Are you a new business owner looking to kick things off with a bang? Maybe you’ve owned a brick and mortar store for years, one that’s been in your family for generations. Either way, you’re debating as to whether it’s time to accept credit cards, to add plastic to your roster of payment processing methods, which already includes cash and personal checks. When in doubt, the answer is yes! Credit card processing is highly recommended for businesses of all shapes and sizes, and here’s why.

1)    By accepting credit cards, you can double your customer base, if not triple it. These days, people are looking to pay with plastic. It offers them more leeway in the “now” – they can purchase big items without having to have all the cash on them in the moment. It allows them to pay down their account little by little, so they can splurge when they need to and deal with it later.

2)    Credit cards are the most convenient form of payment for customers. They’re quick, efficient, and easy. They allow the customer to get in and out of a given store quickly and easily, without having to count out dollars and cents or hope that they’ve got the checkbook on them. Plastic is easier to carry, quicker to swipe, and it’s much more organized for the customer to have all of their purchases viewable on a transaction history.

3)    Credit cards offer rewards to the customer. Customers using credit cards are tempted by the numerous rewards available to them, including cash-back rewards and airline miles. Many people prefer to use credit cards to make purchases because they can get something additional out of it. With cash, people don’t get any rewards – and these days, what with the economy not doing well and people pinching pennies left and right, rewards are important.

4)    Merchant account providers can help your business. Merchant accounts providers, which are also known as ISOs, can set up special accounts that enable your business to accept credit cards. Your merchant account will be established with a financial institution that partners with your merchant service provider to help you accept credit card payments. This also gives you the opportunity to connect your company’s website (you do have one, right?) with a secure payment gateway that allows your business to process credit card payments online.

5)    With credit cards acceptance, you can offer real time payment processing. Real time processing is great, because it offers customers instantaneous results. Customers’ cards can be accepted or denied instantly, so you know whether you’re going to get paid and they know whether they can afford the item or service at hand. This allows your business to automate certain options, so that you can free up yourself and your other employees to focus on other jobs throughout the business. Real time processing is the most flexible payment method out there, and bottom line, it makes things easy.

So, it’s clear that credit card acceptance is the way to go. What are you waiting for?

As a business owner, the last thing you want to happen is to lose part of your bottom line. You’ve worked hard to get where you are, and you continue to work hard day in and day out. Chargebacks can be frustrating, not to mention expensive, and they take away from your hard-earned dollars.A good merchant, however, learns from his or her mistakes, viewing chargebacks as a teachable moment, and something to avoid in the future. By doing so, business owners can improve the performance of their store, as well as increase customer satisfaction.

But let’s back up a step – just what is a chargeback, and how does it work? A charge-back occurs when a consumer asks his or her credit card company for a refund on a specific transaction. In this situation, the credit card company dips into the merchant accounts of the business and takes the money back, so that they can return it to the customer. Along the way, multiple organizations—including issuing banks, merchant banks and payment gateways—may charge the business owner a fee for the trouble. Of course, there’s a kicker: when a chargeback occurs, the merchant is rarely notified of the chargeback until the money is missing from his or her bank account.

Chargebacks generally fall into one of two categories. They are either a result of a fraudulent charge or the result of a dissatisfied customer. Fraud is something to be concerned by, certainly, but unfortunately, for many business owners, chargebacks are more often than not a result of an unhappy customer.

Wondering what sort of situation would cause a charge-back? In many cases, it has to do with shipping. Say your customer is purchasing a shirt from the online store of your retail boutique. When they check out, the customer selects the cheapest method of shipping, ignoring the fact that choosing a less expensive method means that the package might not ship right away, outs their info into the online credit card terminal.

The customer checks out, and they assume they’ll receive their package within five days. Of course, had they read the fine print, they would have seen that packages shipped under the cheapest method may take up to seven days to arrive at their doorstep. So, five days later, they call their credit company and demand a refund, claiming the package never arrived and that they’ve been denied their product. Of course, had they waited two more days, the package would have arrived, safe and sound. But customers are often impatient,  and when you’re in the business of serving others, the customer is always right.

