For plumbers
Payments for plumbing companies, on your own merchant account.
Service calls, water heaters and repipes are invoiced from the software you already use. The question is what each payment costs you once the invoice is paid.
Where the fees go
Built-in payments typically charge 2.9–3.5% per card and 1% per bank payment.
Your own merchant account typically runs about 2.1–2.4% on cards all in, and a few dollars per bank payment (published rates and sources). For plumbers, that shows up here:
Emergency calls
A card payment on a same-day call pays the full built-in rate.
Bigger jobs, bigger fees
Repipes and sewer lines carry the same percentage as a drain clear.
Bank payments at 1%
Built-in payments typically take 1% of a bank payment, however large the invoice.
The math
One example: a $2,500 water heater replacement.
Illustrative. The built-in rate is a common published one, 2.9% + 30¢ (sources). 2.25% is the middle of what a small business typically pays all in on its own merchant account (Merchant Cost Consulting). Your rate depends on your cards and your account.
| Paid by | Built-in | Own account |
|---|---|---|
| Card | $72.80 | about $56.25 |
| Bank payment | $25.00 | a few dollars |
About $16.55 less on this card payment. It isn't always cheaper: below about $43,000 a year in cards, account fees can eat the difference, and a mix heavy in Amex or business cards costs more anywhere. Estimate yours
How it works in your day
Same software, same invoices. A Pay button on each one.
SwitchKeep Pay runs in Chrome beside the software you already invoice from. It reads the open invoice, takes the payment on your own merchant account and records it on that invoice. Nothing else in your software changes.
In the office
Take the card on the phone from the open invoice. It's recorded as paid in your software.
From the job
The tech emails a pay link from the merchant portal on their phone. The customer pays on their own phone.
Unpaid invoices
Pay links send reminders after 3, 7 and 14 days, so the office chases less.
FAQ
Questions.
Can my techs take payment on site?
Yes, by pay link. From the merchant portal on their phone, a tech can email the customer a pay link. Keying in a card number happens in Chrome on a computer.
Do I need a card reader?
No. Customers pay through a pay link, or the office keys the card in Chrome. There's no reader to buy.
Do I have to change my software?
No. You keep your software, your customers and your invoices. SwitchKeep takes the payment and records it on the invoice.
What does SwitchKeep cost?
Nothing to use: the extension and the merchant portal are free, and you never get a bill from us. We're paid through a share of card processing.
See your own number.
Send a recent processing statement. We'll price the same month on your own merchant account, line by line.