In discussions about merchant service providers, Square and PayPal entering talks is a given. Sqaure offers free credit card readers to entice merchants to switch their credit card processing to them. PayPal recently launched an initiative to expand it’s reach into retail stores and offers to waive processing fees through 2013. With the coming rush to mobile transaction processing more companies are entering the fray. AT&T, Verizon, T-mobile and Sprint are looking to get into the credit card transaction processing gig as they already carry that data over their cellular networks. ISIS Wallet and Google’s digital wallet bring credit card transactions to Android smartphones and tablets, and Visa is expected to launch its Visa Ready program as it rolls out test merchants.
But the credit card processing industry is vast and changing at a different pace in almost every area. e-commerce and shopping cart payment gateways are seeing more adoption worldwide while encroaching the m-commerce zone. NFC smartphones are reaching wider adoption rates although sales are off for NFC specific transactions, mobile is going to rise. EMV and Chip & PIN technology that is popular in Europe is set for adoption in the United States over the course of the next two years. This means merchants shopping for credit card readers and terminals are met with purchasing credit card terminals with the new technology so they are ahead of the adoption curve. With mobile payments and mobile processing on the rise, who should your business go with for a credit card processing merchant account services?
From our view, PayPal and Square offer decent rates to small merchants that do less than $1,000-$2,000 a month. The allure of a free credit card reader for a smartphone is usually dashed by our $40 offering of a BlueTooth wireless credit card reader that works with Android smartphones and tablets. When you factor the rates alone which can be as low as 1.19% or even lower, the offering of PayPal and Square pale in comparison. If you actually grow with a PayPal or Square as a payment processor you could even be hit harder as holds on funds become more common as our funds are deposited typically in less than 24 hours.
Customer service.
One area where a merchant account provider can excel, as we have, is in customer service. PayPal and Square prefer issue resolution take place via messaging like e-mail. We are on the phone 24 hours 365 days a year. We offer a free rate review so that if you are using a payment service like PayPal or Square we can show you the rates you can expect if you switch to our merchant services. So whether you are an e-commerce gateway user, accept mobile payments, or run traditional credit card transactions through a terminal, We can help your business grow well into the future and beyond.