We are using Mercury X3 Fall POS system and have always had FTD process our credit cards. I know our fees are high, however it is very convenient in both ease of use and reporting, which I have thought a good trade off. Of course, we receive dozens of calls every month offering us better rates on credit card processing and I have recently wanted to look into the feasability of using a 3rd party credit card processing company. Is anybody using both Mercury POS and a 3rd party credit card processing company? How well do they integrate? We also have a landscape business and will often have clients pay their large bills ($3,000 for ex.) with a credit card so they can get points or miles, or whatever. Would it at least make sense to run large sales through a 3rd party? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!
Credit Card Processing with Mercury POS
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BOSS
FlowerChat Administrator
www.paypros.com and Ryan has another that's a good deal... I would move them (if FTD will let you) to a third party... it'll be a big savings...
David
Well-Known Member
I doubt if FTD will be beat. It's very hard to compare rates. So many different type of cards, fees and swiped fees. I recently did it. FTD was still a bit cheaper. No need to guess. Get the quote and FTD will plug the numbers into a spread sheet and send it to you.
Call Mark Tracy at AdvoCharge.com - 720-505-2712.
They can help you to get better rates with FTD, or to switch to a better provider.
AdvoCharge is a Florists For Change member and expert in dealing with florist credit card issues. Mark saved Strider a pile of money on our credit card rates, and several of our clients have saved hundreds of $$$ per month.
They can help you to get better rates with FTD, or to switch to a better provider.
AdvoCharge is a Florists For Change member and expert in dealing with florist credit card issues. Mark saved Strider a pile of money on our credit card rates, and several of our clients have saved hundreds of $$$ per month.
Thanks for the ideas. I have sent my CC statements to Merchant Services (Approved and recommend by OFA!) for review. Then I will send it to FTD for their input. Depending on the outcome of that, I may pursue it further with another company. Thanks again!
We also have FTD POS and credit card processing and we have been wondering when FTD will introduce Chip technology rather than the dated swipe technology. After serveral inquiries, my Field Service Rep. says we will have to wait until 2015 for this software upgrade. Totally unacceptable. Does anyone know if you have to use FTD Credit Card services to integrate with FTD POS software or can any credit service provider be used with Mercury POS software?
Clarabella
Well-Known Member
Just food for thought.... I'm not sure I would trust FTD (or TF) to be honest with their "evaluation" of credit processing charges. They are going to put whatever spin they can on it to keep the business as it is very profitable for them. Just like they spin numbers to convice florists that they need to be a member of a WS to be profitable. Their systems are designed to suck the profit out of the florist account and into their own.
The reason that you can't compare rates easily is because their systems by design are so complicated that you can't tell how bad you are getting screwed. They charge, rebate, service fee, add, deduct, credit back every which way until you can't tell what way is up. They then will show you only the portions of the data that they think will convince you that they are giving you a great rate.
If anyone has switched from a WS to a different processor and NOT saved money, I would be interested in hearing which company you went with. As far as the florists I've encountered personally, everyone that has switched has saved significant money.
The reason that you can't compare rates easily is because their systems by design are so complicated that you can't tell how bad you are getting screwed. They charge, rebate, service fee, add, deduct, credit back every which way until you can't tell what way is up. They then will show you only the portions of the data that they think will convince you that they are giving you a great rate.
If anyone has switched from a WS to a different processor and NOT saved money, I would be interested in hearing which company you went with. As far as the florists I've encountered personally, everyone that has switched has saved significant money.
Mikey the Flower Guy
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we've done spread sheets with 4 other providers, and FTD, through TD Bank services is STILL the best for us....we were the FIRST with chip techno in the Hamilton area, and have not looked back!
Actually, one of the providers COULD NOT believe that they could not beat FTD's rates through CashFlo, and sent us a cheque for $100.00 because THAT was their promise to us!
I need to follow up on Ryan's suggestion tho'.....
Actually, one of the providers COULD NOT believe that they could not beat FTD's rates through CashFlo, and sent us a cheque for $100.00 because THAT was their promise to us!
I need to follow up on Ryan's suggestion tho'.....
PhillyPhlorist
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You cannot process your cards thru Merc X via a 3rd party provider. You can only clear thru FTD CashFlo. (Anyone feel free to correct me here, but I am 99.9999% sure of this.) I suppose you might find a way to enter the auth code on every cc order, but, is that worth it?
