Tips to For Businesses Beginning to Accept Credit Cards

By Ben Dwyer

The benefits of accepting credit cards almost always outweigh the risks, and the chances of this are greatly improved if you do your homework before opening a merchant account. In this article I'll talk about the importance of accepting credit cards, what to expect as you compare merchant accounts and how to keep your merchant account in good standing once you begin processing.

Convincing a business owner that they need to start accepting credit cards isn't as tough as it once was and it's getting easier every day. Credit and debit cards are a staple in consumers' wallets and the trend isn't showing signs of letting up any time soon. For merchants, the ability to accept credit cards often translates to larger average tickets and greater gross monthly sales volumes. Of course, along with the greater sales volume comes the expense of processing credit card transactions. Fortunately, profit from increased sales typically far outweighs processing costs.

Here are a few helpful points that you should know before beginning your search for a merchant account.

Merchant account fees are not standardized

Merchant account Rates and fees vary widely from one provider to the next. Aside from the amount of fees charged, some accounts will have entire categories of fees that others won't. As you being to research your options, look at every account as an individual.

Credit card processing rates and fees are not written in stone

Haggling is the name of the game when it comes to negotiating the best merchant account rates and fees. Consider the rates and fees of an initial merchant account quote as a starting point from which you can start to reducing costs.

There are a lot of providers competing for your business

Don't begin and end your search at your local bank or even with the providers in your town. There are thousands of merchant service providers all competing for your business. Use this competition to your advantage to get the best rates possible. Consider using a web site like CardFellow.com to get quotes from multiple providers from a national market.

Once you begin contacting merchant service providers, you should expect to encounter some pretty good sales people that may employ high-pressure sales tactics. The key is to remain methodical in your search process and look at the facts surrounding an account, not the salesperson's interpretation of them.

The best and truly knowledgeable salespeople will use the rates and fees of their merchant account quote to help portray the benefits of their offer. They'll take the time to learn about your business, present calculations and estimations of processing expenses using an effective rate, and they'll take the time to answer your questions in a consultative manner. These are the salespeople to look for, but not necessarily the ones to expect.

Once you decide upon a merchant account provider and start accepting credit cards, your education about credit card processing has just begun. Don't look at the task as complete, but as just beginning. The bankcard industry is always changing and new regulations that affect you are commonly brought to legislative attention. The phrase "knowledge is power" translates to merchants in the bankcard industry as "knowledge is money." The more you know about credit card processing, the more you will be able to save yourself in processing expenses.

Once you begin processing credit cards, frequent reliable and unbiased sources on the subject to keep yourself up to date about the industry and ways you can optimize your merchant account to lower costs. The best sources of merchant account information are the ones that aren't trying selling you processing services.

Finding the Perfect Credit Card Processing Merchant Account For Your Business

By Uma A Ilango

There is absolutely no way your business can compete without credit card processing solutions! Industry statistics state that the average credit card sale is $40 versus just $9 for the average cash sale.* Offering a such payment option not only gives your customers alternative methods of payments, but are less expensive to cash and checks. In August of 1997, Coopers & Lybrand noted in a case study that such processing costs an average 2.7% of any transaction, compared to checks 4.0% and cash 4.8%.** These statistics alone should be enough to get any business owner excited about establishing a processing merchant account!

There are a number of reasons that you should seriously consider accepting credit cards:

- Consumers tend to spend more when using it
- Payments can be accepted over the phone or internet
- Increase your company´s creditability
- Bank is credited immediately
- Consumers prefer that over carrying cash
- These are the best protection for you, the consumer, and the banks involved.
- No more bounced checks
- Less paperwork - no cash/check bank deposits

Finding the right processing merchant account

It is essential to retain a reputable credit card processing merchant account. There are so many merchant accounts to choose from.

You should be aware of the different accounts provided and follow the following list when comparing such processing merchant account providers:

- Account specific for the type of business you have
- Average approval rating
- Customer Service availability
- Account set-up time
- Monthly rates
- Real-Time Solution Cost
- Have discount rates
- POS options
- Fees for:
1. Gateway
2. Statement
3. Transaction
4. Tech Support
5. Credit card terminal

Merchant Account Deals:

Phone Credit Card Processing:
- Accept it using touch-tone phones and cell phone! The service is called Touch-Pay.

Online Fundraising Solution:
- Does your non-profit or charity organization want to accept donation online? NexCommerce is offering donation processing accounts.

Donate a small amount of credit card transactions to your favorite Charity or Non-Profit:
- Does your non-profit or charity organization want to receive donations by having merchants donate a portion of each credit card sale? Are you a merchant / business that wants to support your favorite charity causes?

Church Merchant Account:
- Do you want to accept church contributions either online or swipe terminals using our church merchant account.

Source: MerchantSeek 2000-2007

*Source: "Jumping Through the Merchant Account Hoops," Khera Communications.
** Source: United States Postal Service, Coopers & Lybrand as quoted in Credit Card Management, August 1997.

Related Articles:
- Plastic Fantastic - A Beginner's Guide to Accepting Credit Cards
- Beginner´s Guide to E-commerce
- Steps to Accept Credit Cards in your Business

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Don't Sign Up For a Credit Card Merchant Account Until You've Read This!

By Joe Mears

If you want to increase your business then you need to accept credit cards. More and more people are using plastic to pay for goods and services everyday and if you are not accepting credit cards, then your competitors will be taking your business away.

There are many companies offering credit card merchant accounts, however the fees for using merchant account services can be much more expensive than they at first seem due to 'hidden' or 'extra' fees that many companies add on that they do not make clear when people first sign up.

These hidden fees can really eat into profits and in some cases make the difference between being profitable or not.

If you want to find the best credit card merchant account then you need to find a merchant account provider that will be honest about all the fees your account will be charged. From there, you are in a position to work out what your total costs will actually be.

The actual or total fees that a company is charged by a merchant account provider are sometimes referred to in the industry as the 'effective rate'. Most merchant account providers will advertise a 'standard rate' or a 'discount rate', but these are not the same as the 'effective rate'.

Merchants need to be very careful of companies that advertise very low discount or standard rates as these are used to entice merchants to sign up for an account without making them understand that they will be charged much more later on.