Questions to ask when opening a new merchant account?

[HappySpanker]

Some questions we asked on our last merchant acct shopping trip:

- Setup fees?
- Any qualification or acct review fees? (visa review?)
- Monthly recurring costs?
- Payment gateways available? (AuthNet, LinkPoint, etc,)
- Minimum term (the longer the term - the lower the rates)
- Monthly terminal fee?
- What is flat per transaction cost?
- What is percentage transaction cost? (the discount rate)
- Any monthly statement fees? (a hidden gotcha)
- Any restrictions on charges made?
- Debit cards accepted?
- Checking acct debits?
- Any initial money hold backs?
- Chargeback policies and proceedures
- Are there ANY prohibited sales?

that ought to get you started... there is usually lots of wiggle room in the setup fee. only people who would not waive the setup fee were banks -- who hit you with the highest possible rates on everything until you get 2-4 years of transactions.

and once you get a merchant acct, ask for better terms every year. you will get .125 to 1.0 point discounts (assuming your acct is clean) each time you ask.

hope that helps some....