Fattmerchant

 
New business owners who need to set up the means to accept credit cards both online and at real-world points of sale are often blindsided by the high costs of processing these transactions. Few people who are not experienced entrepreneurs are aware that, even for small businesses, credit card transaction costs can end up running into the thousands of dollars per month. Adding to the problem, there is a dizzying array of payment processors, each with their own idiosyncrasies, strengths and weaknesses.
 

Platform

 
Among the many payment processors available to U.S. businesses, Fattmerchant is often cited as a good processor to consider. Fattmerchant has gained its well-deserved reputation through not only its deeply discounted fee structure, including a 0 percent markup rate over interchange (but instead with a flat monthly fee), but also for its intuitive and feature-rich back-end, its responsive customer service and its customization ability, giving business owners control over what services they use and how those services are structured.

Still, the main reason that Fattmerchant has generated buzz among business owners is the company’s pricing, especially at the higher end of the volume spectrum. While Fattmerchant’s Omni platform may very well be a great solutions for most businesses, merchants at the lower end of the transaction-volume spectrum may find that they can save more with other processors. This will be particularly true for low-volume businesses that need a wide variety of payment processing services as Fattmerchant offers its products on an a-la-carte basis, requiring the user to pay for each service that they need separately.
 

Rates and Fees

 
Fattmerchant’s a-la-carte offerings and no-markup fee structure mean that businesses doing more than $500,000 per year in total credit card volume, especially those doing a lot of big-ticket sales, are will fare well from a cost perspective when choosing Fattmerchant. The per-transaction fee of between $0.08 and $0.15 can also help to provide savings.

Fattmerchant has two different packages, the Starter Platform and the Enterprise Platform. The Starter Platform is designed for businesses with yearly credit card transaction volume of less than $500,000. For this package, the merchant pays a flat $99 monthly fee plus interchange fees. The transaction fees vary slightly, depending on the medium through which the transaction has been processed. For point-of-sale terminal transactions, there is a fee of $0.08. For transactions involving virtual terminals, shopping carts, mobile devices or APIs, there is a per-transaction fee of $0.15.

The Enterprise Platform is for merchants doing more than $500,000 per year. This package will run $199 per month plus interchange costs, with an additional $99 per month plus interchange costs being charged for every $500,000 in yearly volume above $1,000,000. While this scaling price model may sound self-defeating for a company that claims to potentially save higher-volume users 40 percent or more of their current processing expenses, many merchants can find savings with Fattmerchant.

For starters, once a business is doing volume that gets them into the range of the Enterprise Platform, their per-transaction fees for point-of-sale terminals drop to $0.06. They also pay a lower per-transaction fee for most online processing. Another benefit of the Enterprise Package is the expanded features that the package brings, putting a powerful e-commerce platform into the hands of its users, including dedicated account managers, data-breach protection, advanced reporting features, same-day transfers and the customization of the platform.
 

Is Fattmerchant Right for Your Business?

 
The bottom line is that business owners who are doing more than $500,000 per year in credit card volume could save money on their processing bill with Fattmerchant. However, for those doing small volume, especially with low-ticket items, the fixed per-transaction costs and high monthly subscription fee will likely mean that other options will make more economic sense. The exact volume at which Fattmerchant becomes the superior choice needs to be determined by the business owner.

Even if Fattmerchant may not be the best choice for every business, it will still be a good move for many.