If you’re not with Leap Payments on average 74% of your costs to accept credit cards are hidden.
This is a staggering number as we were even taken by surprise when we received the results.
We saw thousands of credit card processing statements from our competitors last year and we wondered exactly how much the hidden fees on these competitors statements accounted for in the merchant’s total fees. We were shocked to find that almost three quarters of the fees charged on the average competitor’s statement were what we consider hidden. What are these hidden fees that our competitors try to hide on your monthly statement hoping that you don’t notice?
- Duplicate transaction fees – We commonly see transaction fees appear in different sections of statements for the exact same transactions. For example, a per item fee listed in one section, then an authorization fee for the same transaction listed separately, and an additional transaction fee for different card types listed somewhere else. This all adds up to a very expensive transaction.
- Double transaction fees – Worse yet we’ve even seen statements where they will literally double the number of actual transactions processed, so they can double their fee.
- Split monthly fees – When we see fees broken up they somehow seem less than one single, larger fee. For example we typically see a Statement Fee of $9.95, a PCI fee of $7.95 and a Monthly Service fee of $6.95. Somehow that looks better than being honest and listing a Monthly Fee of $23.85, but it’s exactly the same.
- Base rate with “downgrades” – This is our competitor’s favorite tactic, a single rate that seems reasonable is prominently displayed on the statement, but lower on the page are listed different transaction types or card types with additional fees. The processor chooses omit the rates for those additional fees, but when you do the math we commonly see cards costing merchants over 4%. Our competitors seem to believe that not listing the actual fees and splitting them up to make them look more palatable is good for their business. Clearly it’s not good for your business.
- Extra statements – If you receive a separate Discover and American Express statement, you’re paying for the privilege of getting multiple unnecessary statements each month. Worse yet we’ve seen Discover charge a $39.95 monthly security fee to some clients. Don’t pay for separate statements and don’t pay for paper statement, you need an integrated processor who will gladly send your your statement and provide you online access as well.
- Lack of information – This is the latest and growing trend we see in statements, the processor simply provides the high level summary of the transactions and does not provide the detail so you can determine your rates. We have a different philosophy, we think information is power and we want you to know your base costs, so you can determine exactly how to reduce your rates.
What do all these hidden fees add up to? On average these hidden fees totaled an amazing 74% of the total fees charged. This means that the average client thought they were paying about 2% to accept credit cards but in fact due to these hidden fees they actually paid well over 3.5%.
Switch to Leap Payments and we’ll show you that transparency and understanding your monthly statement can help you pay less to accept credit cards. Honestly you deserve a better partner for your credit card processing. Don’t be a victim of the hidden fee economy.
