6 Scary Signs You Work with the Wrong Sage 100 Payments Provider

Sage 100 Payments Provider - Find out what to watch out for and what the impact could potentially be.

Does your Sage 100 credit card processing merchant services bill haunt you?  If you’re looking for a new Sage 100 integrated payments provider, these are the 6 scariest mistakes to avoid. 

Scary Sign #1 - The terms are unclear

Be sure to clearly understand the “terms" when you’re reviewing your contract. This means the amount of time you’re bound by the contract. A term of three years is common. A 5-year term is not common and should put you on high alert.

You should also be very wary of the 3-year automatic renewal term that has a 90-day window. What could happen at the end of three years and you miss that 90-day notice window, you're bound for another three years automatically. That’s a problem if you’re not getting good rates with your provider.

What is a lot more fair for you is a 3-year term with an annual renewal. Even better is the month-to-month renewal. This type of term agreement gives you the opportunity to process with much less risk if you're not happy.

Scary Sign #2 - Waivers of any kind

It's not normal to see waivers of damages or claims provisions in a legitimate contract. You may find processors that have these in their contracts, which is a sign of a potential problem. For example, if a mistake is made affecting your operating account that ultimately causes other damages or loss, the processor are not held liable. They may fix the operating account error, but they're not going to be liable for any damage as a result of that mistake. So be especially aware of any clauses that have to do with your bank account.

Scary Sign #3 -Security interest

The clause providing for security interest is a huge red flag. It's highly unusual for a merchant processing agreement. It could put you in violation of loan documents if you’ve got financing arrangements with a bank, so be on the look out there.

Scary Sign #4 - Unilateral indemnification

Indemnification provisions are not unusual in merchant processing agreements, but ideally you'll want a more mutual indemnification provision. Look at the indemnification provision anytime you've got a merchant processing agreement to review to be sure that it is mutual or that it's not overreaching.

Scary Sign #5 - Termination provisions with fees

Ideally, your contract will have month-to-month terms. Regardless, you always want to look at the termination provisions and be sure you know how to terminate the agreement if you need to. A very limited termination right can lock you in and limit your options, so you want to be aware of that.

Scary Sign #6 - Exclusivity is the biggest red flag

If you send transactions to another processor, you're violating the exclusivity which often triggers the early termination fees. That's how an exclusivity provision limits you to using this processor “exclusively.” Terminating the agreement and switching processors violates exclusivity and triggers early termination fees.

In extreme cases, the early termination fee clause calls for the processor to be paid for fees it would have been paid during the remaining time period in the agreement. The card associations require early termination fees to be made plain in the contractual language, but it should still be examined closely.

In one example, if you were three years in and missed the auto renewal window, it would auto renew for another three years. In an attempt to terminate a month later, the merchant processor may try and hit you for their processing fees for the next 35 months in one sum.

Whether you need to process a check payment on an invoice inside the software, accept a credit card from your website, or using a virtual terminal, all payments auto-populate in your accounts receivable cash receipts automatically inside Sage. You and your team will avoid all that manual, tedious, time-consuming, and error-prone data entry or file transfer.

Paya's credit card processing and payment solutions integrate seamlessly with ERP systems like Sage 100 and Sage 100cloud, enabling you to accept payments easily inside your software. The Paya integration automatically posts payments to invoices, eliminating the need for manual reconciliation at the end of the day.

Get Help from Paya's Integrated Payment Experts

Paya is the leader in delivering simpler, more efficient, and deeply integrated payment solutions with more than 25 years of industry experience and 2,000+ industry customers and partners. Paya is committed to delivering best-in-class integrated payment solutions across the full suite of Sage ERP products. We are proud to be Sage’s preferred partner for Integrated Payments in the US.   

At Paya we are unique from our competitors because we emphasize solutions engineering, engaging our domain experts as part of the early sales process. Through a collaborative but simple hands-on process, we develop a deep understanding of our partners’ current processes and pain points and requirements to ensure you get a platform and system with the capabilities you need. Paya has enabled businesses to optimize billing and invoice processes, deliver more payment options and greater flexibility to their customers, and improve back-office efficiencies.

Contact Paya's Acumatica Integrated Payments team to schedule a free consultation today! 

Learn more about how our credit card processing experts, solutions, and processes can benefit your organization and save you money!! 

See Paya's Acumatica Integrated Payments solution on ERPVAR's site.