About two months ago a made 4 predictions for 2017 that would impact the merchant services industry and today I want to provide an update on 3 of them that already seem well on their way to coming true. I will be providing my thoughts as to how these changes will effect you and what you should do to prepare.
If you are selling on Tier Pricing, you need to think through this strategy and the impact on your retention when you are forced to dramatically increase your qualified check card rate. If you are selling Interchange Plus, be ready to educate your clients on this change. Remember that trust is built through exchange of information. Leverage this opportunity to reach out to all of your clients and educate them on this congressional fight. They may even be interested in writing their local representatives and US Senator to express their support for the Durbin Amendment.
Prediction #2 – Surcharging is going to become mainstream. If you are still unfamiliar with surcharging, you need to start doing your research so you are ready! Tomorrow I will put out a list of surcharging FAQ’s for your review followed by my advice to prepare for this change. If you still think Surcharging is on the fringe, you are correct, but it is a powder keg just waiting for the right series of events to blow up. Keep a close eye on this!
Personal Plug: Our Instant Quote Tool allows you to provide a savings proposal with surcharging credits included. Because our Interchange Algorithm predicts the card types for each business, we can identify those transactions that would be eligible for surcharging and then add your percentage surcharge as a credit on the savings proposal.
Let me make one final tip about surcharging for those of you that haven’t taken a deep dive into it. Don’t judge the idea from the surface. It may seem a little crazy at first to charge the consumer for the credit card fees, especially when you only experience with surcharging has been country stores with a sticky note that reads, “Credit Card Transactions Under $5.00 have a $0.50 charge.” Surcharging has come a long way and there are billions of dollars at stake. I promise you that all the big box retailers are ready and waiting to surcharge, they just need the right cover and the right motivation. There is at least a decent chance they will get both in 2017.
Prediction #3 – You will be using the Instant Quote Tool in 2017. In my original predictions post the first week of January, I talked about some of the changes we would be rolling out. These included a merchant facing tool where you could provide an instant quote to your merchants using a landing page linked to your Instant Quote Tool Profile. I talked about a full, side by side tool that uses an algorithm to predict the merchant’s current fees and I talked about a team solution for the small to mid-sized ISO’s with reporting. I am ready to roll out all 3 of these next week! You will get your invite for the live event soon, but if you haven’t already started a free trial, this is a great time to do so! Visit instantquotetool.com to start your trial and stay tuned for exciting updates!
Prediction #4 – I predicted that a POS Software company would emerge that will be the big winner and market leader in that space… I am still waiting… Stay tuned.
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