[ SEC.00 / SITE · CARD PROCESSING FOR CONTRACTORS ]
Card processing for contractors in Tampa Bay.
SEND ME YOUR STATEMENT. IF I CAN'T BEAT IT, I'LL SAY SO.
Every card you run costs you a slice, and almost nobody knows what the slice actually is. I read the statement you already get, tell you your real rate, and put a comparison in writing. Sometimes the honest answer is keep what you have. When it isn't, the switch is one application and one device, and the first new statement gets checked against the last old one so we both know it worked.
LOCATED IN PALM HARBOR ONE LOCAL CONTACT · DENNIS MINK NO LONG-TERM CONTRACT
Which one is you?
Four different leaks, four different fixes. The statement gets read before anything gets recommended.
You don't know your rate.
Somebody quoted you 1.9% once. The statement says something else, in a language designed so you won't check. Your real rate is total fees divided by total volume, and almost nobody has done that division.
THIS ONE'S ME ↘Fees you've never read.
PCI non-compliance. Monthly minimum. Statement fee. Batch fee. A regulatory line that nobody regulates. They're small on purpose, and they add up to a second rate hiding under the first one.
THIS ONE'S ME ↘You eat the fee on deposits.
A homeowner puts a $6,000 deposit on a card and the processor keeps its slice before the material is even ordered. On big-ticket work the deposit fee is the one that actually hurts, and it's the one most quotes ignore.
THIS ONE'S ME ↘They can't pay you on site.
The job's done, the homeowner is standing right there, and the answer is "I'll mail a check." Every day between done and paid is your money working for somebody else. A tap on a phone closes that gap.
THIS ONE'S ME ↘None of these you? Rate known, fees read, deposits handled, paid on site? Skip to who this is not for. I'll save you the scroll.
Run your own numbers.
Pull up last month's statement. Find total fees. Find total card volume. Divide. That's your effective rate, and it's the only number that matters; the one you were quoted is a memory. You know your volume; I don't. So run it yourself:
Say it's $40,000 a month through the card, and the division says 3.1%. That's $1,240 a month in fees. Half a point less is $200 a month, $2,400 a year, for running the same cards you already run. Your numbers will differ; that's why you do the division. If the answer is a rounding error, keep what you have and see who this is not for. If it's real money, it's real money every month, forever, and it comes out of jobs you already did.
What I'd actually do.
For "you don't know your rate"
The review. You send the last two statements; I send back your effective rate, what each line is, and what the same volume would cost on the pricing I can offer, in writing. Two numbers side by side. If mine isn't lower, the email says keep what you have, and that's the end of it.
For "fees you've never read"
Every line gets a name and a verdict: real cost, junk, or negotiable. The junk goes. What's left is priced so that the rate on the paper is the rate you pay, and the first statement on the new account proves it or I hear about it before you do.
For "you eat the fee on deposits"
Big-ticket deposits get priced as big-ticket deposits, not as a coffee shop's card swipe. On the kind of volume a seawall or a roof runs, the difference between a flat retail rate and pricing built for large tickets is the whole argument. That's a number, not a promise, and it goes on the comparison.
For "they can't pay you on site"
A tap-to-pay terminal on the truck, or a payment link on the invoice and the estimate, so the homeowner pays while you're standing there or from the couch that night. If I built your website, the estimate form can take the deposit too. Done and paid on the same day.
- 01YOUR EFFECTIVE RATE, IN WRITING
- 02LINE-BY-LINE COMPARISON, OLD VS. NEW
- 03THE APPLICATION, HANDLED WITH YOU
- 04TERMINAL OR PAYMENT LINKS, SET UP
- 05INVOICING AND DEPOSIT LINKS FOR ESTIMATES
- 06FIRST-STATEMENT CHECK, OLD VS. NEW
- 07ONE PERSON TO CALL WHEN A NUMBER MOVES
Your first statement on the new account gets compared to your last one on the old, line by line, in writing. If it isn't lower, you hear it from me before you notice it yourself.
