Frequently Asked Questions

What is Interchange Rate?

Interchange Rate is a term that describes the fees charged by MasterCard and Visa. This is the same for everyone. This is the starting point for everyone.

What is Tiered Pricing?

Tiered pricing is a method of three or four tiers of prices. This is the most common and it is the most deceptive. Your sales rep can’t give you a list of mid qualified rates. Merchants are seldom told what mid and non qualified rates are and they seldom explain how they are stacked up on top of the qualified rate that merchants remember because it was the lowest number discussed.

What is Flat Rate Pricing?

It is the most expensive pricing model developed by the industry. The number has to be high enough to cover all the interchange categories and still show a profit on top of Bank, ISO, MasterCard, Visa, and processor costs.

What is Cost-Plus Pricing?

This is the most detailed and most accurate pricing model. The merchant pays interchange cost plus a small discount rate on top of that. DSI has a standard discount rate of 6 basis points. That is six tenths of a penny out of a dollar.

What is Net Processing?

This is a real blessing to DSI merchants. When a merchant issues a credit for returned goods DSI will give the interchange charged on the original transaction back to the merchant.

What is an Acquiring Bank?

This is a Bank that pays MasterCard or Visa for Bins to set up merchants and process credit card transactions.

What is an ISO?

This is an Independent Sales Organization contracted to bring merchant accounts to the Bank. They pay multiple fees to the Bank, MasterCard, Visa, and the Processor each month for the privilege of using their own name in business and being called an ISO.

What is a BIN?

Simply put a bin is the box all the merchants are stored in at the Bank for reporting and accounting purposes.

What is a Virtual Terminal?

A virtual terminal is a terminal in your computer or your Cloud.

What is a Physical Terminal?

This is equipment designed to read Card track data from the swipe of the customer’s credit cards and it transmits the data to the processors off of the credit card with the appropriate price and validations.

What are Teaser Rates?

These are lowball rates that are designed to deceive merchants at the front end of a three year contract with a stiff termination clause.

What is a Gateway?

This is the communication company that connects the merchant to the processor and it stores data in a secure environment for the merchant. Normal cost is $20 a month and $0.10 per transaction. DSI gateway fees are $0.05 after a $10.00 one time signup fee.

When is Pin Based Debit less expensive?

When the transaction is over $90.00 pin based debit transactions can save some money on most of the debit platforms. (there are over 40 platforms and some of the largest are the most expensive) With the new rates it may never be less expensive.

Which processor is best for my business?

It could be your current processor or it could be another of the top processor in the industry. They all do certain thing better than the others and DSI will place you with the best match for your business type.

What is a Transaction Fee?

This is the amount charged to the merchant for each transaction processed for the merchant. These fees are usually $0.15 to $0.35 and DSI's transaction fee is only $0.06.

What is a Batch Fee?

Batch Fees are usually $0.25 charged to the merchant for each batch of transactions submitted. This is usually done once a day. DSI is $0.06.

What is an Annual Fee?

Annual Fee is a cost assigned to merchants by Banks and ISO’s for the privilege of having a Merchant Account. Elevate Merchants has no annual fee.

What is PCI Compliance Fee?

PCI Compliance Fee is mandated by MasterCard and Visa. This fee is for security and is usually $195.00 to $350. Elevate Merchants has it covered in our Consulting Fee.

What is Non Compliance Fee?

Non Compliance Fee is the penalty for not being PCI Compliant.

What are Address Verification Fees?

Address Verification Fees are charged by some Banks and ISO’s to capture this information used to validate the card and the transaction.

What are ACH fees?

Some processors charge an ACH fee to transfer money into the merchant’s checking account.

What are Chargeback and Reversal fees?

Chargeback and Reversal fees occur when a customer of the merchant does not recognize the merchant on their bank statement or could not get credit or a product they were not expecting. The reversal fee is to get the money back to the merchant.

How long does it take to get set up?

Because you are dealing directly with your processor it only takes 24 to 48 hours to get setup. All our processors have hundreds of professional support staff to assist you and train you.

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Located in Houston, Texas
9:00am-6:00pm CST
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