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3 Tips to Set Up PC Based Credit Card Processing
By - Daniel Hall
Whether your
business is offline or online you will significantly increase sales -- and
profits -- when you can accept all the major credit cards for payment of the
goods and services you sell.
In the old
days getting a merchant account so that you could process credit cards was a
colossal hassle. Generally you were expected to have great credit and have an
established brick and mortar business. If you were a home based business or, God
forbid, you were trying to do business online your chances of getting approved
were nil.
Happily, as
ecommerce on the Internet has matured it has become increasingly easier to set
up pc based credit card processing. This article is intended to communicate
three important tips for setting up pc based credit card processing in your
business. By the way, even if you run a brick and mortar business it is
advantageous to set up pc based credit card processing for the simple reason
that with it set up this way you can do business anywhere in the world you have
an Internet connection.
Tip Number 1
Choose a
processing company that is sensitive to the needs and structure of your
business. For example, if you are running an Internet based business make sure
the company understands the nuances of doing business online. A good way to
determine this is to ask the company about the percentages of their merchants
who have this type of model. Beware if they quote you a percentage less than
50%. The rationale here is if the majority of their business comes through
similarly situated merchants it reasonable to infer that they are a good choice.
Hint: Are you
doing business with them online through their website or are you talking to an
officer at your corner bank? The lesson is you might want set up your merchant
account through a credit card processor that looks like your own business. If
you are online go to a processor that is doing business online. Conversely, if
you are brick and mortar you may want to do business with a brick and mortar
processor like your corner bank. Chances are good that they both will have
options for pc based credit card processing.
Tip Number 2
Always do
business with a PC based credit card processor who does their own processing and
whose underwriting department is on site. The vast majority of credit card
processors, online or off, are resellers or -- third party -- processors. Stay
away from them! There are a couple reasons why.
First,
processing fees will almost always be higher by setting up with a reseller.
Second, and more importantly, using a reseller you are much more likely to have
your funds frozen if there are ever any perceived problems with your account.
Here's the
horror that could happen if you don't choose your pc based credit card processor
wisely. You could have a charge back or transaction over your stated daily
transaction amount (you provide this when your account is initially set up). In
either case, it could raise a red flag for possible fraud in the underwriting
department of the company actually processing your transactions (not the third
party reseller) and cause your account to be shut down and funds frozen.
As an
attorney I have represented businesses where this exact thing has happened and
$1,000's were frozen. It took time and money in legal fees to finally resolve
the dispute and only because I threatened litigation.
Case in
point: when you do business directly with a pc based credit card processor who
is actually doing the processing and the underwriting (fraud detection)
department is on site there is easier communication and a far lesser probability
that your funds will ever be frozen.
Tip Number 3
Always ask
for as high of a daily sales volume as the pc based credit card processor will
allow you when you set up you account.
Several of
the businesses I have represented had a problem with underwriting departments
(see Tip Number 2 above) because they set their average daily transaction volume
too low. What happens is sometimes your business will grow very quickly and
you'll start processing transaction over the limit of the average daily volume
that you initially stated, which will raise a red flag with the underwriting
department and possibly lead to having your funds frozen.
The solution
is to set your limit as high as possible in the beginning and then communicate
with the underwriting department before you reach the daily limit. This way your
limit can be adjusted upward and shouldn't have problems.
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About The
Author:
Daniel Hall, runs many Internet based businesses and is also a Texas attorney who has represented merchants having problems with their credit card processors. Get a free guide to choosing a pc based credit card processor at http://www.netcreditcardprocessing.com/
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