On this page
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.
Questions brokers ask
What do you say when a merchant has a cheaper offer?
Ask to see it. Then compare total payback, daily remittance, term and net funded rather than the factor alone. A large share of cheaper offers are pre-underwriting guesses or shorter terms that cost more per day.
Why is a lower factor rate not automatically better?
Because the term does as much work as the factor. The same factor over six months costs roughly twice as much per day as over twelve, and the daily remittance is what the merchant actually experiences.
Should you match a competitor’s offer?
Only if you can actually place it. Matching a number you cannot deliver ends with the merchant funded elsewhere anyway and your standing with the funder damaged, which is a worse outcome than losing the deal cleanly.
What if the other offer really is better?
Say so, and ask to be called at renewal. Merchants remember the broker who told them the truth against their own interest, and renewals and referrals come out of that more reliably than out of deals argued away.
How do you tell a real offer from a quote?
Ask whether it was put in writing after somebody read their bank statements. Merchants know the answer, and the question separates the two without accusing anybody of anything.
Alex Makowski
Founder, Infinite Bookings
Runs the lead generation operation behind Infinite Bookings — paid traffic, the funding application, and the delivery pipeline that puts records into brokers’ CRMs.
Reachable directly at alex@infinitebookings.com or 732-609-7182.