Whether you swipe every sale, invoice most of them, or have customers check out on your website, our programs are built to save you money based on how you process.
Swiping a card, keying the card information, and entering a card on a website all carry different costs to a business.
The card is in front of you and a device reads it. Dipped, tapped or swiped, the sale carries the most information about the card, so it earns the lowest rate of the three.
Best fit: retail counters, restaurants, salons, shops and service bays, anywhere the customer is standing in front of you with the card.
Apply for the in-person rate
The card number is entered by hand, either by you or by a customer paying an invoice you sent. Less is known about the card, so it costs more to run than a sale at the counter.
Best fit: trades and service work, wholesalers, and offices that bill after the job is done, and anyone taking a number from a customer who is not face to face.
Apply for the keyed rate
The customer enters their own card on your site and the sale finishes without you touching it. It runs through a gateway behind your cart rather than through a device you own.
Best fit: online stores, booking and ordering sites, software-as-a-service companies, digital goods and services, and any business getting paid through its website.
Apply for the e-commerce rate* These are qualified rates. Other fees may apply. Every rate and fee is written out on your merchant agreement, and you see all of it before you sign.
The right plan is the one that matches how you want to take payments. Not many businesses are all one thing, and they do not have to be. If 60% of your sales happen at the counter and 40% get keyed in, in person is your fit, because that is where most of your volume sits.
These are examples, not quotes. If you are not sure which one is closest to your business, send us a recent statement. We will run your real numbers off your processing history, show you where your volume actually sits, and tell you which plan fits.
Dipped, tapped or swiped, a card your device reads earns the in-person rate. Keying that same card in by hand does not, even standing at your own counter. If the card is in front of you, run it through the reader.
On keyed and online sales, always enter the card security code and the billing ZIP. Those two checks, CVV and AVS, confirm the cardholder data, and they are what hold the sale at your qualified rate. Leaving them out is a common reason a sale downgrades and costs you more.
Plenty of businesses take payments all three ways and none of that has to change. The plan you sit on is set by where most of your volume runs, so the majority of your sales get your best pricing and the rest still go through.
We pull your real numbers off your own processing history and tell you which plan your volume belongs on. It costs you nothing and there is no obligation to switch.
Your most recent monthly processing statement.
We work out your effective rate and mark every fee, including the ones that are not labeled clearly.
A plain breakdown of what you pay now and what we would charge, side by side.
The right rate for how you take payments, the equipment to match, or staying exactly where you are.
The rates above are qualified rates, and that is where most sales land. Some cost more to run than that: a business or corporate card, a rewards card at the top end, or a counter sale that gets keyed in without the security code and ZIP. Those rates are written on your merchant agreement, in full, before you sign anything.
That comes down to where your volume sits today and what you are being charged for it. The gap between the plan you are on and the one that matches how you take payments is usually wider than merchants expect. Send a recent statement and we will put your own numbers against ours before you sign anything.
Maybe. Send us the make and model and we will check whether your terminal or point of sale can be reprogrammed to run on an Emerald account. Plenty of them can. Starting on equipment we place is the better route where it is an option, because it is set up for your plan from day one, we support it, and nothing is left tied to your old processor.
No. Your current account keeps running until the new one is live. Applications are approved within 24 hours and equipment ships within 48, and nothing about how you take payments changes in the meantime. Close the old account once you are up and running, not before.
Then we look at it again. We run statement and account reviews for merchants we already have, the same read we do before you sign, so if you start invoicing more or open an online store we can tell you whether another program puts you in a better spot. The goal does not change once you are on board: keep what you pay to process as low as it can go, and move with the business as it grows.
The application takes a few minutes and you are approved in 24 hours. If you would rather we read your statement first and tell you which plan fits, we will do that instead.