DENNIS MINK · THE FIRST-STATEMENT PROMISE
What's proven, and what isn't yet.
Proven: how the money works, and who I am. I'm an agent for a payment processor. I earn a share of the processing on accounts I place, which is why the review is free and why I'd rather tell you to keep what you have than move you onto something that doesn't beat it. The studio behind this page builds websites and business systems for Tampa Bay contractors; the engineering receipts are public on the studio page if you want to look.
Not proven yet: a stack of Tampa Bay statements I've lowered. Processing is the newest thing I do, and I won't show you a savings number I can't tie to a real account. The first reviews are where that stack starts. Until then, what you're holding me to is the comparison in writing and the first-statement promise above.
Who this is not for.
If you run a few thousand dollars a month through cards, the difference between any two honest processors is lunch money, and I'll tell you here what I'd tell you on the phone: don't switch for lunch money. If you're on a good rate with no contract and a bank you can walk into, keep it. If you take cash and checks and like it that way, this page isn't your problem. Bookmark it for the year the tickets get bigger.
But you probably know the guy who complains about his card fees every time the subject comes up. Send him this page. That's worth more to both of us than a switch you didn't need.
What it costs.
The review is free. Processing is priced off your statement, not off a rate card, because the honest number depends on your volume, your average ticket, and how the cards come in. What I publish instead is the terms, so there's nothing to discover later.
- 01PRICING: INTERCHANGE PLUS A STATED MARGIN, SHOWN ON THE COMPARISON
- 02TERM: MONTH TO MONTH, NO EARLY-TERMINATION FEE
- 03EQUIPMENT: THE TERMINAL'S COST, IF ANY, IS ON THE COMPARISON
- 04NO JUNK LINES: EVERY FEE NAMED BEFORE YOU SIGN
- 05FIRST-STATEMENT CHECK IN WRITING
- 06YOU OWN YOUR ACCOUNT AND YOUR DATA. LEAVING IS A PHONE CALL
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01 · TODAY
Send the statement
The last two months. A photo from your phone is fine. Reply to my email with them attached, or hand them to me in Palm Harbor.
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02 · A FEW DAYS
The comparison
Your effective rate, every fee named, and the same volume priced on what I can offer, side by side, in writing. Sometimes it says keep what you have.
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03 · WITHIN THE WEEK
Switch and check
One application, one device or a payment link, and the account is live. The first new statement gets checked against the last old one.
Asked and answered.
"I'm locked into a contract."
Maybe, maybe not. Send the agreement with the statement and I'll read the term and the early-termination clause for you. If leaving costs more than switching saves, I'll say so and we wait for the term to end. If it doesn't, we talk about who eats the fee.
"My bank does it."
Banks resell processing; they don't run it, and the rate is rarely the one you'd get if anyone were competing for the account. Send the statement. If the bank is genuinely good, that's a two-line email from me saying keep it.
"Rates always creep up."
They do when nobody is reading the statement. Mine come with a check: your first statement on the new account gets compared to your last one on the old, line by line, and you get that comparison in writing. After that, tell me when a number moves and I'll find out why.
"What's your cut?"
I'm an agent for a processor. I earn a share of the processing on accounts I place, which is why the review costs you nothing and why I'd rather tell you to keep what you have than move you onto something that doesn't beat it.
"Will my customers notice anything?"
A different terminal or a payment link, that's all. Card acceptance works the same way from their side. If you invoice, they get a link they can pay from their phone; if you're on site, they tap.
"Do I need new equipment?"
Usually one device or none: a tap-to-pay terminal for the truck, or nothing at all if you invoice and take deposits by link. What it costs, if anything, is on the comparison before you decide.
"Is this safe?"
The processor handles card data, not me and not your website; that's how it should be, and it's why I won't build a form that stores a card number. Invoices and deposit links are hosted by the processor, and you never touch the card.
"What happens after I say yes?"
An application, a signature, and the account is usually live within days. Equipment ships or a payment link goes on your estimates. Then the first-statement check, in writing, so we both know it worked.