Accepting credit cards on a business website is an essential part of growing a company. But choosing the wrong payment gateway and merchant account to handle your transactions can quickly turn into more trouble than its worth.
Before you sign with a payment gateway service, it’s very important to understand credit card merchant fees. By reading the terms and conditions and asking customer support your questions, you can avoid having to pay surprising fees to your payment gateway company. Here are some hidden fees that every merchant should be aware of when working with a payment gateway.
Termination of Contract Fee
If you aren’t satisfied with the service of your payment gateway company, you can always cancel the contract penalty-free, right? Wrong. Many businesses that aren’t happy with their payment gateway services have found out the hard way.
Check the fine print to understand the penalties for canceling a contract early, and determine whether this seems like a justified charge. Some payment gateway companies are notorious for hiding their termination fees in the fine print of a contract, then they surprise clients with enormous fees when customers want to cancel their accounts early.
Chargeback Fees
What if one of your customers isn’t satisfied with your product or service and wants a refund? Chargebacks are a common part of payment processing, and some payment gateway companies charge exorbitant chargeback fees among the rest of their credit card merchant fees. Make sure you know where your payment company stands when it comes to chargebacks, or you could be unpleasantly surprised when your end-of-the-month statement from your payment gateway comes in.
Annual Fees
Let’s imagine that your company begins accepting credit cards online, and that you have an amazing first fiscal year as an official internet business. Just as you’re about to toast to the rising success of your new company, your payment gateway statement comes in. Surprise! You’ve just been hit with a very expensive annual fee—a fee that you had no idea existed.
Again, some companies charge no annual fee, some charge a high one, and some charge something in between. It’s your responsibility to find out what credit card merchant fees are involved with your payment gateway account, and decide whether this is acceptable to you and your business’ bottom line.
Set-Up Fees
Perhaps the most illogical of these fees is the infamous “set-up” fee, which is charged after opening your account. Make sure that you understand how much this fee will cost you, and how much you’re willing to pay for this service, keeping in mind that many gateway companies don’t charge set-up fees at all.
Customer Support Fees
A payment gateway company is only as good as the customer service support that it provides. If your payment gateway company is charging you every month for customer support then it should be impressive or else you might want to reconsider signing up.
Consider whether this fee is really worth the amount you’re paying for it every month, and add in the other credit card merchant fees that the company is charging to determine whether you should give them your business.
Why Allied Wallet?
A solution to all your merchant needs, Allied Wallet is a payment gateway company that you can trust. Allied Wallet makes it a point to keep their rates and fees as low as possible, while providing their customers with high quality service and advanced tools for their businesses. In addition, Allied Wallet provides customers with the best customer support available, with 24/7 customer support through its online chat client or by telephone. For more information on Allied Wallet, visit their website at www.alliedwallet.com.
