Every business should be able to accept credit cards and debit cards from their customers because of the convenience factor. Credit card payment processing does cost some money, but it will ultimately lead to more customers because they will be able to quickly and effectively pay their bill without worrying about whether they have cash in their wallet or not. Finance charges can play a dramatic role in your credit card processing.
When you use a credit card processing company, they charge you a number of fees. They will typically charge you a flat processing fee as well as charge you a percentage of every transaction that you run through the system. Understanding the fees will help you to make the best choices for a particular company so that you don’t spend all of your profits in credit card payment processing fees.
The finance charges should be very clearly detailed on your monthly statements. You should always look at these so that you can understand what the fees that you are actually paying are, and if there is an opportunity to reduce any of them. If people are requesting credits, charging a small amount or anything else, these will be detailed on your statement and could be costing you more money.
This means that these various fees are costing you more money to operate the credit card processing machines. Every business runs on profit and you need the credit card machines to continue bringing customers through the door. But you can be smart about your expenses. A few minor changes to the way you do business could be more cost effective. You can put a minimum limit on credit card transactions to your customers. Whether this is $1, $5 or $20, it can save you a lot of money on running a card for a very small amount of money.
At the end of the day, you need to consider how much you are spending in fees and finance charges for your credit card processing. Add it all up for the month and divide it into your total sales for the same period. Find out what kind of percentage you are dealing with. Before you consider supplies, labor, or any utility costs, this percentage reflects a cost that is eating away at your profits.
Understanding all of these fees and actively trying to reduce them can make your business more profitable. You can look at switching credit card companies or even offering a merchant credit card. Often, this method can save you money because you have a “specialized” card that helps to put extra money in the pocket of credit card processing companies without coming out of your profits.