Posts Tagged ‘Merchant Account’

Benefits of a Merchant Account !!!!

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

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MERCHANT ACCOUNT BENEFITS - A MUST FOR ANY BUSINESS

With checks becoming obsolete these days and cash being less commonly used, it is vital for your business to accept credit and debit cards. By offering the services of a Merchant account, you will not only improve your sales, but also see an increase in your clientele.

There are many benefits of opening a merchant account with USA Merchant Account. The services offered can provide a revolutionary change for the growth of your business. Here are some of the reasons why your business must consider opening a merchant account and take advantage of the numerous benefits offered by it.

1. Accept cards: The most important feature of merchant accounts is that you will increase the number of payment methods accepted by your business. By accepting credit and debit cards like Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover, you open up your business to several types of customers.

2. Increase Sales: By providing the facility of paying with cards, you improve the quality of your business. You attract more people to use your services as it is now more convenient for them. Thus you see an increase in the amount of your sales and in this way you can provide a boost to your business.

3. Security: By providing a safe way to conduct an online transaction, you are giving the customer security. If they feel secure in the way their payment is conducted, they will surely return for future purchases.

4. Bad Checks: Avoid the inconvenience of dealing with bounced checks and the costs associated with it. By allowing customers to pay with cards instead, you decrease the frequency of dealing with such bad checks.

5. Excess cash: Dealing with large amounts of cash is undesirable for any business. By using merchant accounts to accept credit and debit cards more often, you reduce the amount of cash that is accumulated each day by your sales and thus avoid the inconvenience of it.

6. Speed: You can speed up your daily transactions by conducting them with cards and thus reduce the time spent at checkout. It is much faster and easier to use and thus more convenient.

7. Bookkeeping: Keeping track of all the transactions that have occurred can be a time consuming job. Merchant accounts offer tools that make it much easier to track your sales and success rates. Use these services to accurately account for all transactions and make bookkeeping a much simpler process.

8. Global: By accepting cards that are universally accepted, you can extend your business to be conducted with anyone in any part of the world. This further improves your sales and gives you the opportunity to take your business global.

After exploring the above mentioned features it is clear that your business may feel a financial pinch if you are not offering merchant account services to your customers. By using merchant accounts, you not only increase your sales but you change the face of your business forever as you have now taken it to a much higher level. The use of a merchant account is not just about convenience for the customer but also about profitability for your busines.

MARK SANDS
1st National Processing
http://www.usa-merchantaccount.com
1-866 828-8683
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Merchant Processing $0.00

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

Merchant Processing - No Start-Up Costs !!!!!!!!!

 

Merchant processing has never been more simpler and affordable, as banks are competing for your business. With many merchant processors offering low rates to win-over your business from other processors, the competition among banks is creating the perfect enviorment for business owners to save big.

Depending on your current monthly credit card processing volume, your saving can be substantial. especially if your merchant account is several years old and you have not shopped rates since you opened your merchant account.

Another key factor to consider is that many processors will waive certain fees to gain your merchant processing business and get you to switch. This can be an additional saving’s for the business owner. These fee’s may include statement fees, annual fee’s, and monthly minimum fees.

Lastly, in recent years many banks are offering FREE TERMINALS to encourage you to switch processors. This is a great way to up-grade your equipment at no cost. Many merchants are using out dated equipment for their merchant processing & probably paid several hundred dollars to purchase it. Another great savings.

If you are looking for Merchant Processing or are looking to save money on your current merchant processing costs…please feel free to give me a call for a free savings quote.

MARK SANDS
1st National Processing
http://www.usa-merchantaccount.com
1-866 828-8683
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Merchant Account Chargebacks

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
 
10 Ways To Prevent Chargebacks


 

With today’s economic pressures on people and businesses, it is vital to minimize
potential problems that could lead to account closures.  One way to do this is by
educating your merchants on how to prevent chargebacks.  Below are 9 ways to do
this with MO/TO and Internet based accounts.

  1. Refund Policy Disclosure for Mail Order Merchants: Include the refund policy
    on the Order Form, Invoice, or Contract.
     
  2. Refund Policy Disclosure for e-Commerce Merchants:  On the website,
    state the refund policy and have the cardholder select a “click to accept” or
    “I agree” button to acknowledge the policy.
  3. If a ‘decline’ response is received when authorizing a transaction, request
    another form of payment.
      
  4. Obtain an authorization number for the full amount of the sale - do not break
    the sale into several smaller amounts.
  5. Use Address Verification Service (AVS) and scrutinize or decline any
    transaction where the response is not Y.
     
