31, Jan 2013
The Time for Secure Online Credit Card Processing is Now
The Internet has exploded onto the online scene with a vengeance. The number of people purchasing goods and services is steadily rising. These people that do the purchasing are all using credit cards. So in order for a company to legitimize their site in processing financial transactions will require credibility. The company can ensure to the customer that their transactions are safe and secure when processing is transacted through a merchant pay processing system.
When a company can offer the consumer secure online credit card processing a whole range of upsells enter the picture. If a consumer knows that their transaction is safe, then that consumer will probably purchase products again. Having repeat buyers is the goal of any company. Once the company has gained the trust of the consumer, then the probability of having that person purchase additional products will happen.
Companies that understand that concept of trust and credibility with the consumer on their financial transactions will have more online business during peak periods of sales. Using a merchant credit card processing center allows for less fraudulent transactions, quicker financial handling of the sales, and offers a comfort zone that people can trust and rely upon.
For companies that are looking for an appropriate Internet credit card merchant, it is best to find one that has short term agreements with it. Most of these credit card merchants offer secure online credit card processing, but finding the right one for a company will take some investigating.
Finding the right merchant will be the company that has a complete support staff that will help integrate the sales process with their system. Every software has their particular sets to be merged into an existing system, and that makes it imperative to having a staff that understands the process to help integrate it smoothly into the sales process.
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31, Jan 2013
Secure Online Credit Card Processing
Secure online credit card processing is essential for any business conducted online. Even though more people are becoming more comfortable with making transactions online, it is still very important not only to have a reliable way of accepting credit card transactions but also that these transactions are made securely. Not having a reliable method of accepting credit card payments is absolutely essential for any business looking to make it in an Internet market.
While there are some businesses that use only checks or money orders in order to keep costs down, these businesses can suffer because these orders take longer to process. Customers who make credit card orders are used to faster service, especially when they have made orders on products. A service that takes longer to process orders is likely to have lower customer satisfaction even if they offer great products and services.
Furthermore, many people are now using mobile devices to complete online orders. With QR codes and apps, people have lots of access to products and services in only a matter of seconds. They are used to moving at a faster pace and expect the pace of businesses to keep up with them. This means businesses that hope to succeed with an Internet component need to make sure they have a system that can process credit cards through mobile devices and smartphones.
Secure online credit card processing has been essential for all businesses for some time, but the constant advances in technology has made it even more urgent as more people rely upon the Internet for all kinds of needs. When you offer the option to pay with credit cards for your products and services online, you also need to make sure you can reassure customers that their information is safe and secure from thieves and fraud.
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31, Jan 2013
Secure Online Credit Card Processing
If you have an online store, it is a necessity to have secure online credit card processing, which will help your customers to trust shopping with you. A website that does not have credit card processing that is secure, will lose a lot of potential business as a result.
More people shop online everyday and this means that they are looking for products or services that perhaps you sell. However, without secure online credit card processing, you will surely not expand your customer base. Shopping online today saves people time and money, so they are looking for merchants that accept credit cards.
When you accept credit card payments online, your business is operating 24 hours a day. In essence, you are operating around the clock and giving customers the convenience to order whenever they wish. You will be making money while awake and asleep.
Another advantage to having online credit card processing is the funds are transferred to your bank faster than on ground processing. Typically with a local store, it has to go through a longer process that often takes several days to see your money from the credit card sale.
The easier you make it for people to buy your product or service, the more likely they will be to buy. Having a lot of traffic on your website is great but if a customer cannot complete a purchase, the traffic becomes moot since it didn’t lead to a sale.
The secure environment keeps your customer’s information private. It cannot be decoded when it transmits over the Internet. This means that in many ways it is safer than buying dinner at a restaurant. When the wait staff takes your credit card to pay for the meal, it may go through several hands. This is more likely to lead to credit card theft than a secured online environment.
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31, Jan 2013
Taking Advantage of Merchant Services for Business
If you have an online business the ability to process payments requires you to have merchant services. The more payment options you give your customers, the more sales you’ll end up making. The most common merchant services offered are the ability to process credit cards. Most people shopping online want to pay with a credit card and if you do not offer this, they will most likely not buy.
Choosing a Credit Card Processor
The first step in processing credit cards is finding the right merchant account. There are many to choose from but paying attention to what merchant services are offered will help you find the one that is best for your business.
When Does Funding Occur?
Many merchant services that also include credit card processing will transfer the money to your bank account within one day. When you know which credit card sales are deposited and when, it will make a difference in planning your strategy.
