In the merchant services industry no matter who you speak to you ultimately are going to receive the same product. There are thousands of companies all capable of establishing a merchant account for your business. But these companies all are sales arms of a limited number of companies that actually process the credit cards. Once your merchant account is established, the company that established your account doesn’t control it anymore. The bank that processes your credit cards does. Also, the company that established your account doesn’t do most of your customer support. The bank that processes your credit cards does. So, once your account is established, you are dealing with the same people regardless of the size of the company who established your merchant account.
This is similar to another common misperception in the merchant services industry that local sales agents are better then national sales agents. Or that a local bank is better then anyone else because they are your bank. But once again, they are just alternative fronts for the same back end: the processing bank.
When choosing a merchant account the biggest factor is cost. Once your merchant account is established the only recurring issue you will have is cost. There is no more paperwork to fill out or details to be scrutinized. It just comes down to who will cost you less (after all, it is the same service). When comparing providers, use our comparison worksheet to compare the rates providers have quoted you. Then use the Advanced Rate Calculator to calculate the information you gathered on that worksheet.
Naturally the choice as to whom you choose to provide your merchant account is yours to make. But you should explore all of your options as you might find that the assumptions you have about the size of a company might end up costing you more in the long run.