Cancellation Fees and Penalties

[rpcarnell]

Regarding SSL certificates, I got this from https://www.merchantlane.net/ --->

NO CANCELLATION FEE OR CONTRACT TERM

Almost all merchant account providers have lengthy contract terms which could cost you over $1,000 in cancellation fees and penalties. Be advised that these companies can damage your credit if you refuse to pay the cancellation fees and place you in collections.

Has anyone has any problems related to cancellation fees and penalties? If so, what companies should I watch out for?

[yamaharuss]

That statement is referring to merchant accounts, not SSL certificates.

When you purchase an SSL certificate, it's valid for one year. You pay once, up front and it's yours for the year, there is no contract with a cert and it cannot be canceled.

[rpcarnell]

Yeah, I know. Sorry. I tried to edit the message when I realized I had typed SSL Certificates, but it was too late.

[yamaharuss]

As for merchant accounts, a contract is pretty typical, and most are two years. I would be leary of a company offering such loose requirements. There may be other catches such as longer holds on your funds or higher rates.

[windycitycoder]

Merchant account contracts will vary between companies, and you can even get month-to-month merchant accounts. Here are a few things to beware of:

1) Companies that offer you 'free' equipment. 99.99999% of the time, you're paying for that equipment - either in extra monthly access fees, hidden processing charges (I've seen some as high as +.39% / transaction) or absurdly long contracts that have high cancellation fees. The other .00001% of the time, it'll be free but it will be bottom-of-the-barrel crap.

2) Companies that make you feel like you have to sign up that instant or the world will end. Yes, sales people in the processing industry do mostly work on comission and push hard b/c they don't eat if they don't sell. But there's a line - if they cross it, hang up.

3) A sales rep who's pushing what they want instead of what you need. Don't let yourself get sold on the expensive wireless unit if all you really need is a machine that works over a phone line.

If you have any specific questions, please feel free to post or send me a PM. BTW, this is the month-to-month (internet processing) program I mentioned earlier - http://www.getaprocessingaccount.com.

Hope that helps.