Merchant Account Blog & Credit Card Processing Blog

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Choosing a merchant account provider can be a confusing task. Most merchants are looking a price only, as a deciding factor. This is not always the best factor in the long run for your business. With the recent push towards free credit card terminals many business owners are just jumping in, without looking a the whole picture. You should be analyzing all payment options, rates, equipment cost, contract durations, and level of support provided by your merchant services provider.

Payment options only began with credit card processing. You have many other options to consider, including American Express, Discover-Card, Pin-Based Debt, Check Processing, Gift Card Program, EBT Food Stamps, ect. Most offices focus on putting a credit card terminal in your hands and leave. Our staff is trained to listen to the merchant needs and tailor a payment processing solution that best meets the merchant needs. One size does not fit all. You must find a provider willing to listen to your needs and make sound recommendations based on those needs.

You need to understand the cost of your payment solutions, such as rates, fees, and the duration of the service contract. Don’t just let a salesperson email you a contract to sign, but ask them to go over each item, line-by-line with you before you sign. Don’t accept something that you really don’t need, but don’t overlook a service which makes sense to your business. In short, find a salesperson willing to explain and guide you with your best interest in mind.

Support is the next concern. Look for a company that will be there when you have a problem, ie..broken equipment, credit card supplies, risk-issues, ect. Our customer support team is the best in the business. Weather you have a question at 10:00PM or a broken terminal that needs replacement, we are there to help. Beware of an office that is simply looking to sell you a black box.

In closing, choosing a credit card processing provider can be a hassel. If you have any questions, please feel free to call me to discuss your needs.

MARK SANDS
http://www.usa-merchantaccount.com

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Understanding the term “Chargeback” is the first step in preventing them. A “Chargeback” is when a customer calls their credit card company and disputes charge on their statement. This dispute has the potential of turning into a “Chargeback”, which is a forced reversal of the charge from your account back to your customers account. Keep in mind that it comes with penalty fee per occurrance and if you get to many chargebacks within a given month, your account will be closed for “Excessive Charrgebacks” and under Visa / Mastercard Rules, placed on a Terminated Merchant File.

With that said, you can see that “Excessive Chargebacks” can destroy your reputation and the future of your business. So lets analyize the process and how to prevent them. First, when a customer makes the initial dispute, you will receive a “Retrieval Letter” requesting that you provide information on the transaction in question. You have only 7 Days to respond to the “Retrieval Request”. If you do not provided the requested documents within the time-frame, this transaction will become a “Chargeback”.

Now you need to analyize why this happened and take steps to keep this from happening again. Ask yourself, “What Can I Do Differently To Avoid This In The Future”. Below are somethings to consider:

1) Did the customer remember my Business Name and the fact they made the purchase ?

2) Did I ship the product in a Timely Manner from the time I processed the credit card ?

3) Do I have evidence of shipping, such as Signed Receipt from Fed-Ex, UPS, DHL, USPS ?

4) Do I have evidence of a Signed Credit Card Receipt or Manual Imprint of the card ?

5) Is my Customer Service Phone being answered to address potential customer problems ?

6) Do I need to change my “Return Policy” and be more understanding to customer issues ?

7) Am I on the Alert For Credit Card Fruad and using methoods set-forth by Visa / MasterCard ?

The above 7 questions will usually give you the answers to how Chargebacks can be avoided in the future. You must use common sense and make a honest assessment of the situation. Don’t fool yourself and think that this won’t happen again, because if their is a problem somewhere, it will happen again.

Remember that accepting credit cards is a “Privilege not a Right” and if you abuse that privilege, you may not be given a second chance. Stay out of trouble !!!!!!

If you have any questions about Preventing Chargebacks, feel free to give me a call.

MARK SANDS
http://www.usa-merchantaccount.com

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1st National Processing has partnered with the eProcessing Network to provide many different credit card processing solutions. The eProcessing Network is certified by Visa & Mastercard as a secure payment gateway to transmit credit card transactions in a secure environment over the internet. In addition to ecommerce enabled websites, the ePocessingNetwork.com offers many inovative solutions, including Retail POS Software, Wireless Processing, and QuickBooks plugin’s to process credit card transactions directly from your accounting software.

E-Commerce Processing - The eProcessing Networks ecommerce payment gateway is supported by most shopping carts and can be configured to emulate Authorize.Net, making it the most supported gateway solution on the market. Best of all they provide “Live” telephone support, at no charge.

