Best Value and Customer Support in Credit Card Processors?

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The Farmers Daughter

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My current CCP has started to nickle and dime me with a variety of new fees. I currently use United Bank Card.
Are there better processors out there for the lodging industry and who do you folks like? Thanks.
 
I think you can find Tom Weiskotten. in the resources section. Many of us are using his services through Payment Alliance. The email I have is: [email protected]
ETA: I found the link to his contact info here on the forum was broken. I have a letter from him recently that he was updating his web site. I will look for that after cleaning a guest room. Otherwise, maybe someone will chime in here with that :)
 
So far I have been happy with Intuit (quickbooks) processing. Been using them since January this year.
 
I think you can find Tom Weiskotten. in the resources section. Many of us are using his services through Payment Alliance. The email I have is: [email protected]
ETA: I found the link to his contact info here on the forum was broken. I have a letter from him recently that he was updating his web site. I will look for that after cleaning a guest room. Otherwise, maybe someone will chime in here with that :).
Samster said:
I think you can find Tom Weiskotten. in the resources section. Many of us are using his services through Payment Alliance. The email I have is: [email protected]
ETA: I found the link to his contact info here on the forum was broken. I have a letter from him recently that he was updating his web site. I will look for that after cleaning a guest room. Otherwise, maybe someone will chime in here with that :)
We use him too and he's great. He is having trouble with his website so I would call or fax.
518-963-7272 phone518-963-8608 fax[email protected][email protected]
RIki
 
I think you can find Tom Weiskotten. in the resources section. Many of us are using his services through Payment Alliance. The email I have is: [email protected]
ETA: I found the link to his contact info here on the forum was broken. I have a letter from him recently that he was updating his web site. I will look for that after cleaning a guest room. Otherwise, maybe someone will chime in here with that :).
Samster said:
I think you can find Tom Weiskotten. in the resources section. Many of us are using his services through Payment Alliance. The email I have is: [email protected]
ETA: I found the link to his contact info here on the forum was broken. I have a letter from him recently that he was updating his web site. I will look for that after cleaning a guest room. Otherwise, maybe someone will chime in here with that :)
We use him too and he's great. He is having trouble with his website so I would call or fax.
518-963-7272 phone518-963-8608 fax[email protected][email protected]
RIki
.
I've been using Tom for about 5 years now....I've saved a lot of money since I switched.
 
We use First Data and have been very pleased. I have tried comparing many other processing services and none can provide me with any better costs, very few fees compared to others.
What I have found with card processer services is that every one want to get YOUR data to compare YOUR current info with what they HAVE to offer...Like I can not tell myself. Ask them for their rates...cost of all the different type of cards, swiped, non-swiped etc., costs per transaction, cost for the monthly summary and any and all other fees associated with them...including fees to change services if leaving a contract (yes some have contract periods). Get all this info and place in a spread sheet to compare with what you currently are getting.
Remember that there are base discount rates for each card MC, Visa, etc. - the rates vary a little based on many things and I have found the ones that provide a little lower rate, has the most fees. ANYWAY - you do the math yourself and get the best rate YOU can get.
 
We use First Data and have been very pleased. I have tried comparing many other processing services and none can provide me with any better costs, very few fees compared to others.
What I have found with card processer services is that every one want to get YOUR data to compare YOUR current info with what they HAVE to offer...Like I can not tell myself. Ask them for their rates...cost of all the different type of cards, swiped, non-swiped etc., costs per transaction, cost for the monthly summary and any and all other fees associated with them...including fees to change services if leaving a contract (yes some have contract periods). Get all this info and place in a spread sheet to compare with what you currently are getting.
Remember that there are base discount rates for each card MC, Visa, etc. - the rates vary a little based on many things and I have found the ones that provide a little lower rate, has the most fees. ANYWAY - you do the math yourself and get the best rate YOU can get..
I also use First Data and am pleased - so far. I am waiting to see if the government owning so many of the banks is going to have any effect on this.
 
