multi merchant account | Card Not Present, CenPOS, credit card processing

I previously addressed salon solutions with multimerchant terminals. Is that still the best choice today? Let’s explore the pros and cons of various merchant account options for the salon environment, where most workers are independent contractors renting a chair or a ‘booth’.

Under new IRS reporting requirements, credit card receipts are now reported to the IRS by the credit card processor on schedule 1099k. * This indicates gross proceeds so your tax returns will need to match accordingly or it will result in an audit. This can also result in fines from the IRS over whether the other stylists are employees of the salon or independent contractors. Separate merchant accounts may help prove there are no employee relationships.

Credit card processing options:

1. Single terminal, one merchant account:

PRO: Contractors can easily be commissioned on product sales since everything is tracked
PRO: Salon owner always gets their rent on time since disbursements are net
CON: software is typically required to track sales to an contractor
CON: Contractors must wait to get paid
CON: Contractor may not have transparent reports, thus leads to discontent and higher turnover.
CON: See IRS reporting requirements

2. Single terminal, one merchant account, with CenPOS:

PRO: Easily track sales by contractor; optionally assign sales to type, including service, product, tip
PRO: Automatically qualifies transactions for lowest cost, reducing processing fees
PRO: Add/remove users and contractors on demand
PRO: contractors can see their sales and estimated proceeds remotely any time
PRO: 7 years records stored
PRO: ensures the operation PCI Compliant
CON: See IRS reporting requirements
CON: Contractors must wait to get paid

3. Contractors bring their own terminal:

PRO: Contractors get their money sooner- may reduce churn.
PRO: Simplified bookkeeping
CON: How many phone lines will be needed?
CON: Potential rent collection issues
CON: Contractors not likely to push high profit product sales without commissions, which cannot be integrated. Customers will have 2 charges if they want to buy products.
CON: If a contractor has a terminal that is not PCI Compliant, or there is a data breach, can the owner be held liable?
CON: Space – a wall of terminals takes up space you may not have

4. Multi-merchant Terminal: Single terminal that holds multiple merchant accounts

PRO: A multimerchant terminal eliminates need for contractors to invest in hardware.
PRO: Contractors get their money sooner- may reduce churn.
PRO: Simplified bookkeeping
PRO: Owner is in control of hardware PCI Compliance
CON: Potential rent collection issues
CON: Everytime a contractor leaves or comes on board, new programming has to be downloaded
CON: the terminals start at $499 and new regulations may require future replacement to support NFC
CON: contractor may balk at having to sign up for their own merchant account with potential minimum monthly fees, annual PCI Compliance fee.

5. CenPOS with multi-merchant: (signature capture terminal or card reader plus a receipt printer or letter size printer.)

PRO: eliminates need for contractors to invest in hardware.
PRO: It’s host based so owners and contractors never have to download terminal updates.
PRO: Contractors get their money sooner- may reduce churn.
PRO: Simplified bookkeeping;
PRO: PCI DSS (data security) Compliance for all contractors mitigates risks
PRO: Mitigate risk of IRS issues
CON: Unless their next salon has CenPOS, the contractor will have to either buy equipment or sign up for a CenPOS account, an additional monthly fee to bear.
CON: Each contractor will have a login. Reception can login all users at the start of day, but to switch between accounts, the password will need to be re-entered unless a master login is created for all of them.

BEAUTY SALON MERCHANT RECOMMENDATION:

The salon must take into account several factors including turnover and overall sales volume to make the best choice. My recommendation is #5, CenPOS with multi-merchant for larger salons. The overall benefits for the salon owner and the contractors far outweigh any potential annoyance on the account switching.

Owner can remotely view via web overall sales for the entire operation, including all contractors.
A sales incentive program can be implemented for products by using a drop down menu to enter sales into ‘buckets’ for tracking.
No extra phone lines needed, just one high speed internet line.
Cenpos virtual terminal retail sale screenshot

PIN DEBIT COMMENT:

Pin debit requires an encryption key unique to each processor. Since not all merchants are likely to use the same processor, pin debit should not be used for multi-merchant. The main impact is risk from customer disputes is 120 days vs 14 days. This may not be an issue in the salon environment. Under 2011 law, regulated debit fees are now the same for both pin and swipe so this is no longer an issue.

PRODUCT SALES COMMENT:

Regardless of how you choose to sell products, you’ll want to provide some incentive to involve contractors. The receptionist can be key, but when a stylist tells their customer to buy a product, it carries a lot more weight. A program can be as simple as a chart with each stylists name and then add a check or sticker for each time their customers bought something. The person with the most stickers gets a $100 gift card.

Other articles you might like:

IRS Link Cash Intensive Businesses Audit Techniques Guide – Chapter 10, Beauty Salon Defined updated August 2012
Salon merchant account solutions SPECIAL DEAL (older)

So many small business owners are upset about their credit card processing costs, I’ve put together this special deal for beauty salon and spa merchant accounts. If you follow my blog, you already know that I normally specialize in $1M plus size accounts. This deal is win-win because I’m extending preferred larger account pricing to small businesses, where there is potential for more than one merchant account on site.

