By Fred Andrews
There are numerous merchant processing services to choose from affording business owners the luxury of being able to accept credit card payments for the products or services they have on offer. And the good news is that research has shown it is not only profits that increase when payment is made in this way - there are many other benefits to be reaped too. Here are details of just a few of them.
Your business will reach a whole new dimension as far as its audience is concerned when you accept payment by credit card. These days, many people have taken to using credit cards as their chosen method of payment due to several reasons. It may be that they are collecting reward points or simply that they have overspent this month and need to rely on purchasing with credit as opposed to cash. Whatever the reason, it means your customer base will grow.
The size of an order placed using a credit card tends to be bigger than a cash or check spend and this is because the customer doesn't see the cash disappearing from their pocket or bank balance which encourages them to be more indulgent.
It is estimated that as far as Internet purchases go, over 90% are settled by credit card. This in effect means you could literally lose 90% of your business due to not accepting credit cards as a means of payment.
It's Convenient, Competitive and Impulsive
Allowing your customers to use a credit card is very convenient for them and they have become to almost expect this option as a way to pay for their shopping instead of carrying cash or checks around with them.
Do your competitors and rivals in business accept credit cards? If so, you need to keep up with the Joneses and offer your customers a service equal to what is available to them elsewhere.
When your customers pay by cash or check they immediately see the money leave their pockets or banks, yet by using a credit card, they are more likely to spend more on impulse buying because they know they can settle the total over a few months instead of having to pay straight away. After all, their impulse buying adds to your profits!
Merchant Accounts - Easily Accessible and Not Too Expensive
It's becoming more and more straightforward and easy to open a credit card processing account. All you have to do is approach your financial establishment or even a private party and you will find all manner of options open to you, one or more of which is sure to meet your business needs.
If you are just starting out in business, private parties and on line company account suppliers are ideal as they don't perform credit checks and there are no volume requirements set as part of the deal. You are also given the option of choosing a fee structure best suited to your particular business.
Merchant accounts opened through banks or some of the other financial establishments will carry out credit checks and may insist that you have a banking account with them. Nonetheless, the fees incurred when using such financial establishments may be negotiable and more often than not tend to be lower than the fees associated with private party and on line companies.
From the points made above it is evident that the acceptance of credit card payments has many advantages, so if you own a business it will be well worth your while to open a credit card processing account and watch the profits come rolling in.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Outsourced Payment Processing Vs In-House
By Andy Eliason
If you are a company that participates in eCommerce and stores, processes, or transmits credit card data, you are required to be PCI compliant. In other words, there is a certain set of standardized security protocols that you must adhere to. For those who don't, the Payment Card Industry has also instituted a number of stiff fines and penalties.
The quicker a merchant becomes PCI compliant the quicker they can lay those worries to rest. And a merchant has two choices that they can take. One: outsourced payment processing. Two: in-house solutions. Which one is better? And which is more accessible?
If a merchant attempts to take care of their payment processing in-house, there will be a number of issues they will immediately have to deal with. From the start there are hardware and software installs that are complex and costly. And then are you even sure that you've got the best possible system? And then there's the issue with maintenance and upgrades. Technology never stops evolving, and criminals are always looking for new methods to break into your system. Can you keep up?
Outsourced payment processing, on the other hand, means that you are entrusting your information to a company that specializes in maintaining top flight security and has the resources to devote to staying up-to-date. When you outsource your payment processing solutions you never have to worry about IT maintenance or hardware and software upgrades.
In-house payment processing also has a very steep learning curve. Not only do you have to implement software and hardware solutions, but you've got to learn the intricacies associated with them. As busy merchant, do you have the time to start up that long hike?
If you take a little time to find the right company for your outsourced payment processing needs, you can find a company with the knowledge and experience to help you set up for processing payments as well as keeping you updated as your company continues to grow.
PCI compliance consists of 12 separate requirements, made up of over 200 individual security controls. Compliance is not a simple thing to achieve, and can take anywhere from 6 to 18 month to accomplish in-house. These requirements range from installing firewalls and virus protection to limiting physical access to logging and reporting on every action taken on sensitive systems.
