Merchant Services gives you the ability to accept credit/debit cards at your place of business [store-front, restaurant, website, direct-mail, etc...] Every business needs to have a provider. If you don't have it you are denying a possible 50% increase in sales. 60%-70% of all transactions are via "plastic" now-a-days, and you can't afford to be without one. I've seen mom and pop operations go from a few thousand per month to many thousands just from adding the choice of using a credit/debit card. You must consider it to be a product or tool that you need to operate with. If you can get past this, then it's not such a terror as some make it out to be.
Next, you need to understand the industry at least a little bit. Merchant Services offers you the service of transacting your sales through machines called terminals, or via software, or websites. When the transaction takes place, the card is swiped through the terminal and within seconds an approval or denial is given to the merchant. At the end of the work day the terminal/software is batched out or settled to report your total sales for the day and begin the transfer of money from the banks of the cardholders to the banking account of the merchant. It takes approximately 2-5 days for funds to be deposited in your account, depending on the type of account you choose. Most providers offer you a back-office or internet login to your account so that you can see your current activity. This use to be free but now there's a minimal fee, with $4.95 being the low end and $9.95 being on the high end.
This is the concept in a nutshell. Finding a Merchant Services company that provides what you need is not the difficult part. Finding one that doesn't eat your lunch IS the difficult part. In PART 2 I will discuss "Choosing A Provider" and we will break it down in to some details so that you know what is going on with your account. After all, it's your money, right?
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