It is amazing to me how many new tricks there are to fool merchants into paying higher rates. Here is a new one. Give the retail swiped rate for personal credit cards below cost at 1.49% knowing full well that hardly any cards will come in at that rate. Then jack up the price for rewards cards, corporate cards, and even debit cards. Bob makes
Recently a merchant told me how they had just switched their processing through Bob, who told them they were going to save 50% on their processing fees. Processors all work off the same cost, which is interchange. Interchange is the money the banks make for extending credit with the credit cards they issue. Visa and MasterCard add approximately a tenth of a percent on top
We have a client who switched over to us a few months ago. We heard from them last week that they are still having trouble cancelling their old merchant account. We explained that the best way to do that is in writing and by getting confirmation via fax machine that the fax was sent. We also advised her to keep a copy of that fax
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
Some savvy companies already use twitter to monitor customer complaints and address customer service. But it’s now going a step further than that, where you can tweet at the store and get fashion or purchasing advise on the spot It’s all done by software made by HipLogiq, which combs Twitter looking for tweets that would include a client’s keywords and phrases. “A women’s clothing store
Mobile apps via phone devices have quickly become the most common way consumers access the internet, information related to businesses and shopping. Smart phones are expected to overtake fixed internet connections, i.e. a desktop computer, within the next few years.
Right now, commercials target consumers in mass, but as big data gets bigger, retailers will have the ability to hit up each of us as individuals. Based on what retailers know about our buying patterns, “shoppers will receive targeted messages and promotions while in the store, as the system will already know who they are, their lifestyle and purchasing patterns,”says Jonathan Asher, executive vice president