Online Vitual Terminal - The eProcessing Network also offers an Online Virtual Terminal that merchants can use to manually “Key-In” a customers credit card transaction. Includes detail online transaction reporting and transaction history. You can process Re-Occurring Charges with an upgrade.

POS Software - The eProcessing Network is giving away free software with their service, that will allow you to process Retail Transactions or even Keyed Transactions for telephone orders. Software can reside on your computer desktop and features a very small footprint. Includes free online reporting and will instantly email your customer a receipt.

Wireless Transactions - Mobile merchants can process “Swiped” transactions from their cell-phone with a inexpensive swiper attachment ($175.00). This is a huge savings when compared to a ($600) wireless terminal. Most cell phones are supported and internet access is required.

QuickBooks Plugin - Merchants looking to do credit card processing directly from QuickBooks may consider their QuickBook Plugin. Now merchants are not locked in to Inovative Merchant Services, as the only source for a merchant account. Providing QuickBooks users the freedom to shop around for the best rates.

Please call me with any questions regarding any credit card processing solution or needs that you may have. We look forward to working with you.

MARK SANDS
http://www.usa-merchantaccount.com

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Accepting credit cards is a must in todays marketplace. Your customers expect you to welcome their credit cards or they will find another place to shop. Your competitors will profit from those customers, while you receive nothing. Don’t lose another sale by not accepting credit cards.

The cost to accept credit cards has decreased over the years. With many processors offering free credit card terminals, you save hundreds of upfront money on the expense of equipment. As stated in a recent post, 10 years ago, you would have been quoted $1,200.00 for that machine. Further savings comes from the new found competition on the internet, as fierce competition has caused a reduction to rates and fee’s. Further if you already have a merchant account, with good volume, you can usually find another processor willing to offer you a better rate. In any case, the present is a great time to get a new merchant account.

If you have any questions or are looking a the best rate, please give me a call.

MARK SANDS,
http://www.usa-merchantaccount.com

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Selling Credit Card Processing To Merchants

For those interested in a possible career in merchant account sales, the opportunities are endless. With thousands of new businesses openning up daily, your chances of success are very good. With the current trend of giving away free equipment, your focus should be on building a long term relationship your merchants and benefiting for the lifetime residual stream that comes from building a strong portfolio.

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Credit Card Machines - Free With Merchant Account

Well times sure do change. Their has never been a better time to apply for a merchant account. Back in the mid-1990’s, you would have been quoted $1,200 for a credit card terminal. Well today you will probally be offered a Free Credit Card Machine, in return for your business. Amazing how things change. 

We offer a Free Credit Card Machine with what we feel is one of the best offers, to date. Once your merchant account is approved, we will program & ship, a free state-of-the-art credit card terminal at no charge. All we ask is that you return the equipment, when closing your merchant account.

Many companies are charging a step annual fee, shortly after openning your account to off-set the cost. Others are have a long contract with a $895 penalty for closing your merchant account. Please be careful and understand would you are signing.

We offer a straight forward contract with no hidden fees. Call me today to discuss why our program is the best in the business.

MARK SANDS
http://www.usa-merchantaccount.com

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We will be posting our profile on Technorati later today. If you are not yet aware of Technorati, you surely should check them out. You can find some really interesting posts there, as posts are based on popularity and you can find some real gems. Well worth you time.

Technorati Profile

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Getting The Best Merchant Account Rates

Understanding your merchant account rates, is the first step in insuring that you get the best rate. Most merchants do not understand the rate structure of their merchant account. The majority of merchant accounts are on a Tiered System, as Visa & Mastercard charge different rates for certain business types and transaction types. This is called “Interchange” and is extremely complicated. Between both Visa and Mastercard there are at least 100 different Interchange Catagories, here are the current interchange rates from Visa Interchange and Mastercard Interchange, as-of this writing. As you can see, Interchange Rates are extremely complicated.

The popular Tiered System tends to simplify this extremely complicated formula used by Visa & Mastercard. Most merchant accounts use a Three Tier System for Qualified, Mid-Qualified, and Non-Qualified Transactions with different rates for each. Basic understanding of each, is key to getting the best possible rate for that particular transaction type.