How Much are the Merchant Service?
A major aspect of having a merchant account is how much does the company charge. You will need to know this upfront to be able to plan your budget accordingly. However, you will want to comparison shop to make sure you are getting the most for your money.
Are there Contracts Involved?
When dealing with a merchant services provider, you will want to find out about contracts and what their terms are. Obviously, in the beginning you probably need a trial period to may sure the company will meet your needs. After that, you will feel more comfortable signing a contract.
Setting up payment processing online and working with a new merchant account can seem overwhelming. However, if you take your time and do a bit of research, you will find the account that work best for you.
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31, Jan 2013
Who Needs Merchant Services?
If you own a business, merchant services allow you to accept credit and debit cards. Merchant services are available for both online stores or mail orders and those with a physical presence.
Today’s customers rarely use cash for their purchases, so you can increase sales by offering credit and debit payments. The average sale price is often higher when you offer credit card processing versus accepting cash.
Credit cards are less risk than accepting checks. Checks can be drawn off an account that does not have enough money in it or a closed account. You will have a hard time recovering lost money from a bad check. It is true that a credit card can be stolen, but merchant services offer some protection against fraud and stolen cards. Check the terms of your account to learn more.
Customers like the convenience of using a credit card at the store. The transaction is quicker and easier, which helps the cashier get through the line quicker and makes customers happier.
Merchant service providers deposit the money directly in your bank account, so it is safer for the store owner. If you have a lot of cash at your store, you are a target for theft. Less cash means less loss from employees or thieves.
Using merchant services also makes your business look more professional. Customers will see that you are serious about your business and that you value their services by making it easy for them to shop.
When applying for a merchant account, look at the fees. Some charge a monthly fee, but others do not. All merchant services charge a percentage of the total sale, and this rate varies between merchants and the type of merchandise or service you offer. Some change a small flat fee per transaction, which should be taken in to consideration when selecting a provider.
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31, Jan 2013
Merchant Services: Finding the Best Provider
Selecting the right merchant services provider can make a world of difference to your business. There are hundreds of providers out there who are ready to offer you the best rates. It is important that you be careful in selecting the appropriate provider for your business. There are certain things that you would need to consider while searching for one.
The first thing that you need to look at is the price that the provider is offering. It is important that you ensure that you are getting a good price. The only way to do this is by comparison shopping. Make sure to compare the prices of different providers and pick the one that is offering the best rate.
Customer service is another important consideration when searching for merchant services. Suppose you encounter a problem with a credit card payment and there is a customer standing in front of you, will you be able to get timely help from the company? Will there be someone to take your calls late in the night if there is an issue? Most companies assure 24X7 technical support. Many businesses choose customer service over pricing as the former is crucial to the success of a business. If customer service is important to you, make sure to make enquiries about the quality of service of the provider you are considering.
Check the funding options of the providers. While some might deposit the funds within 24 hours, there are others that might take a couple of days. Make sure to know in detail about the funding options of the providers and if you are okay with them.
Reputation is a very important factor when searching for a suitable merchant services provider, you can Google the name of the provider to check for any negative feedback about their services.
Whether you are setting up a merchant account for the first time or just shopping for better rates, it helps to know everything you possibly can. The more information you have, the more educated your decision will be.
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31, Jan 2013
Fees are More Important than Merchant Account Rates
Many retailers, particularly start-up retailers, are often so happy to find someone who will set them up to accept credit cards that they fail to realize that there are many different merchant account providers and they all offer different merchant account rates for their services. As in most other things in life, it frequently pays to shop around a little before you sign your name to something that is easier to get into than it is to get out of.
It would be so much easier if merchant account rates were just a single number which could be easily compared from one provider to another but this is not the situation. Instead, there are a number of sliding fees and rates, frequently coupled with set-up and monthly minimum fees that can turn the best deal on paper into the worst deal in practice. Here are some things to watch out for.
• The two basic fees are the individual transaction fee and the discount rate. Every transaction is charged a fixed processing fee, usually in the 0.15 to 0.50 range. In addition, the credit card company takes a “discount,” or a percentage of the total transaction price. This generally runs in the 1.49% range for solid retailers and can go up towards 4% for Internet-based purchases, due to their greater likelihood of fraud. The fee/discount ratio tends to balance out, in that a provider with a higher fee will require a lower discount and vice versa.
