Short version: everything on this site is free, and I don't sell you anything. I make money in exactly one way — when a business owner asks me to shop their rate, decides on their own that switching is worth it, and moves their processing through me.
That's a real financial interest, and it would be insulting to bury it in a footer. So here's the whole thing.
The conflict, stated plainly
When a merchant places their account through me, the processor pays me a residual — a share of the markup on what that business processes, every month, for as long as they stay.
Which means: I make more money if you switch than if you don't.
That is a genuine conflict of interest. I'm not going to dress it up as anything else, and I'd rather you knew it before you read another word of my writing than discovered it later and wondered what else I left out.
What I do about it
A disclosure by itself is just a sentence. These are the actual constraints I hold myself to.
"Stay where you are" is a real answer — and often the right one.Plenty of the statements I look at come back with some version of your deal is fine, don't touch it, or your deal is fixable with one phone call to the processor you already have. Those outcomes earn me nothing. They're still the answer I give, because the alternative is being the guy this whole site was built to warn you about.
I'll show you my own numbers.Every post here tells you to demand that your processor show you interchange, show you their markup, and stop hiding the two in a blended rate. I'd have no business saying that if I wouldn't do it myself. Ask what I make on your account and you'll get a straight number.
You have to ask me. I won't pitch you.Send me a statement and you get the review — that's the whole transaction. If I see money on the table I'll tell you, and I'll tell you what I'd do about it. If you want a quote from me, ask and you'll get one. If you don't ask, you won't hear from me again except the newsletter you chose to sign up for. No follow-up sequence, no "just circling back," no call from a number you don't recognize.
The education doesn't bend around the sales.The guides on this site are written to be true, not to make switching look urgent. If a piece of advice would cost me money — like renegotiate with your current processor instead of leaving — it still goes in.
Why I don't just charge you a fee instead
It's a fair question, and some people in this space do exactly that: a flat monthly fee for advice, no processor money, no conflict.
I understand the appeal, and if you'd rather work with someone structured that way, I'd genuinely rather you did that than work with me while doubting my motives. It's a legitimate model and it removes this problem entirely.
I've chosen the other trade: the education stays free for everyone, including the overwhelming majority of readers who will never contact me, and I get paid only by the small number who decide on their own that switching helps them. The cost of that choice is the conflict I just described. The benefit is that a business owner who's already being squeezed on fees doesn't have to pay a consultant to find out how badly.
You're welcome to weigh that trade yourself. That's rather the point.
My other hats
For the sake of a complete picture: I work in payment processing sales, and I own a web design business (Smith Web Co) that built and maintains this site. Neither of those pays me anything for what I write here.
If something here reads as a sales pitch, tell me
That's not a rhetorical invitation. If a post on this site feels like it's steering you rather than informing you, tell me and I'll fix it or explain myself.
Last updated: August 2026. If this arrangement changes, this page changes first.