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A note from the editor...
Greetings FNO Artists and Craftspeople,
Michael DiGiovanni, the owner of
First National Processing, wrote an article specifically for Festival
Network Online exhibitors shedding light on an important topic
regarding merchant account services who are taking advantage of people
by offering free wireless machines.
This article is going out to both the commercial/food and the
artist/crafter newsletter this month, so if you subscribe to both,
sorry for the duplicate article.
If you have a website, let's swap links! Email carrie AT festivalnet.com if you are interested.
This month's featured artist is Sally Sotelo.
Julie
FNO Marketing Chick
Festival Network Online
http://www.myspace.com/festivals
On Myspace? Friend Request FNO and send me a message!
P.S. PLEASE RATE THE SHOWS IN OUR DATABASE. Ask us how if you need help!
EMAIL: info@festivalnet.com
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« Newsletters Archive
- To view previous newsletters, check out our archives! We
publish 3 newsletters each month! Art/Craft, Food/Commercial,
& Performer!
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Buyer Beware: The Truth About “FREE” Wireless Credit Card Machines by Michael DiGiovanni
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Increased
competition in the credit card merchant services industry has prompted
many of the vendors to resort to unfair, crooked and intentionally
misleading marketing and sales tactics in order trick merchants into
signing with their companies. All too many unsuspecting merchants
are falling victim to these dishonest companies while getting the false
impression that they are getting a fair, unbeatable, and too good to be
true, deal. Unfortunately, the “Free Wireless Credit Card
Machine” deal is too good to be true and any merchant that sets up this
account is going to get burned. The fact remains that nothing in life
is free, especially a wireless credit card machine that costs all
merchant service companies in excess of $600.00 to purchase.
There is simply not enough monthly residual income generated off
merchant accounts to justify these merchant service providers taking a
six to seven hundred up front loss. So why do they do it? They do
it because the sales reps are only disclosing about one third of the
fees and commitments applicable to the account. The naked eye
will see a low up-front set-up fee, a seemingly competitive qualified
discount rate and transaction fee, and a fairly average monthly service
fee. What these shady companies do not disclose is an extremely
long-term commitment with a severe early termination fee, a very high
monthly minimum requirement, excessive mid qualified fees and
non-qualified fees, and additional wireless transaction fees. The
truth is that a merchant account with this type of set-up will generate
about ten times the profit than a standard account and the merchant
will actually end up paying for the terminal several times over within
the 1st year, but the merchant will never own the machine. To top that
off the companies are protected from the merchant skipping with their
equipment because they have them locked into a long term 3-5 year
contract with a cancellation fee ranging from $750-$2000. So the
risk has been mitigated entirely and the deceptive tactics of using the
word “FREE” is successfully generating an enormous amount of
business. As a result, an extremely large percentage of merchant
service companies are in a panic because of their lost market share and
are therefore mimicking this deal, sacrificing their honesty and their
integrity, taking unfair advantage of unsuspecting merchants all over
the United States and blackening the eye of the entire industry.
We at 1st National pride ourselves on honesty, full disclosure and
superior service and support. We have so much more to offer to a
merchant than simply low rates and upfront fees although ours are the
most competitive in the industry. Forty percent of our business
comes from referrals of customers who have found that our word is gold
and our service is second to none. We would never consider sacrificing
our impeccable reputation in a crooked attempt to generate more
business. To compete, we do offer the same “Free” credit card
machine deal but any merchant who inquires gets a detailed full
disclosure list of every single fee and detail that would apply to that
type of merchant account. They also receive our expert opinion and
explanation of why it is simply not a smart business decision to opt
for the “Free Wireless Credit Card Machine”.
We are appalled by the practices of these other companies and what it
has done to our industry. Our sales reps now have to spend
significant amounts of time explaining to perspective merchants that
the companies saying “Free, Free, Free” are not being honest. The
purpose of this newsletter is to educate perspective merchants in an
attempt to spread the word throughout the industry and to finally put
an end to these ridiculous business practices that are all too
common. On our website, www.1nbcard.com/fno we have listed three
sample deals. The 1st is the typical “Free Wireless Credit Card
Machine” deal, which is crooked and only discloses about 1/3 of the
information about the account. The second example is a full disclosure
of the same “Free Wireless Credit Card Machine” deal pointing out all
of the fees that were hidden in example one. And the 3rd example
is a deal in which the merchant buys a credit card machine for an
up-front fee of $619, owns the machine, and saves a significant amount
of money in the long run because they are getting the best possible
rates and monthly fees in the industry. We seriously encourage
all merchants to view this information because it clearly displays in
dollars how badly you will be ripped off if you fall victim to the
“Free Wireless Credit Card Machine” scam.
We sincerely hope this newsletter helps merchants to make educated
decisions and to avoid getting burned when choosing a merchant service
provider. For more information on this or any other merchant service
related question please call us Toll Free: 866-964-1622 or visit our website.
Article Submitted by Michael DiGiovanni
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FNO Featured Artist - Sally Sotelo of Glass Clayhouse
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Brand new FNO Member Sally Sotelo is this month's Featured Artist.
I have always loved little glass bottles and hers are awe-inspiring
with mystic little pictures. The one on the left, "Green Vintage
Bottle", with its intimate old fashion beach scene and ribbons of gold
was my favorite of her collection.
I also loved the one below, "Geisha Bottle" for its bright hue, symmetry and gold wire work.
Sally offers consumers the choice to have them filled with bath
salts, a sweet touch to her intimate little craft. In addition to
decorative bottles, Sally makes stained glass and jewelry and sells
them at events and on Etsy.

Visit her online store here:
glassclayhouse.etsy.com
Email Julie Cochrane if you are interested in appearing here. Put "FNO Artist Feature" in subject line.
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