So, how do you avoid this situation and a subsequent chargeback to your account? Start by making sure that your directions are clear and concise – ensure that your customers understand that a cheaper shipping method means a package that arrives a few days later. Include photographs of the products with all listings, so customers are sure of what they’re ordering. In short, protect yourself – and make sure the customer has all the information they need.

Running an e-commerce business is no small job. It’s a completely different beast than the average brick and mortar business, harboring its own set of challenges—the most complicated one being time.

Unlike a brick and mortar store, an e-commerce store is always open. It doesn’t have hours, it doesn’t close – it’s there, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, with customers clicking and demanding things at all hours. For the most part, this isn’t an issue – but it can raise problems when customers have questions or want answers at all hours of the day.

Luckily for most business owners, a merchant services provider can take a lot of the weight off of your shoulders when it comes to dealing with customers, especially when it comes to payment processing issues. A merchant service provider can provide you with the online credit card processing solutions you’ll need to help your e-commerce business truly prosper. With around the clock tech support and great customer service, plus the lowest processing rates around, you’ll get internet credit card processing, from soup to nuts.

Because the internet is open for business all day, every day, things have to be fast – and that includes your payment processing. If you’re not offering customers fast and easy credit card processing, you’re going to lose them. The beauty of the internet is also a disadvantage – the market is oversaturated. This is great for customers who want to do some comparison shopping, but not so great for e-commerce business owners trying to stand out. You can differentiate with your product offerings, but you can also set your business apart from the pack with superior payment processing. Because the internet is such a big place, most customers are just one wrong click away from navigating to another site and taking their business elsewhere.

A good merchant services provider will enable you to accept credit cards and debit cards, as well as electronic checks and gift cards, and even give you the opportunity to hold internet auctions. They’ll ensure that you receive payment deposits automatically the next day, and they’ll monitor all payments made through your website. They’ll also make returns a quick and easy process, both for you as the business owner and for your customers.

On the safety end of things, they’ll prevent fraud with built-in security tools that keep your customers’ information safe and secure, and they’ll reduce the risk factor by keeping sensitive card and customer data on a secure server, in lieu of storing it on your computer. This prevents any sort of privacy issue should your computer ever be hacked into.

By tracking all of your transactions online, your merchant services coordinator will ensure that any returned items will equal the purchase amount being quickly given back to the purchaser. Returns are quick and easy, and they’re taken care of by the provider, not by you – so you can focus on what’s really important instead of fretting about every single transaction.

As a business owner, you can’t do it all – so hand a bit off to your merchant service provider and watch the money roll in.

You’ve finally done it. Your new restaurant is the perfect manifestation of your childhood dream come true. You might not know a whole lot about running a business, but the food is set to be spectacular, and you’ve found the perfect space, complete with tin ceilings and wooden beams.

But now it’s time to get things truly set up – from finding secure payment plans to deciding on what napkins to use, there’s lots to do. And while most of it is minutiae that you, the business owner, have to decide, there are a few things that you can pass off to others to lighten your load a bit. One of those things is the payment processing, which is something that, once in the hands of your merchant services provider, is a simple and efficient process.

Your merchant services provider will make it easy for you to choose the right credit card processing system for your restaurant, thanks to customized solutions that can be tailored to the needs of everything from a large chain franchise to a small coffee shop.

Owning a restaurant means overseeing plenty of small details, the least of which apply to your payment processing system. These days, it’s not enough to simply accept credit cards and cash – you’ll also need to take debit cards, electronic checks and perhaps even consider loyalty cards and gift cards. Keeping your customers happy isn’t just about giving them great food, but providing great service, and while great service starts with your hosts and hostesses, it ends with payment processing.

