Accepting credit card payments is definitely a huge advantage for any business. With the popularity of internet shopping, many consumers today prefer the convenience and cost-effectiveness of shopping online.

Thus, if you don’t accept credit card payments, you could be losing a large percentage of potential customers. The question is, how do you accept credit card payments?

Opening a Merchant Account

The first step to be able to accept credit cards as payment is to apply for a merchant account.

Banks and merchant account companies offer credit card payment systems for both small and large businesses. However, before you sign up for their service, do your research well and check the exact terms and conditions of your chosen merchant account provider.

When comparing merchant account service providers don’t forget to check the pricing. How much would it cost you per card transaction? How much would be the set-up charge? What kind of support does the company provide to their customers?

What about the reputation and track record of the company? What do present clients have to say about their service? These are important questions to consider when choosing a merchant account company.

Does My Business Qualify?

If you’re running a home based business or a small business, what are the requirements to get approved for a merchant account status?

Of course, your business’s financial standing would be reviewed. Banks or merchant account companies would be interested to learn exactly how much you earn from your sales each month. If your business has a stable history of sales and income, you should have no problem getting approved for a merchant account.

Another factor that would affect your lender’s decision would be the status of your business credit history. Have you already established a business credit? Usually, a business needs to be at least 2 years in operations to get approved for a merchant account. In 2 years, you should have already established a solid business credit history as well.

Needless to say, if you have a problem with your business credit, it would be difficult to get an approval. To be sure, check your business credit report at least 6 months in advance and do the necessary steps to improve your rating before applying for a merchant account.

On the other hand, having a good to excellent business credit history would surely win you a quick approval. If you can prove that your business has been running smoothly for a considerable period of time, and that you have a good business partnership with your suppliers, achieving a merchant status wouldn’t be difficult at all.

Accepting Credit Card Payments

Once approved, you’re now ready to accept credit card payments. See to it that you clearly understand how the processing of credit card payments work. Your merchant account provider should give you all the assistance and support you need to make sure that unnecessary problems would be avoided.

As the owner, you should also be aware on how you can protect your business from the risk of identity theft and credit card fraud. Before accepting credit card payments, you should be completely prepared in handling your incoming credit card transactions.

If this  was helpful, please LIKE or Tweet this post, thanks!

Related Posts:

Should Small Businesses Use PayPal?
How to Accept Debit Card Payments
The Pros and Cons of Accepting Credit Card Payment
Seller Responsibilities With Credit Card Merchant Processing
The Cost of Credit Card Payment Processing

About the Author:

Melanie James has spent the last 14 years working with businesses to implement quick, effective and inexpensive changes to their businesses to increase productivity and their bottom line.

Do you own a business? If yes, then perhaps one area of your business that you’re most concerned about is your payment processing system. Today, every small businesses can accept credit card payments from customers. However, with cases of credit card fraud ever increasing, both consumers and business owners are warned to take the necessary precautions to avoid possible problems.

What is a chargeback and how can you avoid them?

One of the most common problems about accepting credit card payments is getting charge backs. But what are charge backs?

When you accept credit card payment from a customer, there’s a possibility that the customer can change minds, or isn’t even the real owner of the credit card.

Perhaps the credit card has been stolen and is being used without the real card owner’s consent.

By the time the credit card owner receives his/her billing statement, he or she may dispute these unauthorized charges. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a consumer has the right to dispute unauthorized charges in the account. In this case, when the consumer calls up the bank and advise them about these unauthorized charges, the credit card issuer may move for a reversal of that particular credit card transaction.

Obviously, credit card charge backs can affect a business’s sales and marketing performance. If you’re not careful, a huge amount of chargeback can result to a major loss in your profits. What you thought was a genuine sale for your business later on may prove to be a fraud.

To avoid being a victim of credit card fraud, it is the merchant’s responsibility to accept credit card payments with extreme caution. Here are some steps you should take before closing that credit card purchase.

• Swipe the card or imprint it on the transaction receipt. In case of a dispute, having the card swiped proves that the customer presented the credit card when the purchase was made.

• Closely examine the cardholder’s signature. Sometimes, it is easy to overlook this crucial step especially when there are a lot of customers in line, waiting for their turn in the cashier. But checking if the customer’s signature matches the signature at the back of the credit card can alert you of a credit card theft. Instead of presuming that the credit card holder is the real owner, keep in mind that there is always a possibility that the credit card being used is stolen.

• Ask for proof of identification. Some shops do not ask for additional IDs unless it’s a huge purchase amount. But even if it’s just a small amount of purchase, every merchant should make it a practice to ask for at least one ID from their client.

• Check the credit card’s expiration date. Don’t forget to check the expiration date on the credit card. There are cases when credit card thieves use old or expired credit cards and get away with it.

• Call the credit card issuer. If you’re in doubt, take a moment to call the credit card issuer to confirm the details of the cardholder.

About the Author:

Melanie James has spent the last 14 years working with businesses to implement quick, effective and inexpensive changes to their businesses to increase productivity and their bottom line.

Online marketing is the modern way to do business. If your business already has a website, then you have already noticed an increase in your sales and customer potential.

