Getting quotes for merchant services

This is one of the most tricky steps. Do not rush and beware of of quick quotes. Not much is standard with merchant services so before you get a quote you must be sure that the sales person understand your own requirements, especially if you are in a speciality business. Fees are directly related to your industry, your card processing logic (not all business have the same processing logic especially when using an integrated payment application), the annual revenue for Visa and MasterCard and the average transaction value. A sales person should take the time to understand your business. Unfortunately it is too common for sales person to issue quick quotes with a statement such as "pricing applies to qualifying transactions" or "non-qualifying transactions will be charged at a higher rate". Sales people have to specify various factors to get pricing. When a transaction meets all these factors they "qualify". Transactions that do not qualify will be charged at a higher rate which often can be significantly higher. So when you get a quick quote you risk that the sales person issue a standard quote based on the wrong assumptions regarding your specific business. Even if the fees look great upfront at the end, your transactions will never qualify and you will end up paying much more than what was quoted to you. So ... BEWARE OF QUICK QUOTES and before doing anything Define your requirements .