Are you getting the best payment processing deal?

Are you happy with your credit card processor? Are you getting the best deal? Many small businesses across the U.S. aren’t which has led to the launch of a comparison-shopping website for B2B financial services.

by Helen Leggatt

Last month, Chicago-based Transparent Financial Services released data from a survey about how happy merchants were with their credit card processors. Almost 60% of the 283 small businesses that responded said issues such as “hidden fees”, “unforeseen rate increases”, “high costs” and “poor customer service” made them feel little or very little loyalty towards their credit card processors. Just 16% felt “lots” of loyalty towards them.

According to Sean Harper, co-founder, Transparent Financial Services, "It's not surprising that small businesses are not very loyal to their credit card processors because most business owners perceive credit card processing as a commodity. Additionally, there is a lot of confusion over the pricing, which can be frustrating."

To help merchants, both on- and offline, Harper co-founded the comparison-shopping website specifically for businesses to compare financial services. It allows merchants to compare products, features, and price. Initially focusing on transaction processing, the site will eventually expand to include health, property and casualty insurance.

The comparison website operates in a similar vein as Travelocity or Orbitz in that providers present deals and pricing and merchants select what they want.