High Visa Transaction FEE at Nova Info through costo.com

I have been using Nova as my Merchant account service to process my credit card. In the last several months, I noticed all my Visa transaction were labeled as Non-qualified transaction that is subject to 3.51% discount fee. ouch... Does anyone have the same exprience? Is it true that Visa card has higher chance of hitting non-qualified rate than Mastercard? BTW, I am using Authorize.net as my gateway

Are you collecting and submitting CVV with your transactions?

also remember that NON US cards as well as rewards cards are non qualified,

so while its really kool to wrack up them air miles the merchant gets the shaft

I've been using their services for several years. If you're not collecting CCV, you should at least enter the street number and zip code. I don't use CCV numbers, but as long as I enter the street number and zip code, I get their lower transaction fees.

CobraPlant:

I've been using their services for several years. If you're not collecting CCV, you should at least enter the street number and zip code. I don't use CCV numbers, but as long as I enter the street number and zip code, I get their lower transaction fees.

I do require street adress and zip code, as well as CCV. But I may lower the CCV setting in order to accept American Express card. I don't know if that matters.

is card code same as CVV code? Also, I noticed there is a field in Authorize.net: CAVV Result code. All my transactions show as Not applicable. What is CAVV?

Probably the best thing to do is talk with your merchant services. I started off with Costco, and they gave me some really good information about what actions would trigger higher raters and what actions will keep my rates low. Because of the nature of my business, I collect credit card information and process it offline. So if I forget to enter someones street number and zip code into my merchant machine, I automatically get dinged with their higher rate.

Your credit rating will also play a role in the rates they quote you, as well as the number of transactions and total sales you have per month. The rate you quoted is similar to what PayPal charges when you include the individual transaction fee.

Talk to you merchant services to see if there is anything you're doing that is triggering a higher rate, and to see if there is anything you could do to bring the rate down. Just like you can negotiate with your credit card company for lower interest rates, you can do the same with your merchant account services.

CobraPlant:

Probably the best thing to do is talk with your merchant services. I started off with Costco, and they gave me some really good information about what actions would trigger higher raters and what actions will keep my rates low. Because of the nature of my business, I collect credit card information and process it offline. So if I forget to enter someones street number and zip code into my merchant machine, I automatically get dinged with their higher rate.

Your credit rating will also play a role in the rates they quote you, as well as the number of transactions and total sales you have per month. The rate you quoted is similar to what PayPal charges when you include the individual transaction fee.

Talk to you merchant services to see if there is anything you're doing that is triggering a higher rate, and to see if there is anything you could do to bring the rate down. Just like you can negotiate with your credit card company for lower interest rates, you can do the same with your merchant account services.

I will try to call them. I have one question. Do you have to settle your card within 24 hrs after a transaction has been authorized on Authorize.net? I typically wait for 2-3 days before charging the card. Do I get penalized for that?

You can authorize the card initially and then settle it later. I believe the time frame is dependent on your merchant bank ... in your case Nova. I believe two to five days is common. Check with your bank to be sure.

Here is a very good Wiki article on the Credit Card services - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_account