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> My merchant account is cheap (interchange plus 0.1% or so) and the gateway they set me up on is Authorize.net It's crazy most people don't know you can get t

by 55555 5y ago

> My merchant account is cheap (interchange plus 0.1% or so) and the gateway they set me up on is Authorize.net It's crazy most people don't know you can get this. Seems like every popular merchant account provider is a bad deal in comparison. For those curious, you get it from banks. Open a company account at a major conventional bank then ask them for a merchant account. The default they offer you is interchange + 0.2% or so. Many debit cards have an interchange rate of about 1%. When you pay 30 cents + 3% or 2.9% or whatever you're sortof being screwed.

dd36 5y ago
What’s the high end of the range?
- jjeaff 5y ago
  The high end will be around 3.5% for amex.
jjeaff 5y ago
I have never been able to get interchange plus just 0.1 or 0.2%. Is anyone getting this for SaaS? It seems many processors consider digital goods or services like software to be more risky.
- retreatguru 5y ago
  We get interchange +0.1% but we are in travel and because of the various card types used (gold, platinum, etc) sometimes it’s just a tiny bit cheaper than 2.9%. For example 2.7%. It all depends on card types people use.
mtlynch 5y ago
As one of the people who doesn't know about this, what does the merchant account do? For an online retailer, does the merchant account replace Stripe/PayPal?
- hboon 5y ago
  You need a merchant account to accept card payments. > For an online retailer, does the merchant account replace Stripe/PayPal? It's the other way around. Each retailer needs a merchant account to accept card payments. Without Stripe etc, you'd need to go through the (often tedious) route of getting a merchant account (paperwork, proof of business health, etc) and negotiating rates before you can start integration (using traditionally quite horrible APIs) using it. Stripe is just the middleman which provides their own merchant account with a nice API to accept payments through it. The question is interesting, not because you don't know, but because it reflects how much things and perception changed so that we think: > does the merchant account replace Stripe/PayPal? It shows how successful Stripe has been.
siruncledrew 5y ago
Are there any resources you looked at for this stuff? This is like some kind of hidden gem I just found out about. Is this ~1.2% total rate only for processing debit cards or credit cards as well?

by 55555 5y ago

dd36 5y ago

What’s the high end of the range?

jjeaff 5y ago
The high end will be around 3.5% for amex.

jjeaff 5y ago

I have never been able to get interchange plus just 0.1 or 0.2%. Is anyone getting this for SaaS? It seems many processors consider digital goods or services like software to be more risky.

retreatguru 5y ago
We get interchange +0.1% but we are in travel and because of the various card types used (gold, platinum, etc) sometimes it’s just a tiny bit cheaper than 2.9%. For example 2.7%. It all depends on card types people use.

mtlynch 5y ago

As one of the people who doesn't know about this, what does the merchant account do? For an online retailer, does the merchant account replace Stripe/PayPal?

hboon 5y ago
You need a merchant account to accept card payments. > For an online retailer, does the merchant account replace Stripe/PayPal? It's the other way around. Each retailer needs a merchant account to accept card payments. Without Stripe etc, you'd need to go through the (often tedious) route of getting a merchant account (paperwork, proof of business health, etc) and negotiating rates before you can start integration (using traditionally quite horrible APIs) using it. Stripe is just the middleman which provides their own merchant account with a nice API to accept payments through it. The question is interesting, not because you don't know, but because it reflects how much things and perception changed so that we think: > does the merchant account replace Stripe/PayPal? It shows how successful Stripe has been.

siruncledrew 5y ago

Are there any resources you looked at for this stuff? This is like some kind of hidden gem I just found out about. Is this ~1.2% total rate only for processing debit cards or credit cards as well?