Help!! I think I need a new payment processor

I agree with the earlier responder on the Chase Paymentech
facility. I have used it and it is painless and the reporting is excellent.

Your bank's treasury services relationship manager should be able to give you an overview of who major processors are (though they might offer the service themselves).

Brittany:

The previous responses are all on target - I would especially check out Chase (their Orbital gateway is very good, as well as their customer support); FeeFighters is also a great resource for finding the right processor/acquirer relationship.

Remember to be specific with your candidate processors, on your operating environment, payment types, etc., so they can get you the best rates, that are appropriate for your business. I would also recommend that you work with a member bank (e.g., Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, etc.), rather than a second-tier ISO or agent bank - this will help ensure not only best-case rates, but better customer support, and more detailed monthly statement reporting.

Best of luck!

There are various considerations, as noted in the previous responses. If you can find a company that bundles fraud management (with user-defined and dynamic criteria) with credit card processing, you will find a better economic solution as opposed to paying for a separate fraud management solution such as Authorize.net. I have investigated utilizing CC processor aggregators (bundlers who negotiate volume discounts with CC processors) that pass on a portion of the volume savings to customers.
Also, consider the requirements for a set aside or chargeback fund. This requirements will tie up cash for a long period of time.
Feel free to call 215-517-6000 x109 if you would like to discuss.

You're all going down the right path. The top three processors have 50% of the market. Most local banks just add a pass-through fee. There is more to it than just picking the right processor. There are complex fee structures with many options that are frequently changing and, like most services, the fees are negotiable.

Agree with others' comments; also, remember the processor fees are small when compared to Visa's and MC's, so look for things like "mark up" to those fees; you should only pay the processor a per tx fee unless there's something unusual about the risk; pricing's downright Byzantine so you don't figure out what they're charging you; look closely at fraud prevention capabilities, especially if you deal with CNP txs; we recently moved one of our newly-acquired companies to our processor, ChasePaymentech, and they immediately alerted us to some "unusual" transactions that turned out to be fraudulent; also, be careful of affinity programs v.a.v. fraud; good luck

I went throught this process last year and settled with BluePay. They are not as big as the others but they met the pricing and the service is good. Their webiste is easy to use and provides all the statements, breakdown security, compliance and notifications desired. Another option is Heartland. I almost went with them, but stuck with Bluepay. I can provide contacts for each company if desired. Email me here or contact me via phone 415-684-8981.

Rick