UniBul Merchant Services Launches New Payment Processing Program for Timeshare Advertisers

Aug. 20, 2008 - PRLog -- UniBul Merchant Services announced today the planned launch on August, 28 of a new credit card processing program for merchants involved in timeshare advertising.

A steady stream of emails and telephone calls from timeshare advertising companies has clearly indicated the fact that their payment processing needs were severely underserved. Communications have been dominated by three main issues:

1. Processing Limits.
2. Processing Rates.
3. Downtime during the Switch from Current Processor.

The processing statements of fifteen timeshare advertisers revealed an average credit card processing rate of 2.55%, while nine of them had a processing limit that allowed them, on average, to process about a third of their orders. Eleven timeshare advertising companies had a portion of their monthly processing volumes placed in escrow accounts as a reserve, for various periods of time.

Businesses that advertise timeshares are engaged in a high-risk activity, as defined by Visa and MasterCard, and payment processing companies are expected to be cautious when evaluating such applicants for merchant accounts. Their main concern is the levels of chargebacks that timeshare advertisers have historically generated. This is a legitimate concern. If unable to keep the share of their charged-back transactions less than one percent of the overall number of transactions, the merchant will probably lose its processing account and the processor may be fined by the Credit Card Associations. Our study has shown that, as a result, payment processing companies are being excessively demanding of applicants in their efforts to minimize potential losses.

UniBul Merchant Services has found a better way to resolve the issue. The emphasis is placed on providing timeshare advertising organizations with the knowledge, tools and support to enable them to process card transactions in a way that is compliant with Visa and MasterCard regulations. UniBul Merchant Services’ new timeshare advertizing program includes a best practices guide for processing transactions online. Also provided are instructions on what to include in policies on order cancellations, refunds and handling sensitive payment information and how to communicate them to customers. Implementing these procedures will minimize chargebacks. Maintaining low chargeback levels guarantees that no processing limits are imposed.

UniBul Merchant Services is using the pass-through pricing model to ensure lowest processing cost for the merchants. With this payment model the processor’s transaction cost is added to the interchange rate at which each card is processed. UniBul Merchant Services’ transaction cost is the same for all types of cards, thus guaranteeing that no transaction is overcharged. The pass-through pricing structure also ensures that debit cards are processed at much lower costs, as their interchange rates are typically much more advantageous than those of credit cards. At present interchange rates, merchants processing with UniBul Merchant Services are charged 2.15% for consumer credit card transactions and 1.94% for consumer debit card transactions.

The switch of payment processing services from current providers to UniBul Merchant Services is a seamless process and merchants do not experience any downtime. The old account is not cancelled until the new one is fully set up and functional.

By launching this program, UniBul Merchant Services is seeking to bring processing costs for timeshare advertising companies down to acceptable levels and to contribute to a sharper focus on the processes and practices that are necessary to ensure that merchants get the best out of their merchant accounts and avoid having processing limits imposed on them.

Contact:
UniBul Merchant Services LLC
617-861-6101 – phone
617-684-1709 - fax
timeshare@unibulmerchantservices.com - email
http://www.unibulmerchantservices.com/payment-processing-... - web

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UniBul Merchant Services is an Independent Sales Organization (ISO), registered with Visa and MasterCard as a provider of payment processing services for US businesses.

http://www.unibulmerchantservices.com