I would appreciate any and/or comments about business
banking and in particular would appreciate knowing which bank(s), if
any, offer the small business owner a good deal. I have had a
business account at Wells Fargo Bank in Calif. for the past 4 years
using their business credit card and leasing their credit card
equipment. I have been unpleasantly surprised at the prices charged
as has my accountant. I cancelled the credit card because they were
charging me a monthly fee but was stuck with the equipment lease
until this month. Now I have to decide whether to purchase the credit
card processing machine or simply return it.
My overall monthly banking fee, for checking, leasing, etc runs
about $50-52 per month - that’s over $600 per year and seems
exhorbitant - but perhaps I am just too new to the small business
owner side to know. Any help would be appreciated.
Banking/credit card machines. Sheridan, when I researched this two
years ago I found a lot of differences in rates. I thought renting
the machine was a bad idea so I bought a wireless model for around
$400, after a year I added a printer for $300. My monthly fees are
$35 and $15 of that is the wireless connection fee. I’m on the east
coast. Donna in VA
I have used the same processor for twenty years. Lately, I am annoyed
with the ‘junk fees’ which they have started charging. (I just paid
almost $300 on a large-ish sale.)
Recently, there have been nice comments made about the processor
available to Costco members. I would love to have some feedback about
their charges.
Are there additional charges besides the percentage fee and
transaction fee? I can live with those.
Do they charge a monthly mininum or so-called ‘statement fee?’
Can one RENT a terminal or BUY one from another source? (A firm which
I interviewed yesterday wants $39/month on a ‘lease-to -own’ basis,
or they will ‘GENEROUSLY’ ALLOW me to buy it outright for $1625.00
! )
I found the exact same terminal, brand new, for $289 on the web.
Has anyone found a reasonable vendor? Costco or other.
Thank you,
David Barzilay
Lord of the Rings
607 S Hill St Ste 850
Los Angeles, CA 90014-1718
213-488-9157
A couple of years ago I had a wonderful deal set up for me by Novus
— including the terminal and the knuckle buster. There was no
monthly fee, and their percentage and transaction fees were minimal.
However, when my husband became critically ill, I had to stop doing
shows in order to provide him with full time care for well over a
year. . After my husband passed away, I decided to resume doing
shows, and contacted Merchant Services (who had taken over the
operation from Novus) to make sure my terminal was working right.
They informed me that I had been cancelled out, and they wanted
almost $400 to reinstate me, $125 to reprogram my terminal plus a
hefty monthly fee. No matter how I tried to explain the reason why my
account had been inactive for a while, the very nasty man at the
other end of the line refused to listen or to reinstate me under
the previous terms.
The upshot of this distressing situation was that I I then sold
(practically gave away), my terminal and imprinter, as I only do
about 4 shows a year, as I decided it would not be practical for
me to invest so much to be reinstated, and then to have to pay hefty
monthly fees. However, I need to find some way of accepting charge
cards. I recently heard of Propay, and would appreciate information
about this company.,
My Question is, has anyone used Propay — an internet service which
only charges a yearly fee of $35, and has very reasonable transaction
fees.
The way it works is that once you have set up an account with them,
all you have to do is to copy the necessary from the
buyer’s credit card, and then send this to Propay using
the computer. They take care of the rest, and credit one’s account
with the proceeds of the sale.
I will be most appreciative of any help or advice about Propay. I
have a show coming up in a few months, and would like to be able to
accept charge cards.
I only do few shows and have a very simple arrangement with my
credit card folks. I use TransFirst through my local bank. They
have a limited account which is active only during the months you
choose. Nothing fancy. I have a knuckle-buster and a cell phone.
Monthly charge is a bit less than $9.00 on those months it’s active,
plus transaction fees on each charge.
Wish I could recall all the fees, but it seems that they were
reasonable.
Now that there is a move to eliminate the credit card number from
paper receipts, I may be up a creek. Haven’t heard anything yet
from TransFirst.
Hope this is helpful,
Judy in Kansas
Judy M. Willingham, R.S.
B.A.E. 147 Seaton Hall
Kansas State University
Manhatttan KS 66506
(785) 532-2936 FAX (785) 532-6944