Merchant fees - card terminal

[Isochronous]

For those in small business who have a merchant facility, what fees are you currently paying? Have you had any luck getting discounts by threatening to move to a different bank?

 

[Homer]

My understanding is that this depends on the merchant type and the facility type. I have a couple of businesses and if you are selling things online across countries and currencies then the fees seem quite high due, I guess, to the risks. At a local retail level where the card is present it is significantly cheaper. It seems to be very difficult to get any discount from American Express however my restaurant business was able to get a significant discount, almost half price, by jumping from ANZ to Westpac and taking advantage of a special rate negotiated by the Restaurant & Catering Association. That "blended rate" - where you are charged a single rate regardless of whether the customer has a bog-standard card or a "premium" card - is about to change though...

 

[Danger UXB]

1.49% on AMEX (professional association rate) beats anything can get on visa and MC as most people have a black/plat (premium) variation which puts the basic rate thru the roof. I actively encourage the use of amex over others because of this premium surcharge

 

[Homer]

1.49% on AMEX (professional association rate) beats anything can get on visa and MC as most people have a black/plat (premium) variation which puts the basic rate thru the roof. I actively encourage the use of amex over others because of this premium surcharge

Our R&C rate is well below 1% on *all* Visa & Mastercard variants, including plat/black cards.

 

[Danger UXB]

Our R&C rate is well below 1% on *all* Visa & Mastercard variants, including plat/black cards.

Not when your terminal is a Hicaps terminal aswell....NAB Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Homer]

Not when your terminal is a Hicaps terminal aswell....NAB Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahh yeah. Multiple layers. Our equivalent in hospitality is the dreaded Tyro terminal. Great features (that you mostly don't need) but as soon as there's a middleman, it costs more. We were prepared to lose a pretty big feature - integration with our point-of-sale system - in order to save costs which required us to "go native" with basic Westpac terminals. I feel your pain Danger UXB​.

 

[Hvr]

Here's an interesting article from a few weeks ago:

[h=1]Card fees eating at small business[/h]
Stacey Knight says he could employ an extra worker for the $2000 in monthly fees he pays to banks to accept card payments at his tyre business.


To date the owner of Competition Tyres & More has absorbed the cost, but the proliferation of high-cost "premium" cards in recent years has forced him to surcharge.


"Anything that is not eftpos is going to be a $2 surcharge to try to recoup some of that lost revenue," the Melbourne business owner said, claiming he had seen more and more businesses adding surcharges for the same reason.


"I get charged between $1000 and $2000 a month, which is about a week-and-half's wages for a tyre fitter."

 

[exceladdict]

Following this with interest - not a business owner but may be in the future, and also interested in how justifiable the surcharges actually are (Some Caltex Woolworths now charging 3.95% on Amex/Diners for example).

 

[Danger UXB]

Ahh yeah. Multiple layers. Our equivalent in hospitality is the dreaded Tyro terminal. Great features (that you mostly don't need) but as soon as there's a middleman, it costs more. We were prepared to lose a pretty big feature - integration with our point-of-sale system - in order to save costs which required us to "go native" with basic Westpac terminals. I feel your pain Danger UXB​.

I could have 2 terminals. Hicaps and one other but I'm not quite there yet.... But it's a close run thing and I will as always redo the yearly figures as of next month. I can just see the evil look my receptionist will give me when I produce another terminal !!!