MidAtlantic Book Publishers Association

Credit card transaction processing you can live with.
by Mary Shafer – Publisher, Word Forge Books

When I first realized I’d need to accept credit cards, it was because I was doing a lot of personal appearances and trade show-type events like street fairs. I knew zilch about working with merchant processors, but I knew a few things I didn’t need. I didn’t need an electronic web interface, because I was doing just fine with PayPal, thank you very much. I didn’t need a terminal because most of my direct sales that weren’t made in person came in over the phone, and when I was out, I was rarely anywhere that I could plug in a terminal (unless I wanted to pay more for electrical access, which I didn’t). What I needed was a phone-in system for authorization and card verification, preferably one that handled both functions together.

I won’t discuss the first vendor I used. I found them on the web, and since I was such a newb, they just saw me coming. I was with them for less than a year before finding another provider whose charges were much lower and they didn’t make me sign a contract.

Problem is, they were oh-so-helpful until I signed their contract. Then the customer service just disappeared, and the hidden charges started mounting up. I had thought I’d read my contract carefully and asked all the right questions, but the fact is you can’t ask about something you’re not aware of. Long story short, I ended up paying a $25 minimum service fee every month, whether I made sales or not, plus a not-small transaction fee on every sale. I was routinely getting monthly bills around $35, which means I had to sell three copies of my book just to break even.

Then someone suggested I make use of my PMA membership to check their approved vendor list. I’d like to say it was one of those “Aha!” moments, but it was more like one of those, “Duh! Why didn’t I think of that?” ones, instead. Quickly, I did just that, and immediately found First National Merchant Solutions on the PMA website. I called, and was fortunate to have representative Daniel Dunn assigned to my account.

Not only did I not have to sign any contract, I was hand-held through the entire application process. I told Daniel I needed to switch quickly because I had a show coming up, and he made it happen in less than 24 hours. My account was open, I called in to do my setup, and he made sure Discover and AmEx got hold of me to run my test transactions through.

He didn’t pressure me to sign up for services I didn’t need or want. He followed through with sending my welcome kit (yes, a real welcome kit, that actually explains the service and gives you all the paperwork you need!), and that was followed by a call from a First National customer service rep who walked me through a sample phone processing transaction. She also thoroughly explained the the printed user guide/cheat sheet.

Best of all, the charges are minimal – about a third of what I used to pay, with a VERY low monthly service charge and no minimum transaction fee. And on top of all that, Daniel asked me for referrals, and when I gave one that resulted in more business for him, my account was credited $100 within a week! If you want to get a good deal while gaining a quality service vendor, click on their current “We’ll pay you $500 if we can’t save you money” promotion on their website at http://www.firstnationalmerchants.com. Then call Daniel Dunn at 800-516-6242 x4295.

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