If you think you can do better, talk to your FTD Rep, and ask them to look at your c-card rates. You may be surprised to know that they might be able to be lowered. It's also VERY hard to compare them as you get rebates based on cc volume, # orders sent FTD, and a couple other factors.
But as far as the system goes, the only FTD system that allowed you to run cards thru a 3rd party processor was ..... Advantage.
If you think you can do better, talk to your FTD Rep, and ask them to look at your c-card rates. You may be surprised to know that they might be able to be lowered. It's also VERY hard to compare them as you get rebates based on cc volume, # orders sent FTD, and a couple other factors.
But as far as the system goes, the only FTD system that allowed you to run cards thru a 3rd party processor was ..... Advantage.
flowerpower33897
Member
credit card processing
We switched from FTD to pay pros I'm March 2012. Every time we asked FTD to compare rates they always told us they were cheaper. I had to bite the bullet and move, FTD rates are easy to work out so I compare the difference each month and I save 0.5% per transaction. At Mothers Day that added up to enough money to make a difference. I have saved every month since I left FTD
We switched from FTD to pay pros I'm March 2012. Every time we asked FTD to compare rates they always told us they were cheaper. I had to bite the bullet and move, FTD rates are easy to work out so I compare the difference each month and I save 0.5% per transaction. At Mothers Day that added up to enough money to make a difference. I have saved every month since I left FTD
Doug Munro
Well-Known Member
I always find discussions about credit card clearing rates interesting. The amount of time that many a small business will devote to 2/10's odf a percent of the fees is a mystery to me.
Lets say a shop is doing $250,000 per year and 65% ($162,500) of this is on credit card.The 2/10's of percent they may save equates to about $325 per year or $0.89 per day, double the volume to $500K and the savings doubles to $1.78 per day.
Now I realize that in today's world every penny counts (has it ever not in business throughout the ages?), but to waste too much time on this just doesn't make a lot of sense to me unless a shop is clearing substantial volumes. One of the things to bear in mind when checking rates is that many companies will quote you a rate based on clearing "basic" credit cards, premium cards are over and above that.
Lets say a shop is doing $250,000 per year and 65% ($162,500) of this is on credit card.The 2/10's of percent they may save equates to about $325 per year or $0.89 per day, double the volume to $500K and the savings doubles to $1.78 per day.
Now I realize that in today's world every penny counts (has it ever not in business throughout the ages?), but to waste too much time on this just doesn't make a lot of sense to me unless a shop is clearing substantial volumes. One of the things to bear in mind when checking rates is that many companies will quote you a rate based on clearing "basic" credit cards, premium cards are over and above that.
I'm glad to know that Doug, because I always feel like I should spend time figuring this out. Then I start trying to make sense of the fees and decide I don't have time for this since I'm a florist not an accountant!
Clarabella
Well-Known Member
That is one way to look at it......
However I look at it differently....
Even if we stick with the 2/10ths of a percent (which from what I have personally seen is extremely low--I've seen it average from 5/10ths to 1 full percentage point), and we stick with the 65% cc usage (again low based on the shops I've encountered), Then lets suppose half of FTD's 20,000 members process cc through them. That means FTD would make an extra 3.25 MILLION DOLLARS a year by charging the extra 2/10ths percent because the "small business" florists "don't worry" about that $0.89 per day. If the rate difference were 5/10, they would profit an extra 8.125 million. Bottom line, is that FTD is intentionally making it difficult for florists to compare rates and shop around because they are reaping big profit from it. Period.
If we wanted to then examine it from a business (ROI) perspective, it IS most likely worth the time and effort of chasing down that $0.89 per day as well. Suppose the average florist pays themselves or their manager $25/hr. If they save $325/year as you suggest, then as long as it takes them less than 13 hours to compare rates, it is worth their time. (and this is only year one, the lifetime value would be much higher). I just shopped rates myself, and can assure you it didn't take me 13 hours. If you save 5/10ths of a percent, you now have 32.5 hours to shop for a better rate.
One of the biggest differences between a successful business owner and a stuggling business owner (in my opinion), is that a successful business owner pays attention to the small things. They don't let the $0.89 -per day slip through the cracks. Everyone notices and pays attention to the big expenditures, but its the small ones that often have the biggest impact on the bottom line.
