Merchant Account Fees: Hidden Fees or Junk Fees

There are plenty of hidden and bogus fees out there to be aware of. Unfortunately hidden fees seem to be common among some unscrupulous agents and merchant account providers that don't mention them upfront. A common hidden fee is for a merchant account provider to offer you a teaser rate that is extremely low - but what you don't know is that it's just temporary and usually goes up after a few months of processing. It's usually buried in the agreement allowing the provider to raise the discount rate at will, or when you do not meet certain volume targets. Another tactic is to have a teaser rate that only applies to one specific card type in one specific category, and then charge higher rates on other cards and categories.

As for junk fees, these come under different names: file fee, security fee, audit fee, conversion fee, over the limit fee, excessive transactions fees, discount rate fees charged on refunds, and billback fees. If you see any of those fees you may want to think twice before signing up with that provider.

Other Merchant Account Fees Explained:

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