by Jennifer Guy, Credit Card Specialist
What is a good gift you can give yourself this year? Set yourself up for a great 2016.
First, do your PCI Compliance work. Seriously. I don't care which processor you are working with, they are charging you a penalty if you aren't doing it. Check with me or your processor if you have any questions, need help or just want me to walk you through it. You also have a help desk that you can call.
Of course PCI Compliance is also designed to protect you from evil-doers. Joel does an excellent job of making sure you are secure, and the recent EMV Terminal upgrade is making retailers a little difficult to breach.
Then, upgrade your processing. If you are using Paypal (3.2% plus $0.25 per transaction and $20.00 monthly account fees) or on a tiered or Bill Back program, you aren't getting the best rates you can. Use a dedicated specialist that is dedicated to your business. This will save you money in several ways.For example:
There are two kinds of debit cards -
Regulated banks can only charge 0.05% plus $.22 cents
Non-regulated banks can charge the standard card costs, (from 0.8% - 2.00%)
I can make sure you are getting the best rates on your debit cards, so call me if you want to investigate!
I used the numbers I have seen over and over again from Intuit and compared them to the numbers I have. Thinking about monthly costs...
-
Intuit - 3.2% plus $.25 and a monthly account charge of $20.00
-
Me - 2.3% average percentage, plus $.10 and $30.00 monthly account charges
Volume Total me Total intuit Percentage difference
$1,000 $53 $ 62 0.8548
$2,000 $76 $ 94 0.8085
$3,000 $99 $126 0.7857
$4,000 $122 $158 0.7722
$5,000 $145 $190 0.7632
$10,000 $260 $350 0.7429
$15,000 $375 $510 0.7353
$20,000 $490 $670 0.7313
I didn't include the per item charges in this chart. We 'win' in a comparison there since we charge $.10 and they charge $.25. But I threw that out for this comparison.
You may not be motivated enough with a 15% savings to make the move, but check out the larger volumes - at $5000 your savings is almost 25%.
It is my privileged to work with you and the folks here at Clear Computing. I am grateful for all your business. I hope you all have a healthy, happy and prosperous new year.
That is the best gift, isn't it!