Merchant Services

Below is a table showing the typical fees charged by merchant services providers and why, so you know exactly what it is that you are paying for.

This additional charge can be significant and range from £0 to as high as 0.85%. Non-secure fees are still charged by most merchant services suppliers so when checking your statement, be aware that these fees may be listed in a separate section or as a separate line along with other additional charges.

The charge is applied for payments taken over the telephone (MOTO), even when CVV2 details are recorded, and for website (E-Commerce) transactions without 3D Secure or Verified by Visa.

If you’re being charged for authorisation fees, they will be listed separately to your standard credit and debit card fees. Generally, these will be applied to every transaction including the recent addition of contactless payments. They are typically an additional 3p or 4p and should be factored in with your main pricing when reviewing to check if you’re on a fair overall package.

We will always be transparent and explain exactly how your new charges are made up, with a clear breakdown of the savings you’ll make when using our service to switch provider.

If you see the words ‘Non-Compliance’ on your merchant services statement, you are probably being charged a penalty for failing to complete the relevant PCI DSS questionnaire. The process for doing this is straightforward, and providers should provide assistance and support to help you become compliant.

The fees for non-compliance can be pretty hefty, ranging from £10 per month to 0.30% of card turnover. There can also be significant fines from card schemes for non-compliance. You can find out more about what PCI DSS is on their website – https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/pci_security/standards_overview

The PCI DSS is a mandatory requirement for any business that takes card payments. It’s a set of 12 mandatory requirements from the Card Schemes designed to ensure that all businesses that process, store or transmit card information maintain a secure environment and help reduce the risk of loss.

Put simply, the PCI DSS is about preventing card payment information held by customers, or their third parties, from being used fraudulently, and all the consequential financial and reputational losses associated with this. We can help by assisting you to become compliant directly with your current acquirer or introduce you to one of our partner PCI specialists who will do it all for you for a small fee.

Premium Credit Cards are classed as consumer cards that provide additional benefits such as travel insurance, loyalty schemes, shopping discounts etc. They are usually shown as a separate figure on your merchant services statement. Some providers show this under the actual card type, i.e. ‘Visa Credit Card’ and underneath list ‘Premium Cards’. Whilst other providers show them together i.e. ‘Visa Credit Card Premium’.

By using our service, we can help you to ensure that you’re not heavily penalised on your charging tariff for the premium cards you accept from your customers.

At WeSave, we recognise that one size does not fit all so we ensure we offer a broad range of solutions including ‘pay as you go’ options. We partner with the leading PAYG providers that offer a quality service at a competitive price. A ‘pay as you go’ card processing facility has similar characteristics to PAYG mobile phones i.e. they generally involve higher transaction rates but no monthly fixed fees or contracts. Card machines are purchased for a small initial fee and can either be linked to a compatible device (smartphone, tablet) or can be standalone. These types of options are good for businesses such as market traders or mobile businesses i.e. businesses with lower annual card turnover and/or low average transaction values.

For more information, please contact us.