Anna Lynn Dizon

Free credit card processing, also known as “zero-fee” or “zero-cost” processing, refers to the process of passing some or all of the fees associated with payment processing along to your customers, so your business is essentially paying nothing to process credit card payments. While this expense-cutting strategy was unpopular in the past because it places…

CardX is a merchant account services provider that offers credit card surcharging for qualified businesses. Recently acquired by Stax, CardX had spent years developing not only the technology but also its working relationship with state lawmakers to provide automated surcharging tools with the strictest compliance to surcharging regulations. It is this expertise that made CardX…

Stripe is a highly favored online payment gateway with great rates and excellent tools for online sales. Although a top merchant service, it does not offer its own mobile app for accepting payments as others do. However, app developers have filled this need, and there are over 30 Stripe payment apps for Android and iOS….

Contactless in-person payments like QR codes have become popular methods for many small mom-and-pop shops, market vendors, and service professionals. It does not cost anything except transaction fees and requires no additional hardware to start accepting payments. The latest payment apps with scan to pay features also allow smartphone cameras to scan physical credit cards…

Stripe is a highly secure online payment processing service best known for sophisticated online payment processing, advanced fraud prevention, and dispute management tools—without a high price tag. Best for online, ecommerce, and B2B payments, Stripe took the top spot in our list of online payment processors earning a 4.39 out of 5. Stripe at a…

Payment links (also called checkout links or pay by links) provide merchants with a means to request and collect remote payments on almost any online and remote platforms. It is as simple as attaching the link to an email, a digital invoice, on your websites and social media posts, in your instant messages, and even…

Credit card processing fees are a necessary cost of doing business, but it doesn’t have to take more of your business profit than it should. By analyzing one’s business model, customer preferences, and current credit card processing fees, merchants can adapt simple strategies to effectively lower costs without disrupting operations. Here are six things merchants…

A cash discount program allows merchants to implement cash discounting, a zero-cost payment processing strategy that ultimately passes on credit card processing fees to customers by building processing fees into standard pricing. While it is legal in all 50 states, some merchants find cash discounting more work to set up, run, and stay compliant than…

Cash discounting is offering a discount on a product or service to customers who pay with cash. Businesses use cash discounting to avoid credit card processing fees. It is seen more commonly with small or mom-and-pop businesses, especially those with a lot of customers already paying in cash or those with particularly tight margins. How…

Running a cash-based business is completely legal, and there are, in fact, certain business types that thrive with purely cash transactions (i.e., vending or laundry operations). Cash-only merchants are free from the burden of merchant account applications and the monthly fees associated with them. However, growing a cash-only business in an increasingly cashless economy and…

A credit card surcharge (or cc surcharge) is an extra fee applied when a customer chooses to pay via credit card instead of cash or check. Merchants have to pay payment processing fees to accept credit cards, and surcharging is when a business passes that fee on to the customer. Surcharging fees average around 2%–3%…

QR stands for quick response and refers to the black-and-white square graphic label that looks like a bunch of large pixels. Each graphic contains unique information that lets you visit a website, place an order, and make a payment by scanning the image with an app on your mobile device. How Do QR Code Payments…