UniBul Merchant Services Launches New Payment Processing Program

    /24-7PressRelease/ - June 04, 2008 - Evaluation of the processing statements of fifty web-based merchants showed that, as a whole, the group was excessively overcharged by their payment processors. Two thirds of all merchants were paying credit card processing rates higher than 2.45% per transactions. Today the same merchants should easily get rates lower than 2.20%. In addition to that, 55% of them were paying various service charges, like a monthly minimum processing fee or a customer service fee, in the range $10 - $25. Such fees should not be charged at all. The biggest issue, however, was found in the large volumes of non-qualified transactions. Non-qualified is a transaction that is processed in accordance with the rules established in the Payment Processing Agreement, signed by the merchant and the processor, but does not meet the highest standards for payment acceptance and/or complies with some applicable security requirements, but not enough in order to be classified as qualified. The average surcharge for non-qualified transactions was 1.10% over the qualified rate. The average volume of non-qualified transactions was 55%.

To address the issue, UniBul Merchant Services has created a unique processing program. The eCommerce will be segmented into multiple categories and merchants will be classified into the most appropriate one. Small support teams will be created that will specialize in working with just one of these groups to ensure that they become intimately familiar with each group's characteristics. UniBul Merchant Services' new Payment Card Acceptance Best Practices Guide is developed as a manual for the support staff and the merchants they work with in implementing a set of payment acceptance procedures into the sales process. These procedures will ensure that transactions are processed in a way that is in compliance with Visa and MasterCard regulations and significantly reduce or even eliminate the resulting non-qualified surcharges. Implementing these best practices will also reduce the high levels of chargebacks to which eCommerce merchants are particularly vulnerable.

The first program to be launched is designed to accommodate the specific needs of online groceries. Later this summer several other platforms will be released for a wide range of different eCommerce merchant types, including auto part dealers, flower shops, airline ticket vendors, etc.

By launching this program, UniBul Merchant Services is seeking to bring eCommerce payment processing costs down to acceptable levels and to contribute to a sharper focus on the processes and practices that are necessary to ensure that merchants get the best out of their merchant accounts.

UniBul Merchant Services is a provider of electronic payment acceptance services to US-based businesses.

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