Wen you choose outsourced payment processing solutions, however, you can significantly cut down the time required to achieve compliance. Why? Because all the new procedures and standards required by the PCI DSS are already in place. The precautions, the security, and, most importantly, the support are already positioned to help your company with your PCI needs.
Outsourced payment processing is also a good choice for the long run. If your planning on staying in business for any length of time, then your business must grow. As it grows, the demands on your payment processing system will also grow. In-house means money out of your own pocket to install upgrades. If you've outsourced your payment processing to the right company, however, you can grow as fast as needed without having to expend significant resources on the effort.
So are there any benefits to payment processing in-house? Some. But only if your company really has the time, people, and resources to do it properly.
As more and more stories about security breaches and compromised personal information reach the public notice, the Payment Card Industry is going to start coming down harder on merchants who fail to reach compliance. The fines and penalties will continue to get worse because the success of the PCI depends on maintaining the integrity of their service.
As such, the sooner you become PCI compliant, the sooner you can experience the benefits. And outsourced payment processing is one of the best ways to reach compliance quickly and effectively.
If you are a company that participates in eCommerce and stores, processes, or transmits credit card data, you are required to be PCI compliant. In other words, there is a certain set of standardized security protocols that you must adhere to. For those who don't, the Payment Card Industry has also instituted a number of stiff fines and penalties.
The quicker a merchant becomes PCI compliant the quicker they can lay those worries to rest. And a merchant has two choices that they can take. One: outsourced payment processing. Two: in-house solutions. Which one is better? And which is more accessible?
If a merchant attempts to take care of their payment processing in-house, there will be a number of issues they will immediately have to deal with. From the start there are hardware and software installs that are complex and costly. And then are you even sure that you've got the best possible system? And then there's the issue with maintenance and upgrades. Technology never stops evolving, and criminals are always looking for new methods to break into your system. Can you keep up?
Outsourced payment processing, on the other hand, means that you are entrusting your information to a company that specializes in maintaining top flight security and has the resources to devote to staying up-to-date. When you outsource your payment processing solutions you never have to worry about IT maintenance or hardware and software upgrades.
In-house payment processing also has a very steep learning curve. Not only do you have to implement software and hardware solutions, but you've got to learn the intricacies associated with them. As busy merchant, do you have the time to start up that long hike?
If you take a little time to find the right company for your outsourced payment processing needs, you can find a company with the knowledge and experience to help you set up for processing payments as well as keeping you updated as your company continues to grow.
PCI compliance consists of 12 separate requirements, made up of over 200 individual security controls. Compliance is not a simple thing to achieve, and can take anywhere from 6 to 18 month to accomplish in-house. These requirements range from installing firewalls and virus protection to limiting physical access to logging and reporting on every action taken on sensitive systems.
Wen you choose outsourced payment processing solutions, however, you can significantly cut down the time required to achieve compliance. Why? Because all the new procedures and standards required by the PCI DSS are already in place. The precautions, the security, and, most importantly, the support are already positioned to help your company with your PCI needs.
Outsourced payment processing is also a good choice for the long run. If your planning on staying in business for any length of time, then your business must grow. As it grows, the demands on your payment processing system will also grow. In-house means money out of your own pocket to install upgrades. If you've outsourced your payment processing to the right company, however, you can grow as fast as needed without having to expend significant resources on the effort.
So are there any benefits to payment processing in-house? Some. But only if your company really has the time, people, and resources to do it properly.
As more and more stories about security breaches and compromised personal information reach the public notice, the Payment Card Industry is going to start coming down harder on merchants who fail to reach compliance. The fines and penalties will continue to get worse because the success of the PCI depends on maintaining the integrity of their service.
As such, the sooner you become PCI compliant, the sooner you can experience the benefits. And outsourced payment processing is one of the best ways to reach compliance quickly and effectively.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
The War on Businesses and High Credit Card Processing Fees
By Sean P Jones
For years, merchants and retailers have been waging a war in the Payment Processing industry over "interchange fees" -- the hidden costs of processing credit and debit card transactions. Interchange is the amount of each sale that goes back to the card issuing bank and attributes to about 65% of a merchants actual fees
Although interchange is a significant part of this equation, I am here to show you that almost half of your credit card processing fees/downgrades can be attributed to working with a sales rep or company that many not be properly trained or have a true understanding of how your business operates.
