Credit Card processing

[tw1012]

I have owned my wash for about 4 months and have been paying way too much for my credit card processing. I was in a hurry to get it switched over and didn't have time to shop around so I just used the company that was in place.

Who is the best provider and what rates should I be looking to get? I was told about a company called square that charges a flat rate around 2.5%. any suggestions?

thanks,

Trevor

 

[Indiana Wash]

2.5% is low. I seriously doubt that is true. Visa charges are usually 1.69% plus $.05 per transaction. Your processor has to make something. On a $6.00 wash, a charge of $0.15 would net your provider $0.0014 as long as the person did not use a credit card with cash back or miles. If the person uses one of the cash back cards, visa charges are more and your processor would lose money. I pay around $0.16 plus 1.95% per transaction which is probably too much but a better rate than I had.

 

[Jeff_L]

I haven't checked in awhile, but I seem to remember my charges were .25 per swipe, and something like 3% of the sale? Last time I did the math on my statement, overall I calculated that I'm paying 5% of my CC sales to the bank/CC processor.

I originally thought I would see a large percentage of my cash business go to CC, but that hasn't proven true. It seems my cash took a slight decrease, but the CC biz more than made up for that.

 

[Ric]

Square is for real. http://www.squareup.com I've been using it for over a year for my wife's small business. Works like a charm on a smartphone or my ipad. Wish I could figure out a way to use it for my carwash transactions. The fee's are about half what I pay for my carwash transactions. I did set up an acct. with Square which is tied to my carwash bank acct. I figured in the event of a "meltdown" with my carwash processor I could still swipe a customers card on my phone and manually activate the service for them.

 

[Indiana Wash]

Square is for real. http://www.squareup.com I've been using it for over a year for my wife's small business. Works like a charm on a smartphone or my ipad. Wish I could figure out a way to use it for my carwash transactions. The fee's are about half what I pay for my carwash transactions. I did set up an acct. with Square which is tied to my carwash bank acct. I figured in the event of a "meltdown" with my carwash processor I could still swipe a customers card on my phone and manually activate the service for them.

So you can't use them for your business? Then how can you say they are for real. Credit card processing for non-businesses is not very useful since 99.99999999% of credit card swipes are by businesses.

That and it is not the 2.5% mentioned. The website says it is 2.75%. I was around 5% overall but now am down to about 3.7% total.

 

[Ric]

So you can't use them for your business? Then how can you say they are for real. Credit card processing for non-businesses is not very useful since 99.99999999% of credit card swipes are by businesses.

That and it is not the 2.5% mentioned. The website says it is 2.75%. I was around 5% overall but now am down to about 3.7% total.

Relax...you can use them for business. I have been for over a year. I just wish you could tie them into your auto cashiers, bays, etc. Good for you at 3.7%...that's a great rate for an unattended swipe.

 

[MEP001]

I know someone local who uses Regions and says their rates are pretty good.

 

[Indiana Wash]

I know someone local who uses Regions and says their rates are pretty good.

I was with Regions. That is who I was averaging 5% with all the charges with. It was a better rate than anywhere else I could find at the time.

 

[bighead]

Elavon (costco processing) has a new small ticket option where it is 1.37% plus a $0.12 swipe fee on basic cards if your average transaction is less than $15.

Its saved me a few dollars a month.

http://www.elavon.com/acquiring/costco/

 

[tw1012]

Indiana Wash, who are you with where you get 3.7% Total?

I am going to shop regions, costco, and firstdata. Are there any other options? I will shop as many as I can find and let ya'll know the results.

thanks,

Trevor

 

[Indiana Wash]

Indiana Wash, who are you with where you get 3.7% Total?

I am going to shop regions, costco, and firstdata. Are there any other options? I will shop as many as I can find and let ya'll know the results.

thanks,

Trevor

I went with a small local bank. But what I got was the same small ticket processing through elavon which someone else says they got at Costco for a lower rate. That's ok, but it looks like Costco is the winner according to the real prices. Mine total 3.7% but are the small ticket with $0.11 transaction fees plus $0.05 transaction fee plus 1.95%, if I recall correctly.