9-2 Closing Your Merchant Account Batch

Clearing Your Merchant Account Batch

Credit card processors require that your batch be closed at least once every 24-hours. If you fail to clear your batch at least once every 24-hours all of the transactions within that batch will most likely downgrade to the non-qualified (highest) processing rate. For example, if you process $1,500 worth of credit card transactions in a day at a qualified rate of 1.79%, and you leave work neglecting to close your credit card batch, that batch will expire.

When you return to work the following day and proceed to run the batch, the entire $1,500 worth of transactions will now be charged the non-qualified rate instead of the 1.79% it would have been charged if you had remembered to close the batch in time. As we have covered in section 4 of this guide titled Merchant Account Rates & Fees, the non-qualified rate is often more than double the qualified rate. When a credit card batch is not closed within the required 24-hour time period it is said to have expired. Letting your batches expire can prove to be a very expensive habit.

Many merchant service providers offer a very convenient feature called auto-batch close . Auto-batch close is a command that is built in to your merchant account program that tells your processing equipment to automatically close your batch at a pre-determined time, if you have not already done so. The batch is only closed automatically if there are transactions to run so that you do not incur unnecessary fees. Auto-batch is not available with all providers, and is not compatible with some machines, software, and gateways, but it is a great feature to have if possible. Be sure to inquire about auto-batching with your merchant service provider if you have not already done so.

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