Gater5326, you are correct in that the deal did start !!! It started on November 15th. FirstData notifies each Merchant who's agreement is expiring that they have 30 days to sign or opt out. If they opt out, they have to cease processing credit cards at the end of their agreement.
So lets think about this .... This is a educated guess of what is happening based on my experience that I got while working for FirstData. While signing up new merchants, FirstData (who takes their Agreements very seriously) would sometimes make changes to the agreement that we were using. When this happened, all of the boxes of existing agreements had to be thrown away (boxes and boxes) and the new ones used. As existing merchants came up for renewal, they were given the most current agreement to sign. So starting November 15th, any Merchant renewing their agreement to process with FirstData for the next year would .... guess what .... you got it .... they had to sign the new agreement to continue processing through FirstData. Now as regards our software furnished by ACS, thirty days before they have to renew the merchants are given the new agreement to look over. If they sign, they can continue to process. If they want to opt out, they must cease processing at the end of their agreement. That means that by December 15th and every day forward as the 30 day notice expires .... they must of signed the agreement and downloaded the software to encrypt their keyboards in order to login to their FirstData Merchant account. FirstData processes approximately 45% of all card transactions in the US. They have 6.2 million merchants. We were told by Mark that the other two processors have several million merchants each. Also, all of them have Channel partners who have merchants. Based on those numbers, I would say that this represents by far the majority of all card transactions here in the US each month and a large share of those in the rest of the world. Keep in mind, November, December and January are the biggest retail months of the year, so most of the merchants (who started their business earlier in the year to get ready for this season) have already signed up before November in order to be able to process cards during this season. This process of starting businesses and obtaining a processor starts early in the year. Just FYI for your figuring.
So lets think about this .... This is a educated guess of what is happening based on my experience that I got while working for FirstData. While signing up new merchants, FirstData (who takes their Agreements very seriously) would sometimes make changes to the agreement that we were using. When this happened, all of the boxes of existing agreements had to be thrown away (boxes and boxes) and the new ones used. As existing merchants came up for renewal, they were given the most current agreement to sign. So starting November 15th, any Merchant renewing their agreement to process with FirstData for the next year would .... guess what .... you got it .... they had to sign the new agreement to continue processing through FirstData. Now as regards our software furnished by ACS, thirty days before they have to renew the merchants are given the new agreement to look over. If they sign, they can continue to process. If they want to opt out, they must cease processing at the end of their agreement. That means that by December 15th and every day forward as the 30 day notice expires .... they must of signed the agreement and downloaded the software to encrypt their keyboards in order to login to their FirstData Merchant account. FirstData processes approximately 45% of all card transactions in the US. They have 6.2 million merchants. We were told by Mark that the other two processors have several million merchants each. Also, all of them have Channel partners who have merchants. Based on those numbers, I would say that this represents by far the majority of all card transactions here in the US each month and a large share of those in the rest of the world. Keep in mind, November, December and January are the biggest retail months of the year, so most of the merchants (who started their business earlier in the year to get ready for this season) have already signed up before November in order to be able to process cards during this season. This process of starting businesses and obtaining a processor starts early in the year. Just FYI for your figuring.
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