Wingman Weekly: Merchant Services
When new businesses are in the process of preparing for opening day, merchant services is another tick on the checklist. More than likely, business owners used Google Search, looked through the top 3-5 options, and selected one. Now it’s been 3-5 years, and business owners start noticing a few problems in their business. Their payment solution is starting to cause weekly issues and they are sacrificing the time needed to their business dealing with support. They see an increase in revenue as the business grows, but the profit margin isn’t showing the returns expected. Maybe business owners are struggling to keep up with the newer technologies that allow payment, such as QR Codes and newer payment wallet integrations like Venmo. Business owners should look at their merchant services every year for ways to reduce operating costs and streamline processes.
How to Save on Merchant Services
One way a business can save money is on processing rates. Some merchant service providers start you at one processing rate, then increase that rate once or twice a year (without you knowing, in some cases). Wingman Payments has seen potential clients’ rates double in a few years with other providers. These increases cut significantly into your bottom line. If your rate is increased over time from 3% to 5%, that means 2% of all card revenue is being taken from you and passed to your merchant service provider. By reviewing your merchant services, you may be able to save thousands of dollars a year. This is why at Wingman Payments, we don’t increase your processing rate.
Time is an indirect way that merchant service providers can cost you money. Point of sale terminals start to slow down or break, adding seconds to each order, which add up when you need to serve hundreds (or thousands) of customers. That doesn’t include time spent contacting support. While Wingman Payments can’t stop the aging of technology, what we can promise is swift support calls. We are a local, family owned business, so you speak directly with us when dealing with payment issues. That means issues get diagnosed quickly and solutions are reached quickly. Resolved in minutes instead of sitting on hold for minutes (and sometimes longer).
Additional fees are a third way you can lose margins. Subscription fees are part of doing business with some payment companies. Multiple payment terminals require a monthly fee, reporting features require a monthly fee, Non-PCI Compliance fees, etc. There’s a chance Non-Compliance fees are on your statement now, costing you $20-200 a month. Wingman Payments offers a free PCI Concierge Service, which eliminates Non-Compliance fees from our merchants’ statement, saving them hundreds (sometimes thousands) a year. In addition, we have solutions without subscriptions fees. If you are a quick serve restaurant or food truck, you can eliminate those monthly costs of utilizing multiple point of sale terminals.
In Conclusion
Looking at your merchant statement is an excellent decision when trying to reduce expenses. There are a multitude of ways merchant service providers can subtly increase rates, time allotment, and charge subscriptions and fees that eat into your revenue. That’s why at Wingman Payments, we don’t increase processing rates, work on month to month contracts, handle support calls personally, and help reduce or eliminate monthly costs.
If you’d like to learn more about how we can reduce fees and streamline processes, Contact Us at 470-822-8683.