GETTING THE BEST RATE:

Alway’s swipe the credit card, when possible.
Use AVS & CVV2 when keying a transaction. ( Address, Zip Code, Last 3 On Back )
CLOSE YOUR TERMINAL BATCH DAILY !!!!!!!!

Majority of your transactions should fall under Quailfied Transactions, by following the above proceedure. Any Rewards Cards process will probally fall under your Mid-Quaified Tier. Finally any of the following card types will fall under the Non-Qualified Tier….Foriegn Cards, Business Cards, and any hand-key transactions with a retail account.

Larger businesses that process above $37,500 per month, may qualify for Interchange Plus pricing which is Interchange Cost, plus a flat rate of 0.27% above interchange cost. This is actually much simpler and you will receive a monthly break-down of where each transaction fall’s under the complex Interchange Structure. This option is reserved for higher volume merchants, currently processing credit cards. Call us today, to see if you qualify as a high-volume merchant account. Your 3 most recent credit card processing statements are required.

Both Visa and Mastercard offer special Supermarket Rates for grocery stores that:

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Credit Card Fair Free Act (HR 5546) ) - House Of Represenatives

On July 16, 2008, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee passed the Credit Card Fair Fee Act (HR 5546), by a 19 to 16 vote. Legislation was introduced by D-Rep John Conyers of Michigan back in March of this year. The bill addresses government price controls of interchange rates charged to businesses through their merchant account agreements. This bill clearly states that the board will “set rates and terms” for access to the benefits of accepting electronic payments.

We feel this bill is very dangerous to small merchant’s with business types of higher risk, as they may get squeezed out of the market, by mandated pricing by the goverment. By lowering the margin’s of the credit card processing providers, they will surely cut the amount of risk they are willing to accept. This would surely cost may small businesses, especially internet-based-merchants the ability to accept credit cards at their business, as no provider would accept the risk with lower rewards.

The credit card processing indusrty over the past ten years has regulated itself, as it should in a Free Market Economy. Ten years ago, a merchant’s monthly overhead to accept credit cards was much higher than it is today. Then, a merchant had a choice of paying $1,200 for a credit card terminal or leasing one for $3,400 over a 4 Year Contract. Those day’s are gone, as merchants can receive a free terminal with their merchant account. Today, many things are negociable, even to the smallest of merchants, as the competion is fierce with the introduction of the internet.

As for the idea of government price controls in a free market economy, well today’s congress just does not get it. Back in September of 2007, legislation was passed to control the interest-rates on student loans. This caused all of the major banks to stop student loan lending in the Spring of 2008, then guess who came to the rescue 2 month’s ago, the legislature !!! They passed a new bill, guaranteeing the student debt, with tax payer dollars. ( I don’t think they will be guranteeing any merchant accounts when mom & pop can’t get a one, do you ?? ).

Again, we think this is bad politics and bad for business. Please share your thoughts.

MARK SANDS
http://www.usa-merchantaccount.com

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Credit Card Processing Software

Point-of-sale credit card processing software is a must merchants processing transactions from a computer or pos register. We will cover both “Retail” for face-to-face transactions (Swiped) and also “MOTO” for card Not Present transactions (Keyed). Most software packages will support both types of transactions.

We’ll start with a retail enviornment, where the customer is present and will swipe his credit card. This software would be installed on the hard drive of the point-of-sale system. A swiper device would also be installed in a usb port and configured to run on the software. In this senario, the customers card is swiped and the dollar amount entered. Software would dial out through a TCP-IP Internet Connection and process the transaction.

In a card not present enviornment, such as phone order or fax order, the software would reside on the computer system of the merchant. A swiper device would not be necesarry, as the card information is manually keyed into the software. Certain other information would be required, such as street number, zip code, and last three didgets on back of the credit card. Again, transaction is transmitted via a TCP-IP Internet Connection and the credit card transaction is processed.

Credit card processing software can vary in price, usually starting around $199 - $249. Many pos systems are compatable with PC Charge, a product manufactured by Verifone. This is a very popular solution and comes with free support fot the first 30 Days. We also offer a Free Credit Card Software which is a free dowload by the eProcessing Network called JPOS Software. This simple to install software comes with life-time support, at no charge.

Call me today for the free download & set-up, a merchant account with us would be required.

MARK SANDS
http://www.usa-merchantaccount.com
    

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