OT: Merchant account/services recommendations?

1. Easiest way is to talk to your bank.
2. Find what type of terminal they want to sell you for 0 (or /month) and buy the same terminal at Ebay for .00.

I am in the process of looking at merchant card services as well. So far, the best rates i have found are at Costco, Samsclub and Quickbooks. One advantage of using QB merchant services is that all the CC transactions can be downloaded directly into QB. This could save you a lot of time.

I would suggest you goto each vendors website and check out and compare their rates, features and interface abilities into QB (if thats important to you) and see which one works for you.

For me, I am probably going with QB as I like the download feature of QB, less work for me... unless anyone out there is using QB merchant services and has issues/problems with the service?

Thanks for the pointer to Intuit. I like everything about their program except the monthly service fee. I am told that you can find these services without the monthly fee, but on the other hand, the download feature may be worth the monthly fee. -- tom c

Just about everyone charges a monthly fee - also check out ebay - do a search on "merchant account" there are several companies selling merchant account services and terminals.

Even better is the way they do the transactions at the bank. They pay the exact amount then another transaction for the discount charge, makes the book work in the check book far easier.

Well, I just signed up for Intuit Merchant services. They are currently offering discounts beyond those on the web site, which brought the monthly fee down to a flat $10, PLUS they are giving me a free upgrade to QB2005 Pro. The hardware is expensive of course, but it's guaranteed for life, they have great 24x7x365 support, will ship a replacment unit in 24 hours AND they give you a manual card swipe machine as a backup. I'm sold. -- tom c

Hi Tom - I too am considering Intuit, can i ask you how much the hardware cost? thanks

Sure. It started out at $789. I told him that was ridculous and he asked me what I wanted to pay. Kind of like buying a car :-) I was able to get him down $100 to $689. I've seen the same terminal on ebay, ostensibly new, for $389. So I'm paying a $300 premium for the lifetime support, the backup machine, and the fact that my wife will get a live operator to help her with problems 24x7x365. That is very important to me because she's not a gadget person and will need the support. Hope this helps.

Oh, forgot to mention, I got the whoopdeedoo model, NURIT 8320.

I recommend a company called Descomm. They're a full service provider of electronic payment services which includes credit card processing for point-of-sale and e-commerce solutions. They're headquartered in Dayton, Ohio in the Kettering Tower, named for Charles Kettering, the father of modern credit processing solutions. I found their website, it's

DON'T USE INTUIT's Credit Card Processing Company (IMS)!! Their rates are nowhere close to the best and you will be locked into using only them for your QuickBooks. Costco and the other box retailers are high as well. What they advertise and what you actually get are two different stories. They don't tell you about Mid and Non Qualified transactions which result in significant expenses that are unanticipated.

Call 888.624.3687 and ask Payment Logistics for a quote. They offer $0 setup for eCommerce accounts, rates below Costco and Intuit (IMS), and new equipment starting at $190 per machine (top of the line). Also, the monthly fee can be waived (ask for Dustin). Downloading info into QuickBooks is definitely not worth it. You can do that from any bank account and there is absolutely no reason to track CC expenses by customer. Don't be fooled by a QuickBooks solution. It's expensive and proprietary. That means once you sign up with them, there is nothing to prevent them from raising your rates because you are basically locked in (especially after spending $700 for their software). If you want your processing data to interact with QuickBooks, you can get a program called Monetra for under $300.

I cannot stress the importance of not using IMS. Call 888.624.3687 or email snipped-for-privacy@paymentlogistics.com to get in contact with someone who can convey what I have said in this email and show you a solution that you will confident in.

Hmmmmmm, sounds like SPAM to me...