Mary Beth Stenzel with MersaTech Payment Processing Discusses Options for Denver Colorado Small Business Owners

Mike:              Yeah, that’s a really good point. It’s one thing to think about upgrading certain things that you only use once a year, or whatever that example might be. For many merchants, this is something they use dozens and dozens of times a day, if not hundreds of times a day.

Mary Beth:    Yes, exactly, exactly.

Mike:              Is there any other misconception with this type of a terminal that a merchant should need to consider because maybe it’s a good idea to check, maybe this is a good time of year to check rates on your current processor because, “Well, I’ve been hearing I ought to go to EMV. If I’m going to make some change, maybe I can get a better rate on my processing fees anyway.”

Mary Beth:    That’d be really smart. A lot of businesses, they’re super great. They check their insurance rates. They check their home or auto insurance. They think about shopping it every couple of years. It is a good idea. Back in 2012, I guess it is, when the Durbin Act went through, the debit card was a huge thing in our industry before EMV. From there, a lot of merchants are still on that older pricing, where, a debit card goes through at a much lower rate than a credit card because you’re not extending credit. It’s coming right out of their bank account. A lot of merchants are paying in the 2-3% when they should be down to 1-1/2% on debit cards. I have a couple of ice cream stores and they get a ton of debit cards. You’ve got kids with pre-loaded debit cards. If he had to pay a high transaction fee and a high fee just because it was swiping as if it was a credit card instead of a debit card.

                        That’s my long answer to say, the machine works. You’re getting your money, but it’s time to look at your rates and fees because things have changed. We work off of interchange pricing which I think is the fairest for merchants to understand. There’s no buckets or tiers.

Mike:              You know, it’s, I think some people could feel like, “It’s just not worth the hassle.”, because, I’m sure you hear this a lot, even just checking to see if they could save some money on their processing fee, they would feel like it’s intrusive, or it’s a lot of work, or “I’ve got to get 200 months of statements and I don’t want to dig it all out. I don’t want to be hard-sold.” What is that process just to check and see what the savings would be?

Mary Beth:    That’s really very easy. I’m glad you brought that up. We really only need one statement. There’s a handful of banks that, I hate to say, back-bill, so we would need 2 consecutive statements because they don’t give you all their fees on the first month. They back bill it in the second month. That’s a little rare. It’s really super-easy. No one here ever bothers anybody. Either it’s the right time or it’s not. We ask that you fax in the statements. Then we just ask if there’s any upgrades or changes, if you’re going to suddenly start doing shows, anything that might be a little different animal. We just give you a simple report that says, “Of these exact same cards, here is what you paid with your current processor. Here, with these exact same cards, here is what you would pay with us.” There’s no front fee or, what did you say, “Here’s your opening fees, and then it’s going to change in 6 months.”

                        Our contract is our contract. We are direct with all the processors, so we have the same fees and rates as the big banks. I’ve taken many accounts from large banks. Of course it’s always painful, like, my own dentist, I did a rate review for her and I saved her almost $400 a month. She was livid because she had her equipment loans for her dental equipment at her bank, too. I’m like, “I’m sorry. I’m just telling you.” Once they know, so it’s worth it whatever times of the year that it’s good for merchants to do that.

Mike:              Isn’t it kind of … Like, you mentioned dentists, it’s a preventative maintenance thing because if you don’t do your regular cleanings, you could have a cavity. Then you could have another problem, and then you could have another problem. Well, if you do the same thing in your finances, and we’re talking about business, there’s certain things that you should be checking quarterly or twice a year or once a year. Maybe payment processing should be one of those. Maybe another one could be your long distance. There’s all kinds of checklists that you should be checking on, but, if it’s as simple as, “Here’s my last month’s statement. Tell me what I can save.”, that’s not hard. Then, now, let’s say the $400 a month, that’s a number that you’re jumping all over and what do we need to do to change?

Mary Beth:    That’s a car payment.

Mike:              There’s certain numbers, I would say, even the business owner would go, “I don’t know because it’s just a big hassle.” Let’s talk about if someone sees the savings of ‘X’, and they say, “What’s the next step?” How much of a hassle is it for them to change over and what are the costs? It is a big, large investment in equipment, and is it a big old mess, and hiccups and hurdles? What’s involved in that?

Mike Saunders, MBA

Mike Saunders holds an MBA in Marketing and serves the small business market. In addition to coaching and consulting clients in his firm Marketing Huddle, he teaches Marketing as an Adjunct Marketing Professor at several Universities.
Mike is a published author and contributing iReporter for National publications covering business professionals in a variety of industries.