How to Choose the Right Credit Card Processing Company For Your Salon

Here are three important areas of consideration for owners of a salon in finding the right credit card processing company.

Find your “effective rate” by studying your merchant services statement. Either at the very top or very bottom of your statement you should find your total fees. This figure may be different than the amount listed as debited from your bank account if your credit card processing company is taking daily amounts, too. However, usually the total is listed on your statement. Make sure the fee total includes any equipment leasing, also. When you have located the total fees, find the total volume of credit card transactions you processed. Divide the total fee by the total volume. For example, if your fees total $350 and your total volume is $10,000, then your effective rate is 3.5%. An acceptable effective rate is 3% or less. If you are paying 4% or more, you are being overcharged. You can get a free analysis by visiting transactionexpert.com/analysis.
Do you need a multi-merchant account? Often in salons there are stylists who are 1099 contractors with their own clientele. Therefore, the business owner is collecting either a percentage of the stylists’ revenue or rental for each seat. Each stylist needs to run his or her own transactions. Rather than having a separate machine for each stylist, a multi-merchant account has several accounts in one machine. Before swiping a payment, the account must be selected. Transaction Expert offers free credit card machines with the multi-merchant capacity. We also offer a touch screen point of sale solution The touch screen solution has a scheduling app which integrates with your web site; customers can schedule appointments from the web site. The hardware is free; there is only a monthly software and support fee.
The last important consideration is down time. In the event a credit card machine cannot be repaired by phone, how long will it take your processor to get a new machine to you? Transaction Expert has extra machines ready; we can get a new one to our local customers within an hour. This is an important consideration since a few days without a machine could lose a substantial amount of revenue for your business.
Transactionexpert.com is the leader in transaction services. Visit transactionexpert.com; click on “find a local expert;” enter your zip code; this will pull up the profile page of a local expert who has the knowledge to help you with the unique needs of a salon business. We build your online presence and your point of sales system to integrate with each other. If you are ready to understand and control the entire customer experience, visit transactionexpert.com.