We had someone from the credit card industry come explain themselves to our Assoc. meeting. What percentage they offer you has little to do with the percentage of your sales that actually goes to them, but I am sure you all know that already.
The formula you should go with is - take the amount you PAID the credit card company for a given month. The actual total they took out of your bank account that month, (including all the discounts, statement fees, access charges, extra fees - all of it - whatever they want to call it), and divide it by the total of your credit card sales. Example - if you paid them $150 and your total sales were $5000 - 150 divided by 5000 = .03, or 3% This is what you are paying to the credit card processor, and it will change slightly every month. Yes...the hidden fees of the processors that say they are giving you a great deal at 1.59% are a joke and are the worst offenders with this game. They talk the talk - "qualified" "non qualified" blah, blah, blah. It means nothing. Rewards cards are the norm in use for credit cards these days at our inn, and they carry one of the highest rates. No resemblance to the great rate you are offered.
After checking this on six months of statement you should have a good idea of what your processor is actually charging you. I just got burned with TransFirst, and got out of my contract. I have decided that I am going to go with a company that caters to inns and charges a flat rate every month of 2.19% for all transactions, with no statement fee. 2.19% of the credit card sales - period. You don't even have to swipe the cards, as doing it manually (keying in) will bring you the same rate. I asked about this in the other forum and I have has great feedback about this processor. The are called InnPayment. The mother company is Yapstone. Rates are based on how risky an industry is and are offered to that industry accordingly.
Boy, I can go on and on sometimes. Thanks for putting up with it!
 
We had someone from the credit card industry come explain themselves to our Assoc. meeting. What percentage they offer you has little to do with the percentage of your sales that actually goes to them, but I am sure you all know that already.
The formula you should go with is - take the amount you PAID the credit card company for a given month. The actual total they took out of your bank account that month, (including all the discounts, statement fees, access charges, extra fees - all of it - whatever they want to call it), and divide it by the total of your credit card sales. Example - if you paid them $150 and your total sales were $5000 - 150 divided by 5000 = .03, or 3% This is what you are paying to the credit card processor, and it will change slightly every month. Yes...the hidden fees of the processors that say they are giving you a great deal at 1.59% are a joke and are the worst offenders with this game. They talk the talk - "qualified" "non qualified" blah, blah, blah. It means nothing. Rewards cards are the norm in use for credit cards these days at our inn, and they carry one of the highest rates. No resemblance to the great rate you are offered.
After checking this on six months of statement you should have a good idea of what your processor is actually charging you. I just got burned with TransFirst, and got out of my contract. I have decided that I am going to go with a company that caters to inns and charges a flat rate every month of 2.19% for all transactions, with no statement fee. 2.19% of the credit card sales - period. You don't even have to swipe the cards, as doing it manually (keying in) will bring you the same rate. I asked about this in the other forum and I have has great feedback about this processor. The are called InnPayment. The mother company is Yapstone. Rates are based on how risky an industry is and are offered to that industry accordingly.
Boy, I can go on and on sometimes. Thanks for putting up with it!.
aieechihuahua said:
We had someone from the credit card industry come explain themselves to our Assoc. meeting. What percentage they offer you has little to do with the percentage of your sales that actually goes to them, but I am sure you all know that already.
The formula you should go with is - take the amount you PAID the credit card company for a given month. The actual total they took out of your bank account that month, (including all the discounts, statement fees, access charges, extra fees - all of it - whatever they want to call it), and divide it by the total of your credit card sales. Example - if you paid them $150 and your total sales were $5000 - 150 divided by 5000 = .03, or 3% This is what you are paying to the credit card processor, and it will change slightly every month. Yes...the hidden fees of the processors that say they are giving you a great deal at 1.59% are a joke and are the worst offenders with this game. They talk the talk - "qualified" "non qualified" blah, blah, blah. It means nothing. Rewards cards are the norm in use for credit cards these days at our inn, and they carry one of the highest rates. No resemblance to the great rate you are offered.
After checking this on six months of statement you should have a good idea of what your processor is actually charging you. I just got burned with TransFirst, and got out of my contract. I have decided that I am going to go with a company that caters to inns and charges a flat rate every month of 2.19% for all transactions, with no statement fee. 2.19% of the credit card sales - period. You don't even have to swipe the cards, as doing it manually (keying in) will bring you the same rate. I asked about this in the other forum and I have has great feedback about this processor. The are called InnPayment. The mother company is Yapstone. Rates are based on how risky an industry is and are offered to that industry accordingly.
Boy, I can go on and on sometimes. Thanks for putting up with it!
Thank you! That was very informative.
 
