The short answer
Ask to see the offer. A large share of the cheaper numbers merchants are holding are pre-underwriting guesses, offers on a shorter term that cost more in daily payment, or offers conditional on stips nobody has collected. Comparing the two on total payback and daily remittance rather than on the factor alone usually resolves it — and where the other offer is genuinely better, say so.
The instinct is to defend your number. The better move is to ask to see theirs, because the request is reasonable, the merchant usually complies, and about half the time the document answers the objection without you having to argue.
What the cheaper offer usually is
| What they were told | What it usually turns out to be |
|---|---|
| A lower factor | A shorter term — more per day, less total time |
| A number over the phone | A pre-underwriting guess with nothing behind it |
| A bigger advance | Conditional on stips nobody has collected yet |
| "No fees" | Fees present, deducted from the funded amount |
| A genuinely better offer | Sometimes. It happens. |
Compare the right things
- Total payback, in dollars. Not the factor — the dollars.
- Daily or weekly remittance, which is what the merchant actually feels.
- Term length, because it is what makes a low factor expensive per day.
- Net funded after fees, which is the number that reaches their account.
- Whether the offer is underwritten or quoted.
When to concede
When it is genuinely better, tell them. A merchant who is told plainly that the other offer wins remembers it, and renewals and referrals come out of that far more often than out of a deal argued away from somebody. Ask to be called when they renew, and diarise it.
The version of this that costs you money is matching a number you cannot actually place. An offer you talk a funder into and then cannot deliver ends with the merchant funded elsewhere and your standing with that funder worse than it was.