Wireless Merchant Account: An Affordable Option
Need gas? Pay with a credit card. Need to pay the bills? Use a credit card. Credit cards play such a big role in the economy today that more than $2.5 trillion worth of transactions a year are done through credit cards.
Being able to accept credit cards help businesses reach out to more people in their brick-and-mortar stores and through the internet. Recently however, these businesses are not the only ones who can accept credit cards. With the advancement of technology, wireless merchant accounts are now available.
Wireless merchant accounts are specifically for those whose businesses bring them from house to house to provide goods and services, or for vendors in temporary stalls. Examples are electricians and plumbers, as well as craft and trade show vendors. With their wireless merchant accounts, they can charge credit cards using a portable swipe terminal (the machine where credit cards are swiped), laptops, PDAs like Blackberry and Palm, and even mobile phones.
Wireless merchant accounts are like regular bank accounts that receive payments from credit card transactions for goods or services provided. Like other merchant accounts, there are fees to consider when looking for the right wireless merchant account. Fees include:
- Monthly fee – usually includes the monthly minimum fee which is a standard in the industry. This is mostly $20-$25.
- Transaction fee – using the technology has its expenses and each usage is paid for. Each transaction fee is usually $0.10-$0.25.
- Set up fee – depending on the technology used, providers charge nothing at all to about $50.
Prices vary from one provider to the next, but what is noticeable is that wireless merchant accounts are slightly more expensive than the regular retail merchant account. Again, this is because the technology needed for wireless merchant accounts are more advanced than that in retail. To demonstrate, below are examples of two merchant account providers’ discount rates for their regular retail merchant account and wireless merchant account:
| |
Retail |
Wireless |
| Wireless merchant account provider 1 | 1.40% |
1.75% |
| Wireless merchant account provider 2 | 1.67% |
1.92% |
To get an idea of how much the payments are for wireless merchant accounts, below are 2 wireless merchant account providers and some of their fees:
- Paynet systems – has 24-hour approval time and no long term contracts nor annual fees.
Discount rate: 1.59%
Transaction rate: $0.50
Payment Gateway fee: $10 monthly
Statement fee: $10
Monthly minimum: $10
Set up fee: $0
- Merchant Warehouse – awarded 2009’s ISO (Independent Sales Organization) of year by the Electronic Transactions Association for high ethical standards and customer service.
Discount rate: 1.69%
Transaction rate: $0.21
Payment Gateway fee: $5
Statement fee: $7.95
Monthly minimum: $25
Set up fee: $0
Please note that there may be conditions to all the rates and prices listed above. Moreover, there may be more fees that are not listed here. It is always best to get in touch with the wireless merchant account provider for details.
Wireless merchant account providers have made accepting payments via credit card easier for people who don’t provide their goods and services in a retail store or a website. However, each has their own styles of marketing their service. It is always best to consider all fees, including software or equipment, and to check the overall quality of service that the company provides before deciding which provider to go with.