All Merchant Account Audits Are NOT Created Equal
Let me just jump right in and share with you a story that became the inspiration for this post. A local retail merchant (who owns a comic book store) has been a client of mine for over a year and a half.
About a month or two ago Mike called to let me know that “someone” walked into his business and said they could save him money on his credit card processing fees.
Okay, that’s no surprise. Lots of sales reps go door to door looking for new business.
But, here’s the thing..
He wanted to remain my client, and he asked if I could possibly match the rates they were showing him. Well, sure, that is certainly fair enough. I just let him know that I needed to see what their terms were in order to conduct an “apples to apples” comparison.
Merchant Account Comparisons Exposed
That worked out with him, so the next day I stopped by and picked up their ”analysis.” And it took all of 5 minutes to see what they were really “proposing” to him (and, by the way, why I became so hopping mad).
Now, I won’t tell you the name of the company using this tactic, because, to be fair, it is more common than you can imagine.
For starters, they misrepresented his actual costs.
On a side note, this is more common than you might think. Lots of merchant services providers use this tactic in order to get you to sign a long-term contract.
On the “worksheet” they indicated that I was charging him 50 cents per transaction (it’s 16 cents). They also misrepresented his actual processing rates, and failed to disclose additional “surcharges” (he doesn’t pay any surcharges with me).
Additionally, for those of you who may not know this, there are actually several different pricing models possible for an account, which will affect what you’ll pay for each processing category.
So I looked at Mike, and said “I’d be glad to increase your rates if you like me to match what they’ve shown you here.” Needless to say, when I compared their “analysis” to his existing processing statement, that’s when he became mad.
Needless to say, we didn’t need to make ANY changes to his account. And if he had switched over, instead of saving $150 per year, which they were “projecting,” he would have ended up paying 250% more than he currently was by switching to their service.
So what’s the moral to the story?
Well, if someone comes along and performs and “audit” of your account, make sure the numbers, rates and fees they say you’re currently paying match your existing merchant statement. If they say you’re paying $400 a month, check your statement to see whether or not that’s accurate.
If they can’t get that right, they are over-inflating your projected savings to “steal” your account.
Period.
It’s a question of integrity, plain and simple.
For example, I’m completing an audit for a possible new client. In the “Total Fees” column listing the rates they’re currently paying MATCHES EXACTLY with the amount shown on their current merchant statement. And that’s the quickest way to check to know what kind of person you’re dealing with.
So don’t get fooled.
To Claim Your Merchant Account Review…
If you already accept credit cards and would like to prove for yourself that we can save you money on your merchant account fees, here’s what you can do to get started:
- Fax your most recent merchant account statement to: 866-274-0406, ATTN: Review.
- Visit our merchant account comparison “Dare to Compare” checklist
- Leave your comment or question on this page.
Over the past 3+ years we have slashed merchant processing fees for business owners like you, across a wide range of different industries.
The average savings was 15.8%.
So you really have nothing to lose by faxing in your statement to us.
If you are going to accept credit cards for the first time, you should download our free report.
It contains a “17 point checklist” to help you evaluate the different merchant account providers. Just follow the link for merchant account info to download your free report.
[...] they are not. In fact, I discussed merchant account comparisons in an early post that you can check out when you get a chance. Between you and me, my audit sheet [...]