SALON and SPA MERCHANT ACCOUNT SOLUTION

Do you rent chairs? Pay workers on actual work performed?

3D Merchant Account Salon special:

– One credit card terminal can host up many unique merchant accounts. This is called a multi-merchant account terminal. Management can add and delete accounts as contractors come and go.

– Each contractor has their own merchant account, with their own agreement.

– Every account approved within 1 business day.

Benefits for Salon Owners:

– Eliminate bookkeeping nightmares.

– Provide valuable incentive for quality independent contractors to work at your salon.

– Minimize risks to salon.

– 24 hour support line.

– Happy workers bring in more business and stay longer, reducing turnover which saves you time and improves profits.

Benefits to Salon workers:

– Can add tips to their sales, potentially increasing their pay, making them happier.

– Funds deposited in bank accounts in 1-2 business days.

– No big equipment investment. Ready to start almost immediately.

– Our Multi-merchant deal is better than obtaining their own small business merchant account deal.

– Optional Quickbooks software plugin.

– Set the equipment to batch out daily automatically; reduces costs from accidentally forgetting to close out.

Costs:

– Hardware

o FD300 PCI Compliant multi-merchant terminal. Lease for $ 24.95/mth, 3 years.[1] Includes overnight replacement guarantee. (other equipment and purchase options available)

o Built in pin-based debit capable, reducing costs of processing; Typically $.35-.90 per transaction instead of percent of sale.[2]

o Recover equipment costs with a small monthly rental fee added to contractors.

– Merchant account fees start at 1.35% for debit and 1.89% for credit, plus $.20 per transaction.

OPERATIONS:

Management will have own unique login. When someone leaves, they can delete the user.

– Each user has own password. This eliminates error of entering transactions to the wrong account.

– Adding another merchant is a phone call from the terminal for a ‘partial download’, which can be done in minutes.

For an apples-to-apples price comparison with your current processor, please fax a recent statement with cover including contact information to 954-942-9804. If your account is up and running this month, all application and cancellation fees will be waived forever, plus I’ll ship your terminal free, pre-programmed and ready to go. Just plug it in and start processing.

Call Christine 954-942-0483

https://www.3dmerchant.com

[1] Hardware pricing offer valid as of 11/10/2010. Prices may change over time.

[2] This is not a formal offer. Prospective merchants will be supplied with a formal offer in writing with complete terms and conditions by an authorized merchant services agent.

FD300 brochure excerpts

FD300

The First Data™ FD300 terminal is an ideal solution
for operations that need to keep track of sales from
separate businesses housed at the same location.
Its multi-merchant capability allows the merchant
to conveniently designate which business the sale
is applied to at the time of purchase, all with one
point-of-service terminal. The merchant still receives a
single, easy-to-read statement, but each transaction is
designated by the specific business.

The FD300 accepts virtually all payment options,
including Visa ® , MasterCard ® , Diners Club ® , American
Express ® and Discover ® Network*. The large, intuitive,
color touch-screen interface is easy to understand,
reducing training time and user errors. Transactions
take just seconds through the Internet Protocol (IP)
connectivity, with dial-up as a backup. It provides
outstanding performance, reliability and security for
high-volume, multi-user merchants.

Here’s How It Works
Easy-to-follow prompts on the screen guide the initial
setup. In just a few minutes, a merchant is ready to use
the FD300 terminal to accept credit cards, as well as PIN
and signature debit cards, Electronic Bene ts Transfer
(EBT) cards and gift cards.
In a multi-merchant arrangement, each business selects
its name at the time of the transaction. This allows the
system to keep track of all sales by speci c business.
Transactions are menu driven and touch screen
actuated. As a security feature, customer receipts
show only the last four digits of the card number as a
protection against fraud and identity theft.

Help Your Business
– Separate transactions by business in
multi-merchant locations
– Perform backend reporting that streamlines
accounting for multi-merchant locations
– Complete transactions and generate receipts quickly
– Accept all major credit, debit and gift cards
– Improve customer service
– Lower training and maintenance requirements
– Adapt to future payment systems

Help Your Customers
– Spend less time waiting at checkout
– Use almost any form of payment
– Protect identity and reduce fraud with
security protection tools
Features
– Large, easy-to-use color touch-screen display
– Windows CE Operating System
– Fast downloads via IP with dial-up as backup
– Accepts virtually all payment options
– Complete diagnostics for support and installation
– 32MB Flash / 32MB SDRAM memory
Five USB ports, two serial ports, phone and modem
ports for current connectivity and future expansion
– High-quality manufacturing design for durability
– WiFi* enabled (optional)

FD300 First Data Brochure (PDF) download

For a multi-merchant account for your business, please Call Christine 954-942-0483. Equipment purchase not required.

Card Not Present, CenPOS, credit card processing

B2B Cloud payment processing technology blog about increasing profits, efficiency and security.

Tag Archives: multi merchant account

Salon multi merchant account solutions revisited

Salon merchant account solutions SPECIAL DEAL