At dabowpay we only work with honest, reliable processors and we match the one most suitable to your business.  Our decades of experience and honesty can set you up with what you need and when it comes time to grow, we can seamlessly add the items your business requires.

A payment processor is a company that manages the orchestration of accepting card payments for your businesses. It sends card data from your point-of-sale system, where customers enter their card details, to payment networks such as Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover, as well as banks involved in the transaction.

Depending on how quickly you want to start there are a couple of options:

• A merchant account is a bank account used solely for receiving credit and debit card payments. After the payment processor clears a merchant’s card transactions through the card networks, it deposits the funds into the merchant’s account. Merchant accounts usually require more in-depth information and take a bit longer with the approval process. But, they are also more stable and offer more customization options.

A payment gateway is a place on your website where your customers securely pay for products or services.  The gateway verifies that your customer cards are legitimate. An easy way to remember the function of a payment gateway is that it is a gate that must open to allow money to move online securely, encrypting your customers’ sensitive data.

There are payment processors with built-in gateways to accept payments.  Gateways that are separate from your payment processing account do have their own fees. So keep this in mind when budgeting your payment processing. 

3. Pricing your Payment Processing System

Payment processing costs are calculated differently depending on the processor. This is where a trusted partner like dabowpay can be an enormous help.  

• Is your business a high-transaction business? An interchange-plus model, which may have discounts based on transaction volume may be your best option. For each transaction, you pay the current interchange rate (which fluctuates) from the card network (e.g., Mastercard), plus whatever additional margin the payment processor charges. That payment processor fee is typically a percentage of the transaction plus a fixed number of cents.

• Does your business require consistent pricing? A flat-rate model may be the option you want to choose. Flat rate model pricing is exactly as it sounds,  the cost is the same for every transaction of the same type (online, on-site…).  Although your rates are flat, remember the interchange rate still fluctuates and is passed on to you.

• Is budget your main concern? A subscription-based monthly plan is usually the least expensive option (usually). Subscription-based payment processing plans include a monthly fee that covers most of your processing and may include a smaller markup.

As with everything you do in your business and personal finances, read the fine print before making any decision.

Other expenses you may incur include:

Now that you know the 3 Steps to Accepting Payments, contact dabow, and let’s get started.