Card Terminal

[avinalarf]

I've been using Global Payments for many years but wondering if there are better deals to be had.
I pay £12 + vat monthly for terminal plus either 0.36% or 0.99% rate on transactions.

[jonby]

avinalarf said:

I've been using Global Payments for many years but wondering if there are better deals to be had.
I pay £12 + vat monthly for terminal plus either 0.36% or 0.99% rate on transactions.

If you are paying less than 1% on all transactions, that's a great rate. Does that rate include all business cards, charge cards, etc ? (I appreciate it won't include AMEX of course)

However in general, you tend to find that whilst some tariffs are definitively better than others, it more often depends on your business patterns as to whether the tariff is best for you

If you have high average transaction value, then having a fixed x pence per debit card transaction rather than a percentage based fee is great, but if the average transaction value is low, then the 60p we pay might cripple you (our average transaction value on cards is £500 so that 60p is just over 0.1%, but on £30 transactions it would represent 2% ! )

Credit cards which I've only ever seen %age based fees on, can have different rates for business & premium cards, which again we take a lot of and tend to be charged more highly, but a typical high street business probably sees very few of those types of cards

You need to work out where the savings would be best for you then shop around - you tend to get better deals by showing a track record of spend and a low fraud/chargeback rate and seeing who will offer you what

But I go back to the first point - less than 1% across the board sounds good

[avinalarf]

Hi Jonby....thanks for your comments.
My average sale circa £35.
About 70% of cards at 0.36% rest at 0.99%.
Stopped taking Amex unless it means losing a sale.
I belong to a trade association BIRA and am supposed to get preferential rates on this and other products as a member.
However experience has taught me not to be too complacent so I like to see what's about.
Another very important factor for me is the hassle factor.
I don't mind paying a bit extra for good and reliable service

Edited by avinalarf on Tuesday 15th August 09:37

[jonby]

avinalarf said:

Hi Jonby....thanks for your comments.
My average sale circa £35.
About 70% of cards at 0.36% rest at 0.99%.
Stopped taking Amex unless it means losing a sale.
I belong to a trade association BIRA and am supposed to get preferential rates on this and other products as a member.
However experience has taught me not to be too complacent so I like to see what's about.
Another very important factor for me is the hassle factor.
I don't mind paying a bit extra for good and reliable service

Edited by avinalarf on Tuesday 15th August 09:37

Only just realised who I was responding to.......fancy seeing you here !

It makes sense that you are getting those rates through a trade association - I do think they look competitive, especially if they include debit cards given your average transaction value (pence per transaction charges on debit cards, which is not uncommon, would be hugely prohibitive on your average transaction value)

You're right not to assume a so called preferential rate is necessarily competitive, but in this instance, I suspect it is. There are a few card switcher comparison services now - just google lowest merchant rates credit card and they all come up - you could try them to be sure. You do find different rates depending on industry, average transaction value and total income. I call up every 3 years ish to push for lower rates, but found the last few years they are about as low as we can get them - the level of discount got smaller each time I called.

On the service side, I'm not sure what to say. We are with Barclaycard merchant services and I'm no great fan of Barclays (or any of the big high street banks). We put through £500k - £1M on card per annum (it does vary annually a lot for us), from 2 physical terminals and an online account - we've never met a single person from BMS nor have we ever had a proper account manager - it's hard to get hold of anyone and when we do it's pot luck. In that sense, we feel like we aren't remotely important to them despite a large turnover for a single site with such few terminals

Having said that, on the support side for the terminals/transactions, we find the help desk very good indeed, which is arguably more important. The only time we ever need to call the account side is to ask for discount on our rates or once in a blue moon, a query on a charge to our account

[avinalarf]

Thanks Jonby

[Jon39]

avinalarf said:

Stopped taking Amex unless it means losing a sale.

A top tip there Steven, for us Amex users, although I just put my card in the machine without asking first whether a shop accepts it.

A convenient payment method, no fees, and once a year over £100 is automatically credited to the account, so seems a good deal for shoppers.
I appreciate though, that 'merchants' as they are quaintly called by the card people, are charged much more by AMEX.
How much more I do not know (presumably enough to produce 1% back for the cardholders), but I expect the big turnover supermarkets, have negotiated a lower charge than most businesses can.

[avinalarf]

Jon39 said:

avinalarf said:

Stopped taking Amex unless it means losing a sale.

A top tip there Steven, for us Amex users, although I just put my card in the machine without asking first whether a shop accepts it.

A convenient payment method, no fees, and once a year over £100 is automatically credited to the account, so seems a good deal for shoppers.
I appreciate though, that 'merchants' as they are quaintly called by the card people, are charged much more by AMEX.
How much more I do not know (presumably enough to produce 1% back for the cardholders), but I expect the big turnover supermarkets, have negotiated a lower charge than most businesses can.

Amex charge more AND are on a different billing system AND take longer to get payments into my bank.

[Jon39]

avinalarf said:

Jon39 said:

avinalarf said:

Stopped taking Amex unless it means losing a sale.

A top tip there Steven, for us Amex users, although I just put my card in the machine without asking first whether a shop accepts it.

A convenient payment method, no fees, and once a year over £100 is automatically credited to the account, so seems a good deal for shoppers.
I appreciate though, that 'merchants' as they are quaintly called by the card people, are charged much more by AMEX.
How much more I do not know (presumably enough to produce 1% back for the cardholders), but I expect the big turnover supermarkets, have negotiated a lower charge than most businesses can.

Amex charge more AND are on a different billing system AND take longer to get payments into my bank.

Yes, as I don't pay AMEX any fees, interest or charges, and they also let me wait about 30 days to pay them, also giving back about £100 per annum to me, then someone is paying.

Having said all that, I am feeling guilty now, and must sympathise with the difficulties that retailers have.

I walked along our local high street today. A new cafe, seems to be opening every day. If I have time, I must count how many there are. We have cafes, estate agents, charity shops, more cafes, betting shops, cash converters. How times change, and is there any link with these changes to obesity?