Small business owners, generally speaking, play it safe when accepting credit card payments - they would choose not to, rather than be faced with processing costs and the auxiliary fees involved in the whole process - but that is far from being the big picture.
First, think about the kind of company you want to do business with. There are banks that provide services that allow you to accept credit cards, as well as independent sales organizations and, sometimes, the credit card company itself.
Dealing with the same bank you deal with for your other business accounts and concerns can be quite helpful because it would be easier to take care of payment concerns big and small alike.
Conversely, independent sales organizations have the edge in experience and are more versatile when working with and processing payments for different kinds of businesses.
Since we want to help you as you research the different options and different payment processing companies you can turn to, we have come up with some things to be on the lookout for:
How consistent are they? Meaning, is the network reliable or not when it comes to downtime? What happens when the network goes down? What kind of customer support structure do they have in place? Are they there 24/7-365 or do they close the lines when you are home and have all the time in the world to course a complaint?
Products. Namely, what payment processing products can you take advantage of? If in doubt, can they give solid recommendations to you?
Add-on services, perhaps? Does this system also process electronic gift cards, electronic checks or other methods of payment?
The biggest factor that most people use to choose the merchant account company they want to go with, however, is the price. Indeed, there can be many fees incurred depending on the merchant account provider you choose - for example, there would be an introductory application fee, as well as other fees like transaction fees, sales fees (for Internet and phone sales) and the discount rate.
And if that isn't enough, you may also be charged fees for your billing statements, for not meeting your sales quota or for processing refunds or returns.
Be aware of all the sundry fees collected by each company and the corresponding rate. If you're expecting people to make a lot of small purchases with credit cards at your business, you might look for the company with the lowest transaction fee. If on the other hand your credit card payments will be high, you might be more interested in a lower discount rate. The main factor would be the nature of your business.
A final thing you'll want to consider when choosing a payment processing system is what if any costs you will incur from renting or buying equipment. You can seriously minimize your overhead if you opt for a provider that offers credit card processing equipment free of charge.
First, think about the kind of company you want to do business with. There are banks that provide services that allow you to accept credit cards, as well as independent sales organizations and, sometimes, the credit card company itself.
Dealing with the same bank you deal with for your other business accounts and concerns can be quite helpful because it would be easier to take care of payment concerns big and small alike.
Conversely, independent sales organizations have the edge in experience and are more versatile when working with and processing payments for different kinds of businesses.
Since we want to help you as you research the different options and different payment processing companies you can turn to, we have come up with some things to be on the lookout for:
How consistent are they? Meaning, is the network reliable or not when it comes to downtime? What happens when the network goes down? What kind of customer support structure do they have in place? Are they there 24/7-365 or do they close the lines when you are home and have all the time in the world to course a complaint?
Products. Namely, what payment processing products can you take advantage of? If in doubt, can they give solid recommendations to you?
Add-on services, perhaps? Does this system also process electronic gift cards, electronic checks or other methods of payment?
The biggest factor that most people use to choose the merchant account company they want to go with, however, is the price. Indeed, there can be many fees incurred depending on the merchant account provider you choose - for example, there would be an introductory application fee, as well as other fees like transaction fees, sales fees (for Internet and phone sales) and the discount rate.
And if that isn't enough, you may also be charged fees for your billing statements, for not meeting your sales quota or for processing refunds or returns.
Be aware of all the sundry fees collected by each company and the corresponding rate. If you're expecting people to make a lot of small purchases with credit cards at your business, you might look for the company with the lowest transaction fee. If on the other hand your credit card payments will be high, you might be more interested in a lower discount rate. The main factor would be the nature of your business.
A final thing you'll want to consider when choosing a payment processing system is what if any costs you will incur from renting or buying equipment. You can seriously minimize your overhead if you opt for a provider that offers credit card processing equipment free of charge.
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