No one has ever seen Bigfoot. Is he real? Is there such a thing as a free merchant account?

Apparently a lot of people want to know the answer to this question since Google returns some 33,200,000 results with the query of “free merchant account.”

The simple answer is:  NO

No way.

Step into your reasonable mindset for a moment and consider whether anything is ever free.

Don’t Waste Your Time Searching

Time and money are two of the most valuable resources you can have, so do you really want to spend your time searching for something that doesn’t exist?

You might as well pack your camping gear and backpack and set out to the woods of Montana in search of bigfoot.

I would say that your success in finding a free merchant account is about the same as finding bigfoot. If you find either, I would LOVE to hear about it.

Some Companies Advertise “Free”

I occasionally search online for merchant account advertisements and from time to time I’ll see free services or products being offered by various merchant account providers.

The free item might be a terminal, or a free transaction cost.

Sometimes companies advertise free discount rates.

I found this advertisement on Google recently and I have blurred out the company name and website. I am not picking on any particular company here, it’s more the idea behind the advertisement.

I’m sure their intent is to peak interest by flashing a 0% rate and I’m quite sure they are successful in getting interested parties to click on their advertisement.

The problem is that they don’t tell you about the other 3 rates that you will pay, which are going to be higher than usual, to offset the “free” zero percent category that they are promising in their advertisement.

Don’t Be Fooled By Free

If you’re a regular reader to this blog you hear about effective rate a lot. The reason for this is that monitoring your effective rate is one of the best ways to wade through the muck, smoke and mirrors of merchant account processing.

It can be a very confusing game if you don’t know what to look for, so effective rate management is an easy and important aspect to focus on.

If you have had experience with a provider that advertised or promised zero percent or something else free that didn’t (or DID) turn out to be true I’d love to hear about it.

Stick With Honesty

There are a lot of merchant account providers that don’t advertise free merchant accounts because they know it’s misleading.

The fact is that there are real costs associated with accepting credit cards at your place of business and someone has to pay those fees.

So, leave the Bigfoot search for someone else. Perhaps you should start looking for a reliable merchant account provider and someone who will be there for you and your company in time of need rather than someone who is going to start the relationship off with a misleading advertisement.