It's a scary thought, but there is no regulation in our industry; anyone can sell payment processing with no formal training. Sam's Club and Costco are now offering payment processing services. I can't tell you the number of merchants whom we have worked with that are using one of these programs. They were quoted one rate, but because they key in transactions, process commercial, business, purchasing and government cards, they ended up paying 3.50% or more.
Visa and MasterCard have special programs for business that process commercial, business, purchasing and government cards, but because most processors/sales associates lack the training and expertise related the acceptance of these types of transactions, merchants are set up improperly and have an abundance of unwarranted and unnecessary fees and downgrades.
You may see some of these on your statement: MID QUALIFIED, NON QUALIFIED, EIRF, STANDARD, COMMERCIAL ELECTRONIC AND CORPORATE DATA RATE 1.
These fees can easily be eliminated or reduced by working with a payment processing specialist who is familiar with not only interchange but requirements needed for transactions to process as efficiently as possible.
For years, merchants and retailers have been waging a war in the Payment Processing industry over "interchange fees" -- the hidden costs of processing credit and debit card transactions. Interchange is the amount of each sale that goes back to the card issuing bank and attributes to about 65% of a merchants actual fees
Although interchange is a significant part of this equation, I am here to show you that almost half of your credit card processing fees/downgrades can be attributed to working with a sales rep or company that many not be properly trained or have a true understanding of how your business operates.
It's a scary thought, but there is no regulation in our industry; anyone can sell payment processing with no formal training. Sam's Club and Costco are now offering payment processing services. I can't tell you the number of merchants whom we have worked with that are using one of these programs. They were quoted one rate, but because they key in transactions, process commercial, business, purchasing and government cards, they ended up paying 3.50% or more.
Visa and MasterCard have special programs for business that process commercial, business, purchasing and government cards, but because most processors/sales associates lack the training and expertise related the acceptance of these types of transactions, merchants are set up improperly and have an abundance of unwarranted and unnecessary fees and downgrades.
You may see some of these on your statement: MID QUALIFIED, NON QUALIFIED, EIRF, STANDARD, COMMERCIAL ELECTRONIC AND CORPORATE DATA RATE 1.
These fees can easily be eliminated or reduced by working with a payment processing specialist who is familiar with not only interchange but requirements needed for transactions to process as efficiently as possible.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Payment Processing
By Jimmy Sturo
Are you fond of using your credit card to make purchases in your favorite store? As far as you are concerned, the store cashier or your waiter just gets your credit card and swipes it on their little machine that produces a receipt for you to sign. At the end of the day, as long as there are no discrepancies with the statement of account produced by the credit card company and what you actually spent, you be at peace and you can rest easy.
There are actually a lot of steps that take place when you make a transaction in your credit card.
The sales person in the store first computes the total amount of your purchase. You then present your credit card to the cashier. Your credit card is run through the point of sales POS) system and the amount is punched in the cash register. An authorization request is sent to the bank if the transaction is valid. The sale is not actually recorded at that point but at a latter time.
Authority is transmitted if you have enough credit to continue with the purchase. The credit used is actually just set aside or reserved. An approval or denial code is then sent to the POS system of the retail store. The machine prints out a receipt for you to sign that would allow the store to reimburse the amount from the bank.
Before closing time or first thing the next morning, the store would review all the transactions registered in the POS system and the signed receipt. If all the authorizations match out, a request would be sent to bank for deposit. The bank of the store then sends a request to the credit card company for the amount of the transaction. The bank would transfer the money deducting what is called an inter charge free. The amount acquired from the credit card company is then deposited directly to the bank account of the store less a discount fee.
Payment Processing provides detailed information on Payment Processing, Internet Credit Card Payment Processing, Electronic Payment Processing, Credit Card Payment Processing and more. Payment Processing is affiliated with EFT Software.
Are you fond of using your credit card to make purchases in your favorite store? As far as you are concerned, the store cashier or your waiter just gets your credit card and swipes it on their little machine that produces a receipt for you to sign. At the end of the day, as long as there are no discrepancies with the statement of account produced by the credit card company and what you actually spent, you be at peace and you can rest easy.
