When it comes to shopping for credit card processing every company sales on price and that they have the lowest price in town. So how do you know if you are setting up your 
business with the services and pricing that is best? Here are 5 tips to consider when shopping.
- Make sure you are not signing a long-term agreement.
- Most credit card processing companies want you to sign a 3 year commitment, however look for a company that only make you commit to a year. Or better yet one that is strictly month to month.
- Do you have a relationship with the company or representative?
- Go online and do a Google search on that person or business. Ask another business owner for a referral. If your gut is telling you that you feel comfortable with the representative then odds are on your side that things will go well.
- Ask the representative “Who will be servicing my account”?
- Will that person be your first point of contact or will you just be given an 800 number for support. If they say yes and give you their cell phone number, call it a few times and see if they answer. I would also see how long they’ve been in the business…here today, gone tomorrow.
- Make sure they are asking you questions about how your business functions.
- If they are not asking questions about how you accept credit cards then they are probably just looking for the sale and don’t really care about your business. This is where you could LOSE money! What you don’t understand could hurt your bottom line and once you’ve signed on the dotted line you could be stuck if you signed a committed agreement!
Ask if they monitor their accounts for risk or fraud and what happens if something bad happens to your account like a breach.
- If they stumble or cannot answer the question then they don’t really understand the industry and aren’t looking out for your best interest. Ask if they offer breach insurance. There could be serious consequences to your business if you get caught in a security risk or fraud issue.
These tips and talking points will give you more to talk about than just pricing and the more items you can discuss the better your gut will feel and tell you if something’s wrong.