The credit card companies also are not helping with a bigger % charged to us to process their speciallty credit cards they are offering to their comsumers. All those points/ cash back refund card they give out, someone has to pay for those sales and it is us.
Sometime I think if all business decide not toaccept credit cards and debit card and go back to check and cash sales only, they would eventually have to do something about all of this crap.
Sometime I think if all business decide not toaccept credit cards and debit card and go back to check and cash sales only, they would eventually have to do something about all of this crap.
Doug Munro
Well-Known Member
I won't debate how important $0.89 cents per day is to you, obviously you know that better than I do.
However I am always perplexed by the train of thought that somehow it should concern an individual how much money "the other guy might be making". If you find FTD's rates are not competitive for your business, move on, use someone else. On the other hand if they are competitive, stay with them, as that would be advantageous to your business.
Either way the fact they might be profiting from providing the service should not play a role in the decision, after all they are a "for profit" business, as I would assume you are.
I will say this however, I know that FTD's rate provided to our company is a flat rate for both Mastercard and Visa, one that covers standard and premium (specialty and reward) cards. In our own investigations into other companies too often the low rate they quote is for a standard card with a higher rate on the premium cards. While this may have offered a savings 5-10 years ago when few consumers carried a premium card, that has changed drastically with most people now carrying the higher end cards.So clearing charges can sneak up on a merchant real quick.
As for the percentages I used in my original post, remember that I am basing this on the Canadian market where debit cards at a flat cost of $0.10 - $0.15 (depending on a merchants deal) per transaction are a favored method of payment by consumers.
$.89 a day is $.89 a day. If your water bill increased by that much, it would probably warrant an investigation.
I can see where shopping around for CC rates could be worth an afternoon every 1-3 years. I think it is worthwhile to save $300 a year for putting my signature on the right contract. I also think the savings/losses could be quite a bit more than that.
I also think it is important for consumers to be conscientious of how their money is being used. I try not to buy products from companies who have a record of being poor corporate citizens. I try to shop at local retail businesses whenever I can because of the positive impact that can have on my community (aka customer base).
FTD is using those profits to put me out of business. Any money I might save by using them would be lost tenfold by the negative impact they have on the legitimate florist industry.
I just wanted to put my tw0-cents worth into this discussion. I have always used an outside provider - I think using a wire service for all your business is like putting your eggs into one basket. I also recently cut ties with both wire Teleflora & FTD and not using any of their other programs (POS< Credit card processing) made this much easier. Some things to think about, regardless of who you use: Do you own the equipment or are you leasing? If you are leasing it, as I found out I was, this is a complete rip off. I will buy my own as soon as the lease is over. Secondly, how quick do you receive your money from your processor? I recently switched - to Merchant Services mentioned in an earlier post - and was pleased to see I get my money the next business day, not two days later. To get this from another provider I would have to pay more per transaction. As mentioned by the Canadian post, debit cards are also cheaper as I get charged a flat fee - there is also much less cause for fraud concern as a PIN has to be entered. Keep in mind that as with any product, the more leyers between you and the source the more you are paying. FTD and Teleflora may have cheaper rates because the volume is so huge but they are not the processor (probably) so rates could change. It is always worth time to look at savings for your business, regardless of how small. I beleive it was Ben Franklin who said, "Keep track of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves".
Doug Munro
Well-Known Member
When I stated that these discussions about credit card fees always perplex me it was not because I don't see the value of controlling costs. It is simply I have never understood the importance placed upon saving a fraction of a percent on clearing credit cards when so many other more critical financial issues often get overlooked in the average flower shop.
As an example, how many shops track their cost of goods percentage and gross margin on a weekly or even monthly basis? From where I sit keeping an eye on margins is far more important to a small business than chasing after a fraction of a percent on credit card sales. Better yet, an astute owner will do both. Unfortunately my experience has been that when you ask many a shop owner what their cost of goods is they generally provide a spur of the moment guesstimate.
As an example, how many shops track their cost of goods percentage and gross margin on a weekly or even monthly basis? From where I sit keeping an eye on margins is far more important to a small business than chasing after a fraction of a percent on credit card sales. Better yet, an astute owner will do both. Unfortunately my experience has been that when you ask many a shop owner what their cost of goods is they generally provide a spur of the moment guesstimate.