There are actually a lot of steps that take place when you make a transaction in your credit card.
The sales person in the store first computes the total amount of your purchase. You then present your credit card to the cashier. Your credit card is run through the point of sales POS) system and the amount is punched in the cash register. An authorization request is sent to the bank if the transaction is valid. The sale is not actually recorded at that point but at a latter time.
Authority is transmitted if you have enough credit to continue with the purchase. The credit used is actually just set aside or reserved. An approval or denial code is then sent to the POS system of the retail store. The machine prints out a receipt for you to sign that would allow the store to reimburse the amount from the bank.
Before closing time or first thing the next morning, the store would review all the transactions registered in the POS system and the signed receipt. If all the authorizations match out, a request would be sent to bank for deposit. The bank of the store then sends a request to the credit card company for the amount of the transaction. The bank would transfer the money deducting what is called an inter charge free. The amount acquired from the credit card company is then deposited directly to the bank account of the store less a discount fee.
Payment Processing provides detailed information on Payment Processing, Internet Credit Card Payment Processing, Electronic Payment Processing, Credit Card Payment Processing and more. Payment Processing is affiliated with EFT Software.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Credit Card Payment Processing
By Jimmy Sturo
Have you ever wondered what goes on whenever you make a transaction with your credit card? Do you actually know what happens whenever the merchant swipes your card into their point of sales (POS) system?
First, you hand your items to the cashier for him to compute the total amount of the items you purchased. The cashier then requests for your credit card. Your credit card is swiped on the POS system and the amount is registered into the device.
The POS system then sends an authorization request to your credit card company to validate the transaction. Although the total amount of your transaction has been sent, the credit is not yet deducted from your account at this moment. When the transaction is permitted, the credit is still not recorded. The amount of the purchase is simply reserved. A reply is sent to the POS system at the store informing if the transaction is valid or not.
If your transaction is approved, the POS system prints out a receipt for you. The cashier will give the receipt for you to sign, as this would be their means to reimburse the transaction from the bank. During closing time, or whenever the store makes inventory and match the daily transactions, a person at the store would be assigned to match all the recorded transactions in the POS system with the receipts that they have.
If everything turns out well, the store would then send a request to the bank for reimbursements for the transactions. The bank then sends a request to the credit card companies for each of the transactions that the store made. The credit card company would give the amount due to the bank but deduct an inter charge fee for each transactions. The amount collected by the bank is then deposited to the store’s account less a discount fee for the services rendered.
Payment Processing provides detailed information on Payment Processing, Internet Credit Card Payment Processing, Electronic Payment Processing, Credit Card Payment Processing and more. Payment Processing is affiliated with EFT Software.
Have you ever wondered what goes on whenever you make a transaction with your credit card? Do you actually know what happens whenever the merchant swipes your card into their point of sales (POS) system?
First, you hand your items to the cashier for him to compute the total amount of the items you purchased. The cashier then requests for your credit card. Your credit card is swiped on the POS system and the amount is registered into the device.
The POS system then sends an authorization request to your credit card company to validate the transaction. Although the total amount of your transaction has been sent, the credit is not yet deducted from your account at this moment. When the transaction is permitted, the credit is still not recorded. The amount of the purchase is simply reserved. A reply is sent to the POS system at the store informing if the transaction is valid or not.
If your transaction is approved, the POS system prints out a receipt for you. The cashier will give the receipt for you to sign, as this would be their means to reimburse the transaction from the bank. During closing time, or whenever the store makes inventory and match the daily transactions, a person at the store would be assigned to match all the recorded transactions in the POS system with the receipts that they have.
If everything turns out well, the store would then send a request to the bank for reimbursements for the transactions. The bank then sends a request to the credit card companies for each of the transactions that the store made. The credit card company would give the amount due to the bank but deduct an inter charge fee for each transactions. The amount collected by the bank is then deposited to the store’s account less a discount fee for the services rendered.
Payment Processing provides detailed information on Payment Processing, Internet Credit Card Payment Processing, Electronic Payment Processing, Credit Card Payment Processing and more. Payment Processing is affiliated with EFT Software.
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