Finding a great merchant provider in Hawaii is a bit different than the rest of the mainland. In the mainland, everything is over the phone or the web. With Hawaii, we want local.

If you cannot already tell by the topic of this article, or the amount of articles we have that revolve around Hawaii merchant services, we have operations in Hawaii. We love Hawaii and we feel the love back from Hawaii.

When searching for Hawaii Merchant Services or Hawaii Merchant Accounts, you are going to find a decent pool to choose from.

But which do you choose?

Since we work with providers across the country, we are asked this a lot here: Should I stay local or try one of the Mainland companies? Your best options are to explore with your local bank or with a provider who has operations based in Hawaii.

Why is location more important in Hawaii than the mainland? This is because when it comes to Hawaii merchant services and accepting credit cards, being up and running is your number 1 priority. Because of the time difference from the processors who are mostly based on the East Coast, when we go down we need help NOW!

Anyone from any of the islands can attest to having experiences such as calling for help at 11 am, only to find out that they are closed and to please call during normal office hours.

Basic support or phone support is great. But what about when a terminal needs to be replaced?

You are going to be choosing a provider who is from the Mainland no matter what. There are no network bases processors here in Hawaii as it takes big bucks and manpower to do this. However, the top merchant service providers from the Mainland have setup shop here. You want one that has a strong foothold, meaning customers, sales and support.

Let’s look at some of the providers who have a strong foothold here in Hawaii.

Banks providing Hawaii Merchant Services:

1. Bank of Hawaii (First Data)
2. First Hawaiian Bank (Vantiv)
3. American Savings Bank (CardConnect)
4. Central Pacific Bank (Elevon)

Direct sales providing Hawaii Merchant Services:

1. CardConnect
2. Axia Payments
3. Heartland Payment Systems
4. Gravity Payments
5. National Payment Systems

These providers have the strongest roots in Hawaii.

We will go into more depths and reviews on each provider in a later post. However, when searching for a merchant services proposal or looking to get great cost plus pricing, we recommend starting with these if you are local in Hawaii.

Please reach out anytime for advice. We are always here to help no matter who you choose to be your processor.