If you’re a home service contractor, then there’s no question that you need to accept credit cards from your clients. Until recently, you only had a couple options – banks and independent sales organizations — and neither of them were a perfect fit.
Let’s take a look at these options, and why ToolBox is quickly becoming the payment acceptance method of choice for home service contractors across the country:
Payment Acceptance Option 1: Banks
Many home service contractors tend to turn to their local bank first when looking for a way to accept credit card payments. This seems like the logical choice to do business with an organization with whom you already have a relationship.
The problem is that many of these banks don’t have the necessary hardware, software or capabilities to offer these systems themselves. So, what they do is send you to their partners. You then need to go through a tedious application process before they present you with your options.
There are four problems with this method:
- You don’t know the partners. While the bank has vetted their partners, you still don’t know them. Suddenly you lose the benefit of the “personal relationship,” because you’re working with a third-party provider rather than with your local bank.
- You end up with a “bundled” solution. Sometimes banks provide solutions from multiple providers. This means you may receive hardware from one provider and software from another. These various components don’t always play together well, so you end up with a steep learning curve, multiple technical issues, and needing to train your employees on this complicated system with very little help.
- It can be expensive. You often have to pay rental fees for the equipment, and these fees can be quite costly (especially if you’re paying separate fees for each component of the system).
- They may not cover PCI compliance. While the bank’s partner may provide you with a bundled option, these different pieces usually don’t cover PCI compliance. That means you could not only put your clients’ data at risk, you also risk getting slapped with big penalties if you’re unable to do the PCI-compliance component yourself.
The bottom line is that many small business owners look to their local bank first because of the personal relationship benefit, but in many cases you get sent to a third party who gives you a complicated, expensive system. That’s not a good solution.
That brings us to the next option…
Payment Acceptance Option 2: ISOs (Independent Sales Organizations)
Working with an ISO often seems really attractive, mainly due to the low rates they dangle in front of you. If you compare the bank rates with an ISO, you’re likely to find the ISO is offering a better rate.
But there’s a catch…
This rate looks low on the surface, but you need to dig a little deeper to get a true account of much you’ll be paying. That’s because ISOs are known for tacking on all sorts of fees. This means you’ll pay much more than the “teaser rate” you see in the ISOs advertisements.
What kind of fees are we talking about? Fees such as:
- Chargeback fees.
- Convenience fees.
- Batch fees.
- Early termination fees.
- Statement fees.
- Fees for accepting different types of credit cards.
- Authorization fees.
- Point of sale (POS) fees.
- Hardware fees.
- Rate fluctuation fees.
- Gateway fees.
- Return fees.
- PCI compliance fees (if they even offer PCI compliance to you).
And more – the fees will eat your hard-earned profits at the end of every month, until you’re left looking for something you can afford.
Therein lies another problem: the ISO will lock you into a long contract, usually ranging from three to five years. And if you try to terminate this contract early, you’ll be hit with (yep, you guessed it) another big fee. This penalty fee can range from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars, depending on what your contract says.
Do you really want to be locked into a bundled service with high fees?
If you’re like most home service contractors, then the answer is no. That’s why you’ll want to take a close look at the third option…
Payment Acceptance Option 3: Payment Service Provider (ToolBox)
The third option is ToolBox, which is a payment acceptance app. As soon as you start investigating this option, you’re going to quickly realize why so many home service contractors are turning to ToolBox to accept credit card payments onsite.
Here are the benefits:
- Fast application process. You can be done in just a few minutes without having to turn over any intrusive documentation, and you don’t need your own merchant account.
- Low rates. Not only are the rates lower than many banks and ISOs, they’re even lower than other payment service providers (like Square).
- No hidden fees. ToolBox’s simple fee structure shows you exactly how much you pay per transaction – you never have to worry about hidden or “small print” fees eating your profits.
- PCI compliance is included. Your clients’ sensitive data is safe, and you’re safe from being hit with penalties for not being in compliance.
- No commitment. If you don’t love the convenience and low rates, you can stop using ToolBox at anytime without any fees or penalties. (Even though you can leave at any time, we know you won’t want to once you try it out for yourself!)
- No bulky equipment to carry, no rental fees. Just download the user-friendly app to your smart phone, tablet or even your desktop. You’re ready to securely and conveniently accept credit card payments anywhere and anytime – right from the jobsite!
Here’s another big benefit: ToolBox understands your business (unlike the other options mentioned above). That’s because this payment acceptance app was developed specifically for home service contractors, so we here at ToolBox understand the unique needs of your on-the-go business. You get secure transactions, low rates, fast transfers, on-the-go convenience, and a user-friendly solution your whole team will love.
Ready to see for yourself why so many home service contractors are turning to ToolBox for all their payment acceptance needs? Then click here to learn more about how ToolBox can simplify your business.