Do you find merchant statements confusing?

If you answer yes to this question, you are not alone.  When reviewing budgets with clients we always talk about merchant fees and how the client can get a better deal for accepting credit cards.  Lately, this discussion is happening more and more.

Businesses accepting credit and debit cards from their customers pay transaction fees.  Every month, small business owners receive invoices from third party processors detailing their companies’ credit and debit card transactions.  Most owners do not have the time or the tendency to make sense of these statements because sometimes they are pages and pages long of number columns in undersized print.  The problem is that the numbers are confusing and so higher fees and additional charges can escape the reader of the statement. Quite frankly, I have looked at my clients’  merchant statements and I find some of them confusing.  The merchant statements of each processor look different. The complexity of the statements makes it difficult  to understand and I am sure overcharges can get missed.  When questioned, I recommend to my clients to call the representative from their processor for explanations.

Recently, I learned of a company called Merchant Fee Savers, a company that helps small businesses understand the numbers on these statements. Merchant Fee Savers was founded by Phil Hinke.  The company web site is not yet active.  You can learn more about Mr. Hinke at http://www.practicalecommerce.com/member/14083-Phil-Hinke.  He has worked for some well know third party processors.

Please note that the financial companies (third party processors) say they are not to blame for statement perplexity and  that the confusion is in the eye of the beholder.  Also, business owners  can opt for processing contracts that are much simpler, with fewer tiers of charges, but what they gain in simplicity, they could lose in profits.

That’s why for some business owners, cash only may be the only way to go.