We had someone from the credit card industry come explain themselves to our Assoc. meeting. What percentage they offer you has little to do with the percentage of your sales that actually goes to them, but I am sure you all know that already.
The formula you should go with is - take the amount you PAID the credit card company for a given month. The actual total they took out of your bank account that month, (including all the discounts, statement fees, access charges, extra fees - all of it - whatever they want to call it), and divide it by the total of your credit card sales. Example - if you paid them $150 and your total sales were $5000 - 150 divided by 5000 = .03, or 3% This is what you are paying to the credit card processor, and it will change slightly every month. Yes...the hidden fees of the processors that say they are giving you a great deal at 1.59% are a joke and are the worst offenders with this game. They talk the talk - "qualified" "non qualified" blah, blah, blah. It means nothing. Rewards cards are the norm in use for credit cards these days at our inn, and they carry one of the highest rates. No resemblance to the great rate you are offered.
After checking this on six months of statement you should have a good idea of what your processor is actually charging you. I just got burned with TransFirst, and got out of my contract. I have decided that I am going to go with a company that caters to inns and charges a flat rate every month of 2.19% for all transactions, with no statement fee. 2.19% of the credit card sales - period. You don't even have to swipe the cards, as doing it manually (keying in) will bring you the same rate. I asked about this in the other forum and I have has great feedback about this processor. The are called InnPayment. The mother company is Yapstone. Rates are based on how risky an industry is and are offered to that industry accordingly.
Boy, I can go on and on sometimes. Thanks for putting up with it!.
That was great. Thank you for the info. Please report back after you have been with them a few months and give an update.
 
We had someone from the credit card industry come explain themselves to our Assoc. meeting. What percentage they offer you has little to do with the percentage of your sales that actually goes to them, but I am sure you all know that already.
The formula you should go with is - take the amount you PAID the credit card company for a given month. The actual total they took out of your bank account that month, (including all the discounts, statement fees, access charges, extra fees - all of it - whatever they want to call it), and divide it by the total of your credit card sales. Example - if you paid them $150 and your total sales were $5000 - 150 divided by 5000 = .03, or 3% This is what you are paying to the credit card processor, and it will change slightly every month. Yes...the hidden fees of the processors that say they are giving you a great deal at 1.59% are a joke and are the worst offenders with this game. They talk the talk - "qualified" "non qualified" blah, blah, blah. It means nothing. Rewards cards are the norm in use for credit cards these days at our inn, and they carry one of the highest rates. No resemblance to the great rate you are offered.
After checking this on six months of statement you should have a good idea of what your processor is actually charging you. I just got burned with TransFirst, and got out of my contract. I have decided that I am going to go with a company that caters to inns and charges a flat rate every month of 2.19% for all transactions, with no statement fee. 2.19% of the credit card sales - period. You don't even have to swipe the cards, as doing it manually (keying in) will bring you the same rate. I asked about this in the other forum and I have has great feedback about this processor. The are called InnPayment. The mother company is Yapstone. Rates are based on how risky an industry is and are offered to that industry accordingly.
Boy, I can go on and on sometimes. Thanks for putting up with it!.
Very good info. Will look forward to your update in a few months!
 
This is a lot of good information. INN PAYMENT sounds very interesting. Is it really really really just 2.19% with no extra fees? We could almost afford to add AMEX with the savings. (DID I JUST SAY THAT!)
Who takes AMEX and how expensive is it really?
 
3.5% Hmmm maybe it is worth reconsidering. No other fees I'm guessing. It might be worth it just to put it on our site.
 
