My business does about 80% credit card transactions. Due to safety measures, restrictions, social distancing, etc.. we have shut down our lobby and are now taking credit card transactions over the phone, with the number manually inputted.

Our processing charges went up a significant amount last month, close to 20%. It's a tough pill to swallow when business is down as well. I get it, manually entering credit card info increases the risk of fraud and credit card processing liabilities. Doesn't mean I like it.

Have others experienced this or worked around some solutions?

yup, it sucks. The best part os all that increased fraud and liability increase doesn't fall on the processors at all, it falls on you, and they charge you more for the privilege of incurring it. The cc companies aren't risking anything other than your company going belly up and not being able to recover disputed charges... which is an extremely unlikely scenario, certainly not enough to justify the increased costs.

It's all on the business, all of it, and its frustrating. The market demands you accept this form of payment, it is terribly easy to commit fraud with it, its expensive to use, and all the costs, fees, and liability from fraud falls on you with no way to defend yourself from it as the tools they provide are basically meaningless (AVS, etc) and they will still deny you relief from fraud even if you did everything right... ask me how I know.

I think there are less expensive options. Square for manually entered is 3.5% + 15 cents I believe

um.... how do u know?

Charge a convenience fee?

Can someone definitively say whether or not charging a credit card fee is legal in Texas? If you Google it the answer is all over the place.

rlb28 said:

---

Charge a convenience fee?

Can someone definitively say whether or not charging a credit card fee is legal in Texas? If you Google it the answer is all over the place.

---

Not weighing in on the legality of it, but I see more than a few companies that provide a "cash or debit" discount of 2-5%. In effect, it's a credit card fee, but not stated that way.

If it were totally illegal, I don't see how larger companies like Spec's could implement it.

I'm Interested in this as well, so input from someone with more knowledge would be welcomed.

I agree, bleed maroon.

I just logged into Centerpoint. If I choose debit/credit it reads: "Debit Card/Credit Card incurs a $2.75 transaction fee" and "There is no fee when you pay your bill directly from your checking or savings account."

My experience has been that it can be charged. Whether its like the example with CenterPoint, or paying your property taxes by CC, or sometimes we pay a supplier bill for the business, we have certainly been charged fees for the option of paying by CC.

There may be rules on disclosure of fee, and whether the fee is a flat fee or a percentage.

I believe it's always been legal to charge a credit card fee - it just used to be against a lot of card's terms of service (like minimums), but that has changed most places.

it has always been ok for the government to charge you a cc fee (of course!) as they exempted themselves from the law that has until recently been on the books in texas. you can now charge one as long as you disclose it up front. You have before then allowed to sell everything as a "cash price" and then add on the fee for cc, but you don't have to do that anymore.

And as for how I know, I run about $4 million in credit card charges each year. The processors don't give a single f about you and will simply take and take and take. I think I have prevailed on maybe 10% of my chargeback disputes where we followed all the rules and had all the documentation. Its a complete scam and the industry has you by the nuts, and it sucks. We actually have pretty good pricing, but it still a heck of a lot of money to pay for basically providing a market compelled service by a third party that has no care of interest in your success or costs. their main concern is coming up with even more complicated fee structures to rob you blind and when a problem happens, its always your fault and you are left holding the bag.

Quote:

---

but it still a heck of a lot of money to pay for basically providing a market compelled service by a third party

---

i understand your frustration about them not helping with problems and screwing you on chargebacks, but they have to make money just like you and I, right? and they do provide a service.

rlb28 said:

---

Quote:

---

but it still a heck of a lot of money to pay for basically providing a market compelled service by a third party

---

i understand your frustration about them not helping with problems and screwing you on chargebacks, but they have to make money just like you and I, right? and they do provide a service.

---

How much more "service" do they provide on a $10,000 charge vs a $10 charge? If it changed to a fixed fee per transaction I'd be all over that. But of course they don't make as much money that way so it would never happen.

Hanrahan said:

---

rlb28 said:

---

Quote:

---

but it still a heck of a lot of money to pay for basically providing a market compelled service by a third party

---

i understand your frustration about them not helping with problems and screwing you on chargebacks, but they have to make money just like you and I, right? and they do provide a service.

---

How much more "service" do they provide on a $10,000 charge vs a $10 charge? If it changed to a fixed fee per transaction I'd be all over that. But of course they don't make as much money that way so it would never happen.

---

Same argument can be made for a waiter though.. your waiter can bring the table six $2 cokes, or six $10 wines.. same service.. but they make more money on the 6 glasses of wine..

62strat said:

---

Hanrahan said:

---

rlb28 said:

---

Quote:

---

but it still a heck of a lot of money to pay for basically providing a market compelled service by a third party

---

i understand your frustration about them not helping with problems and screwing you on chargebacks, but they have to make money just like you and I, right? and they do provide a service.

---

How much more "service" do they provide on a $10,000 charge vs a $10 charge? If it changed to a fixed fee per transaction I'd be all over that. But of course they don't make as much money that way so it would never happen.

---

Same argument can be made for a waiter though.. your waiter can bring the table six $2 cokes, or six $10 wines.. same service.. but they make more money on the 6 glasses of wine..

---

not really. that usually correlates to venue and how "nice" it is. cc transaction is exactly the same no matter the numbers being pushed across the lines. and really, comparing tips from table service to the credit card processing industry? That is a voluntary tip, not compulsory. I chose to go there, I chose to order more expensive stuff.

Ok... then look at Ticketmaster. Fee on a $200 ticket is much more than a $35 one.

Or real estate (well.. traditional RE; that industry IS seeing a change to flat fee)

And your restaurant comment of how 'nice it is' doesn't really apply. I'm talking about the same restaurant, ordering a $2 drink vs a $10 one.

You are choosing to accept credit card as payment. It's voluntary.

Don't accept credit card payment. Problem solved....

ha, ok. I'll stop taking cc payments.

Hanrahan said:

---

ha, ok. I'll stop taking cc payments.

---

and I'll stop ordering beers at restaurants and get cokes instead

BTMTAT said:

---

My business does about 80% credit card transactions. Due to safety measures, restrictions, social distancing, etc.. we have shut down our lobby and are now taking credit card transactions over the phone, with the number manually inputted.

Our processing charges went up a significant amount last month, close to 20%. It's a tough pill to swallow when business is down as well. I get it, manually entering credit card info increases the risk of fraud and credit card processing liabilities. Doesn't mean I like it.

Have others experienced this or worked around some solutions?

---

Very late to the conversation I know, still curious - how did this turn out? Were you able to get the fees reduced?

My father does work with these folks: https://bpmerchantservices.com/

BP Global Merchant Services has been in the credit card processing industry for over 20 years.

We have agency agreements with all the major processing companies in the US including First Data,
WorldPay, Elavon, and TSYS.

We provide processing for multiple Fortune 500 companies and other publicly traded companies.

Our competitive advantage we have grandfathered contracts which allow us to go lower than anyone in the
industry.

Our process is simple. Provide us with a copy of your last month's processing statement from your current
processor and we will run an analysis to show you how much money we can save you.

On average we save our clients between 25-40% of their monthly charges.

Our solution is compatible with 98% of all hardware and software in the industry.

We provide clients with direct access to our 24-hour national support line for whatever provider is selected.



Let me know if you want me to put you in touch.