Aside from creating a professional business website and making sure that its user friendly, there is another thing that you need to consider. What, you may ask?

Accept credit cards. Accepting credit cards from your customers will not only boost your sales, it will also give your business a better reputation.

Credit Cards Are a Must!

As we all know, almost everyone who is old enough to qualify for a credit card have one. And it is also a well-known fact that everyone who owns a credit card obviously use it in making purchases whether at regular stores or at online retail shops. Imagine how many potential sales you will be losing just because your customers are not able to purchase from you using their credit cards.

When a prospective buyer visits your business website and sees a product that he wants, your buyer might get disappointed to find out that your business only accepts cash purchases. The next time around, this same buyer may not even bother to visit your website again because he knows that you’re not accepting credit card transactions.

Advantages of Credit Card Payment

Remember, people always prefer what is more convenient for them. With a credit card, a person can instantly purchase a product he likes in just a few, simple steps without even going out of his house or office. This enormous convenience is one of the major reasons why most people prefer online shopping.

Another reason, is of course, most often than not, they don’t have the cash to make the purchase at that very moment.

A credit card gives your customers the opportunity to buy the product they want in advance, and pay them at a later time when they have the money.

Protect Your Customers

However, accepting credit cards require that your business can assure the security and safety of your customer’s personal information. With the prevalence of identity theft and credit card fraud, customers are also wary about making online purchases. Thus, it is very important that your website is embedded with SSL or Secure Socket Layers of at least 128 bit.

Customers will know that you are using SSL encryption when they see a padlock icon at the bottom right side of their browser. This way, your customers will feel at ease at placing orders and filling up their credit card information at your website.

Another credit card marketing strategy that your business needs is having a customer support system. When you accept credit card payments, you should be able to provide quick response to your customers regarding the status of their order, the status of their payment as well as the shipping details about their orders.

Be sure that you can provide support to your customer’s queries about matters concerning their purchase.  Following these credit card strategies will surely increase your customer base and boost your sales in no time.

If this  was helpful, please LIKE or Tweet this post, thanks!

Related Posts:

Should Small Businesses Use PayPal?
How to Accept Debit Card Payments
The Pros and Cons of Accepting Credit Card Payment
Seller Responsibilities With Credit Card Merchant Processing
The Cost of Credit Card Payment Processing

About the Author:

Melanie James has spent the last 14 years working with businesses to implement quick, effective and inexpensive changes to their businesses to increase productivity and their bottom line.

If you have started to introduce your business in the internet, then it’s about time your business should accept credit cards online. If you’re having second thoughts about accepting credit cards from your customers, you should be happy to know that it’s not really that complicated.

In fact, once you’ve accepted credit card payments, you may be surprised to find that this new system payment actually works to your advantage.

Why Accept Online Payments?

Accepting credit cards online is a great opportunity to widen out your market.

People who cannot go out of their way to visit your establishment, but would like to buy your products or avail your services can conveniently do so through the internet.

Since, more and more people today prefer to make their purchases online, think about the earning potential your business will enjoy simply by accepting credit card payments.

Third Party Provider

In order to be able to accept credit card payments, a business must first establish itself as a legitimate merchant. This will allow a business to be accepted as a partner with one of the business merchant services. A business merchant service is a company that processes credit card payment or credit card transactions of your business.

One of your options for a merchant credit service is a third party provider. A third party provider handles all your credit card transactions which mean all information regarding all credit card payments to your business are managed on your behalf. With this kind of arrangement it is very important to ensure that the third party provider you do business with is reputable and legitimate.

Internet Merchant Account

Another option is by applying for an Internet merchant account. This way, you will be handling your own account and process all credit card payments you receive through the internet.

For most business owners, this is the option they prefer because they do not have to entrust their finances with a separate company. Also, many businesses find that an Internet merchant account is one of the cheapest options they can avail.

What About Security?

If you already have set up your own Internet merchant account, then you’re ready to accept credit card payments. However, make sure that your customers can do their online transactions safely.

A website that uses SSL or Secure Socket Layers is the best way to ensure that all information that is entered by your customers will not be hacked or stolen. A secured website has a padlock icon which your customers can find at the bottom right corner of their browsers.

Providing security to your customers is very important when it comes to accepting credit cards online. Customers will not be taking any chances in purchasing from you or doing business with you if they are not one hundred percent sure that their credit card information is safe with you.

If you’re aiming for an increase in your sales and your customer base, then accepting credits is indeed the right move for your business. As long as you do all the necessary steps to ensure that all credit card processing will be done securely, you should be seeing the positive results instantly.

If this  was helpful, please LIKE or Tweet this post, thanks!

Related Posts:

Should Small Businesses Use PayPal?
How to Accept Debit Card Payments
The Pros and Cons of Accepting Credit Card Payment
Seller Responsibilities With Credit Card Merchant Processing
The Cost of Credit Card Payment Processing

About the Author:

Melanie James has spent the last 14 years working with businesses to implement quick, effective and inexpensive changes to their businesses to increase productivity and their bottom line.