This is a lot of good information. INN PAYMENT sounds very interesting. Is it really really really just 2.19% with no extra fees? We could almost afford to add AMEX with the savings. (DID I JUST SAY THAT!)
Who takes AMEX and how expensive is it really?.
I believe (don't quote me) that AMEX is 3.5%. They do (or at least did) have a program for those small businesses that took under $5000 (Edited to add in AMEX charges) (think that is right) a year, the rate was quite a bit less. Good for start up businesses, not after you are established. - (We qualified for a year or two but we have had too much corp business to qualify for that for years now.
For us, it is a card that we have a love/hate relationship with. It does provide us with a lot of business we would otherwise not get but the rate is high! They also take about 1-2 days longer to pay you. At least that is my experience. We get our MC/V/Disc. payments in within 1-2 business days, AMEX is more like 3-5.
On the card holder end, AMEX has changed their polices...before the holder had no limit (per say) on spending as long as they paid in full each month. Several of my small business owners that travel here have told me they are now putting (much lower) limits on their cards. One, who travels every week and also covers some employee's travels have been hard pressed to make several payments within the month to continue to use the card. This has been very frustrating for this guest and was supprised when their AMEX was declined on one stay. It was a quick fix - calling in a payment, five minutes later - I had an approved!
 
I dropped Amex because I have found that they are not merchant friendly. In the event of a dispute, they will always side with the customer not the merchant. I have found them to be more trouble than they are worth. Every customer who has an American Express card also has a Visa or a Master Card. So I dropped them about a year ago with no ill effects
 
I dropped Amex because I have found that they are not merchant friendly. In the event of a dispute, they will always side with the customer not the merchant. I have found them to be more trouble than they are worth. Every customer who has an American Express card also has a Visa or a Master Card. So I dropped them about a year ago with no ill effects.
The Farmers Daughter said:
I dropped Amex because I have found that they are not merchant friendly. In the event of a dispute, they will always side with the customer not the merchant. I have found them to be more trouble than they are worth. Every customer who has an American Express card also has a Visa or a Master Card. So I dropped them about a year ago with no ill effects
For me they appear quite the opposite in terms of a dispute. But I stress that no matter what CC you have a dispute with, you MUST have a good paper trail to back your charges. No CC co. will back a merchant if they can not prove that they were entitled to charge the card. (and I am not indicating anything personally
teeth_smile.gif
)
Not every customer that has an AMEX has another CC or in the case of a business customer, can or will use a personal CC for their business travel. And again, not to be critical but how do you REALLY know if this has had an effect on your business? Your occupancy could be the same as when you took AMEX but who's to say you did not get bookings because they did not see AMEX on your website? (Don't get me wrong, I have used the same thinking process with other issues, i.e. directory listings etc. so I am guilty as well!)
 
I dropped Amex because I have found that they are not merchant friendly. In the event of a dispute, they will always side with the customer not the merchant. I have found them to be more trouble than they are worth. Every customer who has an American Express card also has a Visa or a Master Card. So I dropped them about a year ago with no ill effects.
The Farmers Daughter said:
I dropped Amex because I have found that they are not merchant friendly. In the event of a dispute, they will always side with the customer not the merchant. I have found them to be more trouble than they are worth. Every customer who has an American Express card also has a Visa or a Master Card. So I dropped them about a year ago with no ill effects
For me they appear quite the opposite in terms of a dispute. But I stress that no matter what CC you have a dispute with, you MUST have a good paper trail to back your charges. No CC co. will back a merchant if they can not prove that they were entitled to charge the card. (and I am not indicating anything personally
teeth_smile.gif
)
Not every customer that has an AMEX has another CC or in the case of a business customer, can or will use a personal CC for their business travel. And again, not to be critical but how do you REALLY know if this has had an effect on your business? Your occupancy could be the same as when you took AMEX but who's to say you did not get bookings because they did not see AMEX on your website? (Don't get me wrong, I have used the same thinking process with other issues, i.e. directory listings etc. so I am guilty as well!)
.
We don't take AMEX. But I believe I have heard that if your income from them is below a certain amount they charge you less. But I have had no problems not taking AMEX. They always have had another card.
Actually, I don't know anyone who only has one credit card....
RIki
 
If I were had any hope of getting business guests, I would do Amex. Since I have no business clients at all, I dropped it years ago. Every time I've taken a phone reservation and they want to give me an Amex, they have always given me a different credit card with no problem. Never once has someone then declined to stay.
 
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