Earlier this summer, I reported on a FeeFighters user who was totally ripped off by her credit card processor. Luckily, she found a processor on FeeFighters who will save her serious money and act in an ethical manner. However, she took some steps to lower her credit card processing fees. These steps are easy and will have a tangible affect on her bottom line:

1) Impose a minimum for credit card use- Although this action may seem obvious, until recently it was illegal to set minimums. The Durbin amendment, passed in the last few weeks, is part of the larger Wall Street reform law and makes it absolutely legal for merchants to set a minimum value for credit card use.

2) Swipe credit cards instead of keying them in- Swiping a credit card triggers a lower interchange fee than keying it in. A card present, Visa credit card is about 1.47%+$0.10 while a card not present, Visa credit card has an interchange fee of1.85%+$0.10. That’s a difference of 38 basis points. This may not seem like a lot, but can represent significant savings for a low volume, high number of transactions business.  (To put in perspective, almost $400 for $100,000 in monthly volume…over a year, $4800 in savings just from making a small change)

3) Offer incentives- This business owner encouraged customers to purchase gift cards, on which she offered 10% savings. So for example, upon selling a $50 gift card, the customer saves $5 while the business owner only gets charged processing fees for one transaction of $50, instead of 10 $5 transactions.

4) Educate your customers- Communities care about small business owners. Doing something simple to educate your customers may help them make a better payment choice for you. For example, the lady in question is considering hanging up a poster explaining credit card processing fees to her customers.

If you’re a small business owner, start an auction on FeeFighters now to get bids from top-tier credit card processors and start saving money in minutes.