Wondering what exactly a merchant services provider will do? For starters, they’ll customize a payment system that’s perfectly suited to your specific restaurant. If you do a lot of deliveries, they might set you up with mobile payment processing. They’ll also set up plenty of customer-friendly features, including the ability to add tip after the transaction has been authorized, the ability to allow customers to keep a running tab (meaning they can move their tab from the bar to their table once they’re seated) and more. You’ll be able to separate a single bill among multiple credit cards with no issues, as well as use names or tracking numbers to oversee all transactions. You’ll even be able to utilize wireless terminals for curbside pickups or deliveries.

Whether you’re a full service restaurant that’s looking for a merchant service provider with the expertise and knowledge to set up your full payment processing system, or a quick serve restaurant looking for a simple solution, your merchant service provider can get you set up with what you need, and fast. They’ll also make sure that processing costs stay down, so you get to keep your hard-earned dollar instead of losing a large percentage of it to processing fees. Quick serve restaurants will appreciate a merchant service provider’s ability to set up instant approvals and no signature-required approvals, while full service restaurants will love an all hands on deck approach.

Find out more about custom merchant services now and get your restaurant on the fast track to success.

As a business owner, you can only stay afloat if you make more than you put out. It should go without saying, but your bottom line and your income are of the utmost importance. Any threats to that bottom line, and your business could easily go under.

In this tenuous economy, businesses must be increasingly more cautious about every financial move they make, protecting themselves at every turn. A good way to ensure that you’re well protected is to make sure that the merchant services provider you enlist to help you with payment processing systems doesn’t take advantage of you by sticking lots of hidden fees into your contract.

Generally, merchant services accounts come with a variety of fees – it is just part of the deal. Some are periodic, some are determined on a per-transaction percentage basis. Sometimes they’re set by the provider of your merchant account, but it’s actually more likely that the fees are passed through your merchant services provider to a particular credit card’s issuing bank.

These fees are preset by credit card companies like VISA and MasterCard. They’re called interchange fees, and they vary depending on the type of the card and the type of transaction. Basically, transactions that involve swiping a credit or debit card through your own terminal are considered the safest method of credit card processing and therefore will result in a different fee than, for example, a transaction that was keyed in manually.

Commonly, the fees are organized into popular price models, otherwise known as tiers. It’s likely that you’ll run up against 3-tier pricing or 6-tier pricing somewhere along the line. The former is by far the most common pricing method used, because it’s usually the easiest system available. This makes it the system of choice for most merchant service providers and business owners. In 3-tier pricing, every credit or debit transaction a business processes is placed into one of three different risk categories. Each of these groups carries different security considerations and corresponding pricing levels.

Other potential charges include authorization fees, statement fees, monthly minimum fees and batch fees. Authorization fees are charged each time a transaction is sent to the card-issuing bank to be authorized. Unfortunately for business owners, this fee applies whether or not the card is verified. A statement fee is a monthly fee, as opposed to a per transaction fee, and it is sent to the merchant at the end of each monthly processing cycle. Your statement will show how much processing you did during that month, and what fees were incurred as a result.

Another common fee is the monthly minimum fee, which is a way to ensure that merchants pay a minimum amount in fees each month in order to cover the costs required to maintain the account and create profit. A good way to avoid these fees are to ensure that when you sign your merchant services provider’s contract, you give yourself a low monthly minimum barrier – that is, that you don’t overestimate how much you’ll have coming in.

Take these various charges into account when you’re going through the process of setting up your business’s merchant account.

No matter how hard you work to run a successful business, you can never make everyone happy. Some customers may get a bit overzealous in your store and then realize later that they bought something out of their price range. Others may buy a gift for a friend who ends up receiving two of the same thing on a birthday or other holiday.

If the customer paid in cash, then a return is easy to handle. They give you back the product and you hand them back the cash. However, when the customer has paid with a credit or debit card, things become slightly more complicated.

