At Giv Local, transparency is everything — we design pricing around what’s best for your business, not what’s easiest to sell. There are several ways we structure payment-processing fees depending on your volume, industry, and customer experience goals:

• Interchange-Plus Pricing — You pay the actual card-network cost (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) plus a small markup. This is the most transparent model because you see exactly what goes to the card brands and what goes to your processor. Ideal for most established businesses with consistent volume.

• Flat-Rate Pricing — A single predictable rate for all transactions. Simple, easy to reconcile, and great for startups or low-volume merchants who want stability over granular optimization.

• Surcharge Pricing — Passes a small fee (typically ~3%) to customers who choose to pay by credit card, while keeping debit transactions fee-free. This can eliminate or significantly offset processing costs, and Giv Local ensures it’s fully compliant with state and card-brand rules.

• Custom or Hybrid Models — For nonprofits, high-volume retailers, or organizations with mixed online/in-person sales, we can combine models or apply tiered pricing, cash-discount programs, or membership-based options to optimize cost, compliance, and customer experience.

We proactively avoid hidden surprises. Our standard contract clearly states all recurring fees, set-up costs, early termination fees (if any), and any pass-through regulatory costs. For example: PCI compliance fees, equipment shipping, statement fees — we disclose these up front. If your business model changes (e.g., higher risk category) we’ll discuss any fee changes with you. Because we support mid-sized merchants and diverse verticals, our team will walk you through cost implications specific to your business (ticket size, volume, business type) to avoid surprises.

Giv Local offers a full suite of payment acceptance:

• In-store POS (EMV chip, swipe, contactless)

• Mobile payments (tablet/phone readers, tap-to-pay)

• E-commerce/online gateway integrations (website checkout, mobile app)

• Virtual terminal for phone/mail orders

• ACH/eCheck if your business needs bank-to-bank payments

We’ll ensure your merchant account supports all the channels you need, and help integrate whichever mix your business uses. We believe offering multiple channels drives incremental revenue and better customer experience.

In many cases we can have you processing in 48-72 hours, especially for standard retail or low-risk businesses (excluding time to ship hardware). For more complex models (higher risk verticals, international, large ticket) it may take a few more days as we perform underwriting and compliance checks. We coordinate hardware/software shipping, gateway set-up, and testing so your downtime is minimal. Many providers advertise this as well.

Security is a cornerstone for us. At Giv Local:

• We ensure your system is compliant with the PCI Security Standards Council requirements (PCI-DSS) so you’re meeting card-data security obligations.

• We support EMV (chip) and contactless/tap-to-pay to reduce fraud risk.

• We integrate strong tokenisation and encryption for online/​mobile channels.

• We offer fraud-monitoring tools and chargeback alerts.

We’ll guide you on your liability footprint, mandatory audits/scans, and provide monitoring tools so you are protected and compliant. Many merchants underestimate this risk — non-compliance can lead to huge fines or termination of account.

Once you batch your transactions (or automatically if automated), the funds will typically settle to your bank account in 1-2 business days for most merchants. For e-commerce/online payments or higher-risk categories, it may be 2-3 days or more. With Giv Local we’ll show you the expected settlement schedule specific to your business type.

Support matters. At Giv Local you’ll have:

• A dedicated merchant-services rep/account manager you can contact.

• 24/7/365 technical support for payment-down or urgent issues (yes, even nights/weekends).

• Chargeback guidance: We’ll assist you with documentation, dispute management and mitigation strategies to keep your fees and risk down.

• Regular reviews: We’ll work with you to review performance, fees, and strategic improvements.

Our goal: you should feel you have a partner, not just a vendor.

Switching can be simpler than you think — and Giv Local is built to make transitions smooth. Here’s how we help:

• We’ll audit your current processing statement (at no cost) to identify all your fees and contract terms (including any early termination fees) so you clearly understand your cost to switch.

• We’ll coordinate the migration of merchant account, hardware, gateway, and staff training to minimise downtime.

• We’ll assist with contract exit strategy from your prior provider (notifying them, planning cut-over).

• Because one of our core strengths is transparency, we ensure you know what you’re switching to and from.

Many providers advertise “easy switch” services but gloss over hidden costs or downtime — we keep you informed.

Integration is something we evaluate carefully on a case-by-case basis. Every business setup is unique — from point-of-sale systems and e-commerce platforms to accounting tools and mobile readers — so our team will review your existing environment and determine the most seamless path forward.

If there’s a way to integrate directly, we’ll make it happen.

Our technical partners support a wide range of modern gateways, cloud-based POS systems, and e-commerce APIs, and we can usually connect to most open or standards-based platforms.

However, for merchants currently using Square, Stripe, PayPal, or Intuit (QuickBooks Payments), these systems are typically closed ecosystems, meaning they don’t allow direct third-party integration. In those cases, we’ll help you transition to one of our modern alternatives — systems that look, feel, and function just as smoothly but give you lower costs, better reporting, and local support.

Our goal is to make the process simple, transparent, and tailored to your business — so you end up with a solution that’s not only compatible, but built to grow with you.