  6. Know that the fraud risks increase when merchandise is shipped overseas
    or shipped to an address other than the billing address.
  7. In the case of recurring payments, the chance of experiencing a ‘Cancelled
    Recurring’ chargeback is reduced by pre-notifying customers of an
    upcoming billing transaction.
  8. Require CVV, CCV and CVV2 during the transaction process and check the
    results before fulfilling an order.
  9. Watch for transactions that are “too good to be true” - they often are!

 

MARK SANDS
1st National Processing
http://www.usa-merchantaccount.com
1-866 828-8683
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Mastercard Grows Debit

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

Mastercard Grows Business On The Debit Side



NEW YORK (Reuters) - MasterCard Inc (MA), the world’s second-largest credit-card network, will launch a debit card with U.S. regional bank KeyBank on Wednesday, in MasterCard’s latest bid to tap demand for payment systems that do not involve borrowing.

“Debit remains a priority for us,” Patricia Preston, senior vice president of U.S. debit product management and development of MasterCard Worldwide, told Reuters in an interview.

The World Debit MasterCard will offer rewards, discounts, and savings in an effort to attract customers.

Cleveland-based KeyBank, a unit of KeyCorp (KEY), will be the first of many partners the credit card network expects to adopt the new debit card.

KeyBank plans to issue 25,000 of the cards by the end of March, and 60,000 by the end of the first year, said Carl Stauffeneger, senior consumer product manager of KeyBank.

He added the bank, with almost 1,000 branches in 14 states, was targeting clients with an annual debit spend of around $7,500.

MasterCard said it expected to promote the new debit card in the United States before exporting it to other countries, but declined to give further details.

The company prospered in recent years as fast-spending consumers used their credit cards more. But with many Americans trying to curb their borrowing, the use of debit cards is likely to increase as consumers stick to stricter budgets.

In the United States, credit transactions represent 60 percent of the gross dollar volume of MasterCard, while debit cards make up the rest. But debit cards volume grew 13 percent last year in the United States, while credit cards shrank 2 percent.

In contrast, rival Visa has a bigger presence in the debit business in the United States, with 53 percent of Visa’s total volume in debit cards, and 47 percent in credit cards.

MasterCard has 126 million debit cards in use in the United States, while Visa has 314 million debit cards.

(Reporting by Juan Lagorio, editing by Matthew Lewis)

 

MARK SANDS
1st National Processing
http://www.usa-merchantaccount.com
1-866 828-8683
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Pay At Pumps !!!!

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

Gas Station Owners - Save Money At The Pumps

Gas station owners should be feeling the lower cost of pay at the pump transactions, with the decrease in interchange cost passed on by Visa last fall. Visa lowered the interchange pass-through at the hieght of the gas crisis last fall. This savings at pay at pumps stations was hoped to be passed on to the consumer.

We are finding that many gas staion owners who are not on a Interchange Plus plan with their merchant account provider, have not seen any savings. These merchant’s are on a Teired Rate plan and the savings is being lost to their merchant account provider.

Owners should look to switch their gas station merchant account to an Interchange Plus merchant account to maximize overall savings on cost. With many business travelers utilizing the pay at pumps, the savings could be signifigant. The higher your sales volume, the higher the savings.

For more information on saving money on credit card processing, please feel free to give me a call to discuss your options.

 

MARK SANDS
1st National Processing
http://www.usa-merchantaccount.com
1-866 828-8683
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High Volume Merchant Account

Wednesday, February 18th, 2009

Merchant Account For High Monthly Volume Business

Good news for businesses having a problem getting a single merchant account to process their high volume credit card charges. We are rolling out our “High Volume Merchant Account“, for merchants processing high monthly volumes on their credit card processing. Merchants currently processing with multiple accounts, can now shift them in a single, low rate, merchant account.

The problem, many high volume businesses are forced to open multiple accounts, as many processors “Cap” their risk, at a certain dollar amount. This forces the business owner to spread out their credit card processing with several banks. This is a bookkeeping night mire and forces owners to monitor credit card sales volumes on a daily basis.

We now offer these merchant’s a solution with our High Volume Merchant Account. If you have a solid credit card processing history, a fairly good credit rating, and monthly statements to prove it, we can offer you a single source for all of your credit card processing needs. We will even compete with the lowest rate possible for your situation. You may even qualify for our Interchange Plus Pricing, which will save you on downgraded transactions which fall under Non-Qualified Transactions.

If you are currently processing credit cards, but having issues about your volume, please feel free to give me a call to discuss a solution.

