a relationship with a trusted merchant services provider contact Data One Merchant Services. We offer next day access to your funds and you will work with a personal representative who knows you and your business by name.

Conclusion
This article was brought to you by Data One Merchant Services. We hope to win your business by exposing you to some of the ways you could be overpaying. We are a company you can trust, with a reputation of transparency and excellence.

Schedule a Call with Us

For a free statement review, quote or consultation, contact us at: 800-818-0420.

At Data One we only succeed when our customers succeed.  This requires us to constantly support them in receiving payments in a fast, secure, and cost effective ways across every channel. Sometimes we also share resources to support their sales and marketing goals.

In a recent conversion, we discovered a new platform for small businesses to target neighborhoods and communities better.

This new platform is called, Nextdoor.

What is Nextdoor? It is a fast-growing social media platform being used all around the world. It focuses on neighborhoods.

On this social platform, you get to know your neighbors and build a community. The idea of Nextdoor is neighbors sharing recommendations, posting things for sale, even being the local crime watch for each other.

How Do You Get Started on Nextdoor? 

First, register using your actual name and address, this is what Nextdoor is all about, the real people living in real neighborhoods, next door to each other. Nextdoor is populated with real people, not bots like Facebook.

 

Getting registered is super easy thanks to a clear and tidy interface. Remember registering on Facebook, the minefield of options, settings, and tick boxes? Nextdoor isn’t anything like that.

 

Once you’re registered as a neighbor, you can set up your business account. After you’ve done that, you’ll need to claim your business listing on Nextdoor. There are two options available when you sign up your business: Individual or Business. Unless you are a freelancer who owns a micro business, choose the latter option.

 

Registered as a small business owner, you’ll have access to recommendations, and track your recommendation reach. You can ask your customers to write recommendations, and even better, you’ll have the ability to reply to recommendations.

Basically, for a business owner, Nextdoor is all about recommendations.

In the beginning, your business listing isn’t going to be visible in your community until you have a recommendation posted. You will be given a link by Nextdoor.  This link you can share with your customers and ask them to post a review.

How Can You Advertise on Nextdoor?

Paid advertising is limited right now for large companies, and it isn’t cheap. Currently, advertising is on an enquire-only basis and has a minimum spend requirement of $25,000.00. For a freelancer, small business, or start-up, they don’t have any advertising options. Not real neighborly is it? 

There is rumor that an advertising platform is being released by Nextdoor soon. The sign-up process will be unique with requirements to be a real account, no fake accounts allowed. Marketing experts are expecting this to be a goldmine without a big expense. 

So, they aren’t providing any concrete marketing options right now, however, getting in with NextDoor now, you’ll be in a position to pounce when those powerful advertising options come.  

Business Options

In contrast with how Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter work, you won’t be posting to your business profile page. There isn’t even a newsfeed really. The business page you have is more static. While at first, this may seem like a dead-end for business use, it is a more natural marketing method with a lot of local business opportunities. 

Just follow these 7 steps:

1. The More Recommendations – The Better

You only need 1 recommendation to get started with your business marketing on Nextdoor. Use the link they provide you when you register your business, share this link with your customers asking for their recommendation.  

2. Respond To Recommendations

You can’t do much with your Nextdoor business profile, but you can respond to other recommendations and get engaged. Then when somebody does recommend your business, be sure to thank them and keep engaging.

3. Host A Local Event

With the personal account you registered, use the neighborhood calendar to add your events with consideration that the events should be neighborhood oriented. If you do add a more corporate type event, you should uncheck the “announce to neighbors” box. 

4. Employee Posts Will Expand Your Reach

For a small business, this is a great idea and marketing tool. Post special offers and particular events and ask your team to post these on their network too. If your employees are registered in other neighborhoods than your business, even better! 

5. Update Your Personal Profile 

By adding your business affiliation on your personal profile. It is simple, and it is a must-do for a freelancer or small business. Since Nextdoor has limited marketing avenues, we have to use what they do offer and this is a simple step that will increase your business’ visibility. 

6. Be Active In The Neighborhood

Don’t be that person that doesn’t talk to anyone or only talks about yourself when you do talk to others. That will get on your neighbor’s nerves and possibly get you in trouble with the community. Be a social mixer and use those other businesses that are in your neighborhood. 

7. Recommend Your Business Yourself

Yeah, this contradicts what we just said, but if you do it right, it works. Use the angle of “I’m a locally owned small business that wants to help others like me.” This is a shameless way to self-promote. 

Being on Nextdoor can bring new customers to your business while benefitting your local community.

