Some comments from a merchant in Canada (me):
Canadian Visas, Mastercards, (and Amex) are processed the same as any
other Visa/MC on the network. If your merchant provider is charging
you more, then they are ripping you off.
For example: In my business, or through my employer, our fees are
identical, whether the card is fom Canada, the US, Japan, or Outer
Mongolia. The cardholder ends up paying any fees assosciated with
currency conversion, as the charge on their bill is converted to their
home currency and the issuer tacks in a percentage fee to the
cardholder.
Establishing relationships with Canadian merchant companies could be
difficult for you. Most merchant accounts in Canada are with major
chartered banks (or one of a handful of large processing companies.
For example, recently, Royal Bank of Canada spun off it's Visa
merchant services and Bank of Montreal spun off it's Mastercard
Merchant services into a new joint company called Moneris solutions.)
Typically, you would need to have a business account in a Canadian
Bank for settlement of the transactions, and you would need to have a
business license somewhere in Canada, (and possibly also need Canadian
citizenship. I had to proce my citizenship when I opened my business
accounts) to open such an account. Also your transactions would be
processed in Canadian dollars.
My best suggestion is to shop around for a better service provider.
Perhaps you could deal directly with a bank instead of with a seocnd
or third tier compnay that charges too much? |
