Is your payment processor offering value? | Ready Set Exec S01E27

Most businesses hand over 90–95% of their revenue stream to a payment processor they've never properly vetted, and that processor is counting on you never looking too closely at the bill. Joe Zahaitis has spent 32 years in payments working for Bank of America Merchant Services, SPS Payment Systems, and now Bank Card International Group and Manirpay. He's seen every trick in the book. In this episode, we get into the one formula that exposes if your processor is overcharging you, how predatory pricing creeps in when you're not watching, why crypto could eliminate chargebacks, and how to finally build a relationship with your vendor instead of just chasing the lowest price. About Ready Set Exec: Founded by Managing Partners Patrick Shea and John Pezoulas, Ready Set Exec is a premier North American executive leadership recruitment firm specializing in Sales, Marketing, Human Resources, and Operations. We replace hiring chaos with a repeatable process, boasting an average time-to-hire of 39 days and a 100% placement success rate. Chapters: 0:00 - Intro: Who is Joe Zahaitis? 0:52 - How Joe got into payments, the Sears interview story 5:17 - Why payments are taken for granted (and why that costs you money) 5:47 - What to look for beyond just price in a payment processor 8:13 - How to vet your merchant services provider properly 11:23 - Predatory pricing: how to spot if your processor is ripping you off 13:57 - High-risk industries and what that means for your business 17:37 - Crypto, stablecoins, and why there's no chargeback on digital assets 19:37 - Friendly fraud, consumer abuse, and the chargeback war 23:21 - Subscription scams, auto-renewals, and the trap that survives card changes 29:04 - Best practices for any merchant, regardless of budget 32:07 - How to minimize chargebacks (the right way) 38:11 - Rate creep, contract rolls, and the cash discount debate 47:25 - Customer segmentation: your A, B, C, and D clients Connect with Ready Set Exec: John Pezoulas LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpezoulas/ Patrick Shea LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-jm-shea/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReadySetExec Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6clqPWbF2yFRlsFUOXY0CO?si=UuOAbZeiQMKpgSjV5Od5_g Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ready-set-exec-the-podcast/id1837951413 Connect with Joe Zahaitis: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joezahaitis/ #MerchantServices #PaymentProcessing #Ecommerce #Chargebacks #BusinessGrowth #SmallBusiness #CryptoPayments #SubscriptionTrap #BusinessPodcast #Podcast2026 #HighRiskPayments #PaymentFraud #EcommerceStrategy #FounderMindset #Entrepreneur