PayPal Merchant Rate – Don’t Miss Out on the Savings!

I just want to post a quick tip regarding PayPal and their transaction fees. A big benefit to using PayPal for credit card processing is that they charge a flat-rate fee for transactions based on your monthly volume. This can generally save you hundreds, if not thousands over the course of a year versus the qualified, non-qualified tiered system that other credit card processing companies use.  PayPal’s rates break down as follows…

Many people miss out on the savings, though, because once you reach a volume of $3,000 or more per month you must apply for the merchant rate in order to get the lower fee. Until you do this you will not move away from 2.9% and I’ve unintentionally upset quite a few people by informing them of this fact.

To make sure you’re getting the rates you should be you can follow these steps.

1. Sign in to your PayPal account.
2. Click the small Fees link at the bottom of your Account Overview page.
3. Click the link where it shows 2.9% + .30
4. The next page will show you the current rate you are getting.
   1. If it shows anything below 2.9% you’ve already done this and you don’t need to worry about it.
   2. If it shows 2.9% and you feel you should be getting a lower rate, move on to the next step.
5. Click the View Merchant Rate Criteria link.
6. Click the Apply for Merchant Rate link. If you qualify you will automatically be approved for the lower, merchant rate.

Once you’ve been approved you need to maintain your volume of $3,000/mo to remain at that rate. You will not to re-apply, though. It will automatically adjust from that point on.