Acquiring: bank rates. Settlements with plastic cards

Acquiring is the acceptance of cards to pay for goods. To provide the service, the bank establishes terminals in trade networks. Recently, in addition to standard devices, portable mobile terminals have become popular, allowing payments without binding to the location of the office. Which device is better to choose and how to activate the service, read on.

The Essence

To use the service, you need to conclude an acquiring agreement. It will specify the terms of service, the amount of commission, the period of reimbursement, etc. Installation and connection of equipment, training of personnel is free. Some banks offer to lease the terminal. This service allows the outlet to increase the number of customers, the turnover of funds, to reduce the risks of cash payments and the cost of collection (at high speeds). According to statistics, the use of terminals allows banks to attract 20-30% of customers.

Prerequisites

Acceptance of cards for payment of services in Russia became mandatory for shops and trade enterprises. Not so long ago a law was issued, according to which organizations that do not accept plastic are fined 30-50 thousand rubles from 2015. Payment for acquiring attracts more visitors (especially tourists).

The higher the check amount, the higher the probability that the customer will not have enough cash to pay. In the segment of restaurants and shops, the share of acquiring is growing. Only in 2015 the number of transactions through plastic cards increased by 18%.

To whom does acquiring appear?

Alfa-Bank and other lending institutions serve both new and existing customers. Having an account is not an important condition. Just new customers will have to file more documents to conclude the contract.

Choice of cards

The minimum set includes Visa and MasterCard. If the trading network is aimed at servicing customers from government agencies, you should also include Visa Electron, Maestro, MasterCard Electronic. But the Diners Club, American Express, as well as Gold and Platinum cards, banks only give out to very rich customers.

Terms of reimbursement of funds - 1-3 days. If the organization has an account with the acquirer, the total amount of operations minus the commission is credited the next day. If the main service takes place in another organization, then the inter-bank settlement takes another three days. Some financial institutions are waiting for full reimbursement from the systems and then transfer. Then the time stretches to three to five days. If there is no possibility or desire to wait, you can order urgent processing of payments for a surcharge.

Commission

The fee is determined as a percentage of the purchase amount. The size is set for each network separately and depends on such factors as: scope of activity, average monthly turnover, period of work in the market, type of connection, etc. The acquiring commission also depends on the intermediaries. From the received remuneration, a certain percentage (most often 1.1%) is transferred to the payment system, and a part to the issuing bank. Due to the high competition for acquiring, bank rates on average fluctuate within 1.5-4% of the transaction amount.

The more operations, the less the maintenance fee. For customers with small turnovers there may be a monthly fee for using the device. The way of information transfer (Internet or by wire) is also important.

Technologies

How to set up acquiring? "Alfa-Bank" or other credit institution after signing the contract with the client provides the company with special equipment and programs. Currently, POS-terminals are used (Point Of Sale). This device reads information from the card and communicates with the bank. Terminals are conventional and wireless. The latter are more suitable for waiters or couriers. The devices read the magnetic tapes and chips.

Information to the bank can be transferred through:

• Dial-up - costs less, but the connection takes several minutes;
• GSM, GPRS - need the Internet;
• Ethernet, Wi-Fi - an instant response.

Together with the delivery of equipment, banks instruct staff, telling employees how to use the device and cancel payments. Also, a short instruction is given for setting up the device, if necessary. Here is how acquiring is carried out.

Tariffs of banks

A commission may be provided for connecting and configuring third-party equipment. The advantage of using bank terminals is that in the event of a breakdown, replacement or flashing is performed for free. This should be taken into account before registering acquiring. Tariffs of banks provide for "thresholds" of transactions on cards. For example, if the amount of transactions for a month is less than 50 thousand rubles, an additional fee may be provided in the form of a fine or an account maintenance fee.

Connect the service simply. But before you sign the acquiring agreement, you need to carefully study the proposals of banks. When choosing an institution, you need to pay attention to what cards it serves, the amount of commission, the terms of transfer of funds and other conditions.

Let's consider what tariffs Sberbank provides for acquiring. Depending on the amount of revenue received from cards, the commission can vary in the range of 0.5-2.2% of the amount. In standard tariffs, the cost of equipment is 1.7-2.2 thousand rubles. per month. After completing the application, the software can be downloaded from the site. Sberbank also offers its customers the opportunity to connect Internet acquiring on individual terms. For the implementation of site management systems, there are several ready-made solutions.

Online payments

Internet-acquiring is the reception of bank cards for payment through the Internet. To provide services, credit institutions and processing centers use a special interface that allows cardholders to make payments on websites. The only difference between this service and the standard is that the data is not read by the card reader, but is entered by the payer in a special form.

Mobile acquiring

Sberbank and other lending institutions in the country have recently started using wireless mPOS terminals. In the West, for these purposes Square, PayPal, iZettle have long been serving. In Russia, there were analogues: 2Can, LifePay. These devices are designed for IP, exempt from cash register technology. They read the data from the card, transfer them to the application on the smartphone, tablet. The service requests an amount, draws up a payment and sends the data to the bank.

To connect to VTB acquiring via mPOS-terminal, you need to provide a certificate of TIN, OGRN, the director's passport, an account opening agreement, a photo of the manager and wait a couple of days. Each bank is serviced by a certain bank. At 2Can the acquirer is "Russian Standard" and "Discovery". "Prombusinessbank" together with "Express-Volga" and "Gazenergobank" service LifePay. "PrivatBank" deals with iPay, "Alfa-Bank" - Pay-Me, and "Messenger" - SumUp.

The cost of mobile acquiring is more expensive. Tariffs of banks average 2.5-5% per transaction. The minimum and maximum thresholds are also set for the amount of payments and their amount. When calculating the efficiency of the service, it is necessary to take into account the fact that acquiring promotes the growth of customers by 20-30%. So the costs can be fully justified.

How to make a choice?

Acquiring is necessary for shops, sales offices and places with a payment point. Especially for networks with a large number of cash offices, a comprehensive solution has been developed - this is a program that integrates with cash machines when implemented. Delivery services that not only accept payment, but also issue a check, it is worth connecting a hybrid POS-terminal. If the amount is small, people pay with the couriers in cash. Mobile acquiring is more suitable for insurance brokers who need to accept payment by check above the average. The main part of users of mPOS-terminals are IP and companies whose activity is connected with receiving payments in unsuitable places: online shops, taxi and freight services, entrepreneurs providing home, medical, and other services at home.