+ Larger Font | - Smaller Font

Low Minimum Merchant Accounts

Why shouldn't I just find the cheapest merchant account?

The drawback to getting your own merchant account is that it can get expensive. There are application fees, statement fees, gateway fees, transaction fees and a monthly minimum which you must pay even if you don't use the account. If you are a new vendor starting out or a vendor who only wishes to offer credit card processing to a small percentage of your customers, these fees can steal all your profits. What you really need then is a merchant account that only charges you for what you actually use. I call this the low minimum merchant account. Payquake is the only company I know currently offering such an account.

Payquake.com
Even though their rates were higher (3.75% plus 50 cents per transaction), I liked the idea of having my own merchant account. Unfortunately, Payquake neglected to mention a few additional charges. There is an additional 1% charge for Internet merchants, bringing the percentage to 4.75%. There is also a 50 cent charge per batch. If you enter 3 transactions together, that is one batch. If you enter each transaction separately so that they are processed individually, that would be 3 batches. Most small sellers enter each transaction a few days apart. So effectively, they will be paying 4.75% plus $1.00 per transaction. I therefore chose to close my Payquake account before the $49 annual fee would be charged.

Note: Payquake claims that the extra 1% is only charged on transactions involving foreign or business credit cards or transactions where AVS was not used. All I know is that on my statement, 1% was added to the total, evan though all of my transactions were personal credit cards and AVS was used. Whether it is charged on all or most, if you use Payquake, you should be prepared to pay as much as 4.75% plus $1 per transaction.

E-OnlineData offers competitive rates and they have temporarily waived the $79 set up fee for merchants we refer to them. They have been recommended to me by others and the people I have sent them have been satisfied. Note: I do get $5 for each person I refer. This is not my motivation. I can get the same or more from other vendors. Also note that while I am getting $5, you are saving $79 if you sign up with my link.

E-OnLineData.com