Besides offering access to low-cost merchandise and other unique features associated with saving money, Costco also promotes their Costco credit card processing service. Most other credit card processing services charge a fee of twenty to thirty cents for each transaction completed by the merchant; and a percentage of the price of the transaction is usually between 1.5% and 3.1%. Small businesses which predominantly sell items that are inexpensive, such as convenient stores, will try to find the cheapest credit card processing service since handling many of these low price items can be costly and inefficient if a lot of their transactions are through credit cards. Costco offers a card processing service which is tailored towards these kinds of small business and retains a lesser percentage of each transaction than other credit card processors.
Although Costco advertises their processing service under their name, it isn’t directly provided by them but in partnership with Elavon, which is a well-known processing company that offers their program to paid Costco affiliates. Their rates are slightly lower than the average, with a 1.48%/twenty cent fee for each credit card transaction occurring in a Costco warehouse. For credit card purchases conducted on the internet, the percentage is 1.99%, with an added twenty-seven cents per use. After twelve months of using the Costco/Elavon credit card processing service, they will give the retailer a free point of sale terminal just for using their program.
The small business merchant who is considering using the Costco credit card processing service should be aware that the 1.48% is only applicable to MasterCard and Visa cards. If someone uses a Discover or American Express card, the percentage charged will be slightly higher. Costco also offers the option of high risk credit card processing, especially for businesses that are predominantly online like singles sites and companies which deal with an international group of consumers. Although this kind of program will naturally carry higher fees, they will more than compensate your business if you routinely suffer from credit cards which are fraudulent, over their credit limit, or declined for some other reason.
If you happen to be considered a “high-risk” merchant who receives too many chargebacks, certain high risk processors will employ exceptional methods to decrease the amount of these chargebacks. Immediate detection of fraud is imperative to the success of a small business, whether it has a physical location or is online, and paying for a high risk credit card processing service may be worth the extra money. Sometimes a merchant can change their style of business in order to lessen the amount of bad credit cards which comes through his business. Sometimes the cause of these chargebacks is due to what the merchant is selling or dealing in and can’t be avoided. Whatever your needs are, Costco credit card processing services offer you the best rates and will work to give you the best possible service.