The Inner-Workings of Returns

When a customer returns an item that they purchased with a credit card, you must contact your merchant services provider to give out the refund. Your merchant account provider knows that refunds happen and this wont’ be a problem. However, they won’t be returning the credit card processing fee.

No matter what the reason for having to return a product, it certainly wasn’t the merchant account provider’s fault. They still handled their end of the bargain and did the work. Not only that, but now they have to do extra work to process the refund. In fact, some account providers will charge an additional fee for the return. After all, they are now doing twice the work.

What You Can Do About It

Even though these additional fees exist, there are still steps you can take to minimize and even eliminate this extra charge for your business. The solution is, quite simply, to charge a restocking or return fee to your customers. You want to be careful when setting up this fee, though. The wording is important so that you don’t lose business or stray from the Card Association guidelines.

For starters, you must post your policy of return fees in an easily viewable and prominent place. It is a good idea to simply put it by the checkout area. This is important, because credit card associations require it. If you don’t display it in what people would commonly consider a prominent place, frustrated customers can complain about your business. You should also consider putting this return fee policy right on every sales receipt.

You’ll also want to make sure you set your return fee as a percentage of the original purchase price. Don’t try to profit from a return fee, as this could lead to dissatisfied customers. Simply try to make it as close to the processing fee as possible.

Another important point is to make sure that you charge a return fee for every purchase, whether a card was used or not. This has to do with discrimination policies in your merchant services agreement. If you follow these simple steps, you should be able to offset the costs from credit card refunds.

Getting a new business up and running is by no means an easy task. In fact, it can be an incredibly stressful time in the lives of the people behind that business. During this exhausting startup period, the last thing most business owners want to do is take on even more worries.

Many businessmen and women out there forego credit card solutions because of worries about processing fees. Of course, on many occasions these worries are misplaced, misunderstood, or just false. Fears of the unknown dissuade far too many business owners from utilizing the beneficial universe of credit card processing. The following myths and misconceptions are often the cause.

Myth #1 - Merchant Account Providers Charge Exorbitant Processing Fees

Probably the biggest fear out there today is that accepting debit and credit cards will cost your business too much money. Many people out there would probably love to accept credit cards, but are afraid that the fees might be too high. They know that more people will come to their business if they accept credit cards, but fear that the fees would make it less than worth their while.

The truth is that fees and costs are far lower than you might expect. One reason for this is that there are an increasingly large number of merchant accounts providers out there today. This competition helps keep prices down for you and your business.

There is also a big difference between various processing machines and forms of payment. Online payments are more expensive because of the heightened risk of fraud. Payments in person are far lower because studies show that fraud is reduced when people deal with each other in person. Personal payments with debit cards are even lower than with a credit card.

Myth #2 – Merchant Account Providers Have Expensive Hidden Fees

Legally, merchant account providers must offer their clients a thorough list of each fee that comes included in their package. You do have to be careful to read the fine print, however. Just like any business, they might make it more difficult to find these fees in the contract.

If you find yourself reading a contract and the pricing doesn’t seem to make sense, call and ask to speak to a customer service representative. This will serve as a good way to make sure that a potential provider is reputable and ready to assist its clients.

Should you encounter a company that tries to hide their fees and won’t give you a straight answer on the phone, just take your business elsewhere. There are plenty of honest merchant account providers who will be happy to explain all of the fees and costs.

Myth #3 – Setting Up a Merchant Account is Too Expensive for New and Small Businesses

Businesses of every shape and size can benefit from credit card processing through a merchant services account. In most cases, an account provider charges you according to the amount of business you conduct. This way, it grows depending on how much business you actually do. Small businesses can easily accept credit cards even if they do less business than a big corporation.

When you finally learn a little bit about the merchant account industry, you will quickly discover that many commonly held fears are misplaced. The truth is that credit card processing fees aren’t nearly as frightening as they may seem.