Choosing an experienced level 3 merchant service provider is very important to ensure your company receives the reduced interchange pricing for a level 3 merchant account.
Its not as simple as just getting a level 3 rate. Many factors are required to achieve this.
- A cost plus rate structure
- Payment technology. Credit card terminals do not support level 3 processing. A level 3 certified gateway is required for this.
- Proper account set up. If your account is not properly set up you will not receive all the lower interchange incentives that come with a level 3 merchant account.
Its very important to choose a level 3 sales professional who has experirence working with B2B merchant accounts. Our industry is much more complex than most merchants realize. Visa and MasterCard have a different rate for each card type. About 150 pages. Aside from this each transaction has rules that apply and if not met will result in a downgrade.
Even a simple missed step when processing level 3 can cost you almost 1%. Its unfortunate but there is no regulation in the payments industry. Many of the people selling payment processing services don’t have a complete understanding of interchange/rate qualification and experience outside of the retail environment.
B2B is a completely different animal. Regardless of the rate your paying on the front end commercial cards have the ability to be recalssified and reassinged to loewer interchange levels.
If your not working with an experienced B2B payment professional it could be costing your business thousands of dollars in unwarranted and unnecessary fees.
If you have any questions on level 3 processing and the potential savings your business could be taking advantage of call our office at 888 790 3450 and one of our payment specialists will be glad to help.