Are you being offered free credit card processing equipment from your merchant account provider?
This has been an ongoing trend with a couple of main companies in the merchant account business and I have to say that I don't like the gimmick. I am here to recommend that you don't take a free equipment program without knowing how to properly negotiate the entire merchant account terms and conditions. Often times, a "free" piece of equipment is simply a sales tactic being used to get you to sign a long term contract. If you ever cancel the contract you have to Free Credit Card Terminals the terminal back to the company and you will be left with needing to buy a new one again in the future. Credit card terminals range from $150 to $700 (the wireless models are at the top end of that range) and my recommendation to you is to buy the terminal if you have the means. So what is the cost of a "free" credit card terminal? Well since we all know nothing is really free, the cost is going to come by the company charging you a higher percentage rate. If this is the trade off, you could really be paying exponentially more than you need to for a piece of equipment that would have otherwise cost you just a couple hundred bucks. Look at it this way. Your business processes $20,000 in credit card volume and a fair rate to process credit cards is 1.79%. But you are looking at a company that's going to give you a "free" terminal and a rate of 1.89%. That's an extra $20 per month that you're going to pay for the "free" credit card terminal. On top of that, if you process with them for a couple years, you don't even get to keep the terminal at the end of the contract See More Here. In addition to "free" terminals, I also highly recommend that you NEVER lease a credit card terminals. I have a whole section dedicated to why terminal leases are bad for the merchant owner on my free report at my website, but I felt necessary to mention it here. Leases are non-cancelable and I have never seen a scenario where the business owner was happy that he/she leased versus buying after they figured out how inexpensive the credit card units really are. In summary, there are companies out there that have reasonable terminal placement programs and or terminal rental programs that are far better than the "free" offers that you may have seen out there. Be sure to closely compare the rates you are getting with a "free" terminal program with one that you will be required to buy or rent a terminal. The rates are almost always higher with the "free" terminal program. Give us a call 800-223-8603 or visit www.bcspos.com to get our Highly Secure POS System installed at your Restaurant/Cafe.
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