Being able to collect debit and credit card payments is such an essential step in the success of your business.
Unfortunately, you can’t collect the payments by yourself—you have to involve a reliable payment processor such as Payment Cloud Inc to handle all the payments for you.
While the fees might look small and negligible, they quickly add up, especially when handling hundreds or even thousands of transactions.
As a business owner, your aim should be to maximize every penny, so you should strive to keep the credit card processing fees as low as possible.
How do I lower my credit card processing fees? If you are asking this, you should know that there are plenty of ways to go about it. Some of these ways include:
Choose the suitable processor for your business
Everything begins here. If you choose the wrong processor, you end up paying higher fees than you should.
There are two main types of processors you can go with: flat rate and standard payment processors.
If you have a small business processing less than $3000 a month, you are better off with a flat rate processor as you won’t incur any additional charges.
Even if the flat rate processors will be a little higher than the standard payment processor charges, your overall cost will be lower as you won’t pay the monthly and annual fees.
If your business is larger and you process more than $3000 a month, you will save money with a standard credit card processor.
Negotiate with the credit card processor
It might be a surprise to many, but the prices you see on the credit processor’s website aren’t set in stone—they are negotiable.
If your business is processing large volumes of credit card transactions, you can leverage this and negotiate the fees down.
To get the best deal, take stock of your customers paying using their credit cards, then begin shopping around for the best rates.
Speak to different companies, show your numbers and ask them about the best deal they can give you.
While scouting for the best deal, remember that rock bottom rates aren’t enough—the payment processor should also provide you with value.
It’s always wise to pay a little more for a credit card processor that provides more integrations and better customer service.
Reduce the risk of credit card fraud
The higher the security risk you pose as a merchant, the higher your credit card processing fees will be. So, to keep your processing fees low, you should reduce the risk.
One way to do it is to swipe the credit cards as the customer is making the payments.
You can also lower the risk by entering the customer’s security information whenever they purchase. The security information such as the billing Zip code and CVV (card verification value or security code) protects the cardholder, validates a purchase, and keeps your processing fees low.
Keying in the details might be a little nuisance, but it saves you over 1% of each sale, which might be a small figure, but if you are processing many transactions, the figure quickly adds up.
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