I've been with Authorizenet and Wells Fargo Merchant services forever. Authnet charges me a .05 per transaction and a $10 per month gateway fee. Wells Fargo has a 2.66% discount rate. With Amex, I get a 4.1% discount rate. Can I do better than this somewhere, somehow? It always seems impossible to reconcile my Authnet settlements with my Wells Fargo deposits and I always have this uneasy feeling that I'm being ripped off somewhere in the process......

"Wells Fargo has a 2.66% discount rate" thats a bit expensive. I've seen like 2.29% -- But if you shop around, you can find cheaper... im sure. Check out Nova Networks -- Google it.

"Wells Fargo has a 2.66% discount rate" thats a bit expensive. I've seen like 2.29% -- But if you shop around, you can find cheaper... im sure. Check out Nova Networks -- Google it.

Thanks. All I'm finding is this:

http://www.nova-networks.com/english/home/

and this:

http://www.novanetworks.com/

Nothing about merchant accounts that I can see. Also I see some places like this:

http://www.merchantexpress.com/

Finally. A merchant account provider that gives you everything you need to get started accepting credit cards... with free Authorize.net payment gateway, no set-up fees and super-low rates starting at just 1.77% & .19 per transaction.


That's a much better discount rate then what I'm getting, but .19 per transaction is way more than the .05 I'm paying now (and I'm not even sure if that's through authnet or through their bank). Wells Fargo doesn't charge me anything per transaction. Anyone else have any better alternatives to what I'm paying now?

What I was referring to is do this:

Use Authorize.net as your processor -

User Nova as your Merchant Account Company -

That way you get best of both worlds...

What I was referring to is do this:

Use Authorize.net as your processor -

User Nova as your Merchant Account Company -

That way you get best of both worlds...


Well now that I'm poking around, I'm finding a bunch:

http://www.merchantseek.com/merchant_account_comparison.htm

I'm going to have to do more research. Now, is Authorizenet the best there is, or can I do better/cheaper?

OK, so here's what I am paying:

Authorizenet
.05 transaction fee
$10 gateway fee


Wells Fargo Merchant Services
2.66% Discount Rate
No statement fees
No transaction fees
No minimum
No monthly fees
No Annual fees


So on the surface, that seems not too bad. I'm seeing other accounts with lower discount rates, but they have minimums or per transaction fees. So maybe I should just stick with what I've got after all.

Usually your discount rate could be a bit less. AmEx - that is usually about 3.5% depending on your volume - it is set by AmEx but I have not seen it that high.

You can always change merchant account providers and keep your Authorizenet.com account. You would get a new MID and TID from your provider and you just sign in and give that to Authorizenet.com. Some gateways will charge a transaction fee on top of what the merchant account provider charges but a lot of them do not charge a transaction fee either.

Usually the monthly minimum - like $25.00 only will apply if you do less than a certain amount in Visa / MasterCard / Discover Volume. Let's say your discount rate is 2.25%, the monthly minimum is $25.00. You do $1,000 that month (that amounts to $22.50). So they would charge you $2.50. However if you did $1,111 that month, you met the monthly minimum of $25.00 and have nothing to worry about.

Create a little spreadsheet - enter some hard numbers (since you have been processing) and you can easily see if another MAP will be better for you