Conclusion

This article was brought to you by Data One Merchant Services. We hope to win your business by exposing you to some of the ways you could be overpaying. We are a company you can trust, with a reputation of transparency and excellence.

Schedule a Call with Us

For a free statement review, quote or consultation, contact us at: 800-818-0420.

Many non-profit organizations are in a constant battle to achieve their mission and cater to a wide group of benefactors.

Caring for their communities and continuing their mission (while practicing social distancing) is hard enough without the resources of their generous donors being temporarily closed.

“During times like these, we either pay attention to the negative or double-down on our mission and focus on the positive.” says Brandon Day, Senior Vice President of Data One and board member of various non-profits.

As a key supporter and trusted payments provider of many non-profits, Data One has received several inquiries on best ways to stimulate and simplify cash flow while abstaining from incurring additional costs.

“Negotiating your credit card processing rates and offsetting fees is key,” says Brandon.

Recently, when called by a large non-profit, Data One was able to show a savings of over $80,000 per year by utilizing a cash discount processing platform, called WavIt.

WavIt changes the dynamics of credit card payments for the benefit of businesses and non-profits by balancing the fee structure with patrons.

“Just like making any major purchase in cash, we as consumers expect a better price; whether it be a car, or even at the gas pump, we are used to paying more for a credit card purchase and receiving a discount when paying with cash,” Brandon explains.

For a Non-Profit who needs help negotiating the best rates, Data One is offering free rate reviews and fee reductions to help them save hundreds or thousands of dollars every month!

Call 1-800-818-0420, tell them you are a non-profit looking for a rate review, and a member of our team will help you. You can also schedule an appointment instantly.

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In today’s volatile environment, limiting and controlling business expenses is essential.

While customers expect to use credit cards anytime, many merchants just accept the fees without checking if it’s competitive. As a business owner/CFO, it is in your best interest to review your fees regularly and understand how all costs are calculated.

Just like negotiations with suppliers and vendors, you need to ensure that you’re not paying too much to your credit card processor. But how do you know where to start negotiating with credit card fees?

Schedule a Call with Us

Here’s a look at 5 indications you could be overpaying:

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1. Your bank setup your credit card processing

Banks are not in the business of credit card processing. They store, save, and lend money.

When you set up your business account, and they offer you credit card processing, it’s all about profit for them. Like the wine menus served at a restaurant, it’s all profit. They are not attempting to be competitive. They are offering you convenience, not the best pricing.

9 times out 10, you will see immediate savings by switching your merchant account away from your bank.

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2. You’re using Square, PayPal or Stripe

If you haven’t noticed, prices have changed over time.

When Square was first introduced, they began with competitive rock bottom pricing. This was a strategy to gain marketing share and mass adoption.

Once they became established, their prices have risen and are no longer special. The same holds true with their technology, which began as an innovation but is now considered common.

All three of these, Square, PayPal, and Stripe presume a level of ease and convenience, but their pricing is far from stellar.

If your business is processing more than $2000 a month, you would be doing yourself a disservice if you don’t evaluate an established credit card processor.

3. You have a flat rate pricing

If you utilize a flat rate processing option but do not have the kind of business that would benefit from it then you are just overpaying. Certain cards are less expensive to process while others can be costly. However, the flat rate needs to cover all the costs else the processor may end up losing money.

The claim is that the flat rate makes billing simple and easy. Sure, that might be true.

It’s also true that you could be paying 20-50% more than necessary.

4. QuickBooks processes your credit card transactions

QuickBooks serves as a convenient service to manage your company’s finances. It tracks expenses, manages your books and helps with accepting payments.

The fees they charge for credit card processing are higher than necessary. Just like banks, they have a first-mover advantage because they are already tied into your financials.

The temptation is to just leave it alone and all in one place.

Unfortunately, times have changed, and you must be diligent about investigating your number. Every dollar you pay should prove themselves worth it.

5. You’re leasing your payment terminal

One of the sneaky ways merchant services providers lock businesses into overpaying is by leasing equipment. Rock bottom prices are offered on the processing while the difference (or profit) is made separately in the leasing.

When you agree to lease your equipment for 4 years, you not only pay extra for taking payments, you also are bound to the leasing company for 4 years!

Sometimes the equipment is necessary and beneficial, but not always. Be careful when agreeing to lease equipment and make sure you understand the contractual obligations.

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Conclusion

This article was brought to you by Data One Merchant Services. We hope to win your business by exposing you to some of the ways you could be overpaying. We are a company you can trust, with a reputation of transparency and excellence.

Schedule a Call with Us

For a free statement review, quote or consultation, contact us at: 800-818-0420.