 

MARK SANDS
1st National Processing
http://www.usa-merchantaccount.com
1-866 828-8683
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VISA Reports Earnings !!!

Wednesday, February 4th, 2009

VISA Reports Earnings After The Bell !!!!!!!!

Visa ( V ) reported strong numbers after the bell, sending shares higher in after-hours trading. Visa beat the street expectations posting an adjusted $0.78 earnings per share. Company more importantly reported a 12% Growth In Transaction Volume, over last year.

“We are very pleased with our fiscal first quarter earnings results and our ability to deliver strong operating performance,” said Joseph Saunders, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Despite the increasingly challenging economy, processed transaction growth, the strength of debit, and the global diversity of our business continue to highlight the resilience of our business model.”

Keep in mind that Visa is not a lender, nor a bank. They make a “Percentage” on the transaction volume.

Shares are soaring at the moment, trading up in “After-Hours” trading.

DIGG THIS STORY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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International Transaction Fees

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009

Cardholder Fees On Foreign Transactions !!!!

Planning a vacation out-side of the United States ??? Planning a large ecommerce purchase from a foreign country ???? Well be prepared to pay a “International Transaction Fee” if you are using your credit card. These fees are charged by issuing-banks to cardholders who make purchases outside of the United States and may include US Territories, such as the Virgin Islands or St. Thomas.

Keep in mind that the fee is based on US Dollar Amount of your purchase, ie.. if you make a purchase in Europe at $100 Euros, your fee is based on $125 US Dollars after the currency conversion. With the current value of the dollar being at historic lows, you may want to take this into consideration when planning major overseas purchases.

Fees may vary between different issuing banks, with Capitol One claiming they do not charge any fee on foreign credit card transactions. Here is a list of popular issuing banks published at CardRatings.Com, with their current fees for international purchases:

A January 2009 survey of credit card issuers revealed the following foreign transaction fees:

  • American Express - 2.7%
  • Bank of America - 3%
  • Chase - 3%
  • Citi Bank - 3%
  • HSBC - 3%
  • Washington Mutual - 1%
  • Wells Fargo - 3%
  • Capital One - No Foreign Transaction Fee !!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • Discover- No fees. Accepted in China, the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico and certain parts of Europe. Note: Discover is adding a 2% fee on May 1, 2009.

CARDHOLDER’S BEWARE:

We hope this saves you a huge surprise when receiving that credit card statement after making that large foreign purchase. Reading that fine-print in a cardholder agreement is never easy, but knowing the facts can keep you from falling into a trap.

Buy American !!!!

DIGG THIS STORY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MARK SANDS
1st National Processing
http://www.usa-merchantaccount.com
1-866 828-8683
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Interchange Plus Pricing

Monday, February 2nd, 2009

INTRODUCING INTERCHANGE PLUS PRICING

We are rolling-out “Interchange Plus Pricing” to any merchant, interested in saving money on their credit card processing fee’s. Once reserved for only the Walmart Size businesses, this program will save you money on your merchant account fees. Interchange Plus Pricing takes the “True Cost” charged by Visa or Mastercard and adds a cap on the markup charged by your processor, with a small margin above the true cost of a credit card transaction.

Merchants processing more than $20,000 Per Month, should see a substancial saving, with the program.

Any merchant who is interested, please give us a call.

DIGG THIS STORY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MARK SANDS
1st National Processing
http://www.usa-merchantaccount.com
1-866 828-8683
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NEWS: Ecommerce Merchant Account

Friday, January 30th, 2009

Amazon.com Blows Away Wall Street - Shares Soar !!!

Ecommerce Giant Amazon.com Inc (AMZN), blew away Wall Street this morning with an “Monster” 4th Quarter Report. Company reported higher than expected numbers before the bell this morning. Shares soaring with share prices running up +17 % at the market open.

Company reported a 4th Quarter increase in revenew of +18 %. Company saw an assume increase in international sales, which finished the quarter with an astonishing 31% rise in international orders, putting them over-the-top for the quarter.

Company guidance was very strong going forward in 2009 and they were very optimistic for the current first quarter of 2009.

Good News For Ecommerce Merchants

News presents a large confidence boost for merchants selling products online. In this current economic downturn, many online sellers are very concerned about the future and this is “Great News” as we go forward into the spring of 2009. Ecommerce merchant account and credit card processing customers should take a deep breathe, savor this news, and hope that consumer confidence has bottomed and we’re on the road to recovery in the United States.

We remain optimistic !!!

 

MARK SANDS
1st National Processing
http://www.usa-merchantaccount.com
1-866 828-8683
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