Do You Need a Contract for Merchant Services?

Guest post Provided by Charge.com Payment Solutions, Inc. Charge.com is a company that provides low cost and flexible options for small business credit card processing. Visit the Charge.com website for more information.
Contracts are a fact of life, especially in small business credit card processing. However, using merchant services that offer a “no contract” option can save small businesses a lot of hassle.
If you utilize small business credit card processing, the contract is an issue that comes up regularly in the decision making process. Be it a mobile phone contract or a lease arrangement, if you recall your experiences with binding agreements, you could have positive or negative recollections about them. Some people might move a little in their seats at the sound of the word, others may jump on the opportunity. This mechanism that offers the merchant protection can also result in a loss of freedom and mobility. Although contract may seem like a bad word, it doesn’t have to be.
The bottom line is, contracts always exist, but some are more loosely binding than others, or exist for a very short duration. The definition of a contract is a written or spoken agreement, especially one concerning employment, sales or tenancy that is intended to be enforced by law. Charge.com is a company involved in online payment processing that offers an agreement that can easily be forfeited if the merchant account service does not meet the expectations of the merchant when compared to other processing companies. And the best thing about their agreements is that there are no early termination fees. It’s a great deal. So when they say there are no contracts, what they really mean is that their agreements aren’t static.
Although binding contracts could possibly support the merchant by legally ensuring that the merchant service keeps up their end of the bargain, it can often mean that the merchant service has the control and not the merchant. It is just the reality of the matter whether it’s fair or not. The goal of agreements made by merchant services serves to shield their own earnings. However, as a business owner you have to be your own advocate and make certain that the advantages are in your favor. Make certain if you do pick a contract, to go through the fine print, make sure the representative hands you all the pages, and make certain there are no termination charges.
The worst of it is there are lots of hassles that come with a contract that you may not wish to deal with. For instance early termination costs included in a contract are a bad indication. That would be more in favor of the merchant services rather than the merchant. Termination costs could set you back anywhere from $300 to $1,000. Why make sacrifices that do not should be made? The easiest way to avoid all of this is to choose the “no contract” option, an easily forfeitable agreement.