Bob From Brand X – Bob is going around town telling people he can do debit transactions for $.10. What he is not telling people is all the other charges for debit. Each different network has different rates and transaction fees for their cost. He is adding $.10 onto those costs and perhaps onto some other non-disclosed fees. The problem is that some merchants still

Sometimes Bob works for the bank. His boss, the bank, is interested in getting businesses to deposit their money. Merchant services are an add-on bonus for the bank. In reality, the bank outsources their merchant services and bumps up the margins in exchange for acting as a middleman. The bank doesn’t really know or want to understand the industry, much less take the time to

Let’s talk about PCI compliance. We have recently heard from a potential client that Bob from Brand X told them he didn’t have a PCI compliance fee. It just ain’t so. PCI compliance is now mandatory for all processors. All processors have to pass on the cost of surveying merchants to make sure they understand how to protect cardholder data. PCI compliance is for everyone’s

Bob’s got a new twist on his game and has been practicing it in Santa Fe, NM. He tells merchants that his rate is 1% and $0.00 for debit transactions. What a Whopper! (He doesn’t tell them that the rates can go up after the first month.) In order to make a killer upfront commission, he signs the merchant up for a non-cancellable equipment lease

Bob has been busy in Alamogordo, NM. He is running around telling merchants that his company only charges 75 basis points. What he should be saying is that he charges interchange costs plus 75 basis points, which is kind of a high rate. Hope none of you are getting fooled by his new tricks. 0.75% sure sounds low, and that is because Bob is not

One of our new clients told us this story about his experience with Bob from Brand X. He is a landscaper and needs to run one or two transactions per month, albeit they are large transactions. He was sold a wireless machine for a whopping $69 per month on a four-year lease. Then he had statement fees and minimum charges every month on top of

An acquaintance of mine started quizzing me one day on credit card machines and rates. A couple of weeks later, he was trying to sell me some equipment he had bought on EBay! Unbelievable! I, of course, said NO. Another couple of weeks later, he was asking me how to remove proprietary chips from the machines! He got burned buying equipment that couldn’t be reprogrammed.

One of our favorite salespeople called on a husband/wife merchant for credit card processing. They gave him a monthly statement to review, but were acting quite nervous. Our salesperson brought them back a comparison, explained all the fees, and showed them where we could save them money. They understood and acknowledged they wanted to save money, but they were absolutely scared to death to switch.

We have a client who calls us once a year to review their types of transactions and see if they are running them properly to their best benefit. Turns out this year, Bob from Brand X had submitted his bid for their business. He had a proper letter outlining his proposed fees (turns out it was not a complete list). He had pre-filled out an

Bob, Bob, Bob… what do you have going this time? Bob thought he was doing a comparison for a merchant. He wrote across the paper, “Savings: $800.” The merchant asked us to take a look. “Where was the detailed comparison? Where was the savings of $800?” they asked. “Beats me. Why don’t I just write $1,000 savings on a piece of paper,” I replied. Bob,