• Underneath these headline figures lurks a series of one-time setup, programming, and equipment fees, plus a set of daily and monthly service fees that can cost more than many low volume retailers make through an occasional plastic purchase. For those who are just starting their business, these are the costs that need to be carefully considered.
For companies that are just getting started or ones that only do a small gross amount of credit purchases a month, it is important to choose the company that offers the lowest overhead costs as opposed to the one that offers the lowest merchant account rates.
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31, Jan 2013
Find the Best Merchant Account Rates
If you are setting up credit card processing online, you will need to know what the merchant account rates are to ensure that it will work for your business. There are different fees that come along with having a merchant account and you will need to know these before you open an account.
The Transaction Fees
Many new business owners assume that the merchant account rates only consists of the transaction fee, but this is not true. A transaction fee occurs every time a credit card payment is processed. Typically these are flat fees rather than a percentage. For online accounts, the average transaction fee is around .30, which doesn’t sound like a lot but it adds up.
Settlement Fees
Some merchant account rates also have a settlement or batch fee, which is when the money is sent to your bank. It is a processing fee and this typically happenseveryday. You’ll need to find out if this is a fee and how much it will cost.
Monthly Minimum
If the merchant account rates provider requires a minimum amount of credit card sales on a monthly basis and you’re below it, they will charge a fee. However, this fee is charged instead of your processing fees. This is about $15 per month, but can be higher depending on the merchant account.
Annual and Statement Fees
Some merchant accounts charge to generate and send monthly statements to you. In addition, some have an annual fee as well.
Knowing all the fees before you sign up for the account is crucial. You want the account so you can make money not spend more than you have to. The fees to have a merchant account are relatively low for the most part, but some are higher. A little online comparison shopping can save you a lot money.
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31, Jan 2013
Different Merchant Account Rates
For any retailer or service provider, one of the keys to being successful is being able to provide customers with the convenience of having a number of different payment options. One payment option that needs to be accepted is credit cards, which are very convenient for customers. In order to accept credit cards, businesses will need to have a merchant account established. In order to save the most money possible, a business should do their best to find the lowest merchant account rates possible.
When a business searches for merchant account services, they will find that they rates they are charged could vary quite a bit from one service provider to the next. Typically, the merchant account rates follow a three tiered system. The first tiered system is typically the cheapest. Under this tier, a retailer is allowed to accept standard credit and debit cards either online or in person at a physical store. This is the cheapest of all merchant account services.
The second tier, which is also known as the mid-qualified rate, is the rate that is charged for cards that are not accepted by the first tier pricing system. The types of cards that are offered under this pricing system are typically credit cards with high rewards programs. Credit card providers typically charge these higher rates as they will have to offset some of the costs that come with providing rewards to their customers.
The most expensive merchant account rates come with the third tier, or non-qualified rates. Merchants that fall into this category typically have less conservative credit card acceptance rules, which add risk to the credit card provider. For example, merchants that fall into this category are not required to settle credit card batches on a daily basis, or they may not be required to verify zip codes when accepting credit cards.
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31, Jan 2013
Improving Small Business Cash Flow with Direct Payment Solutions
Profit and Cash Flow
It is a basic principle of business that to survive, a company must make a profit. However, any small business person will quickly tell you that profit isn’t enough. Having adequate cash flow is essential to day-to-day survival of any small business. Understanding the difference between profit and cash flow is critical to small business management. Many businesses don’t succeed because of the failure to learn this lesson.
Profit is the difference between all the revenue a company generates and all the expenses it pays out. It is here where we note that profit is not cash. Assume a business sells $10,000 of product on terms of 60 days to a customer. And assume the company makes $5,000 on that sale. That sounds like a nice profit, and it is. The problem comes in timing when that profit is actually cash in the bank. The business selling the product has to pay its employees, the bills for the raw materials, and all its other expenses. Those have to be paid before the 60 days are up. When this is repeated for a number of customers, a real cash flow crunch can occur. If all the profits are sitting in the hands of customers who haven’t paid their bills, a company can fail.
The Advantage of Direct Payment Solutions.
Many small businesses today are rapidly turning to direct payment solutions. This is especially the case for companies that sell on the Internet. With direct payment solutions, a company receives cash from a sell immediately. There is sometimes a hold of a few days in the process. Even with a hold, the company knows the cash for the sale is on its way. This eliminates the days of waiting for weeks and months and then being told, “The check is in the mail.” Direct payments allow a much closer connection between profits and cash flow.
Just Take A look On Direct Payment Solutions For Further Support
