Nowadays, almost everyone has a credit card because it has become the major payment tool for purchases both online and offline. Many stores now accept credit card as a mode of payment. Businesses that do not accept credit card may lose their customers. Businesses that allow credit card payments engage a merchant service provider that will make it easy to process the payment.
Merchant service providers are credit card processing companies that support business owners and provide them with the services that fit their business. The providers offer statement fees, discount rates and other charges that may beat their competitor. A discounted rate which might be a percentage might save your business thousands of dollars. Choosing a merchant service provider is not an easy task. As a business owner, you need to do a thorough research and compare few companies before deciding the one that fits your business needs.
Before you can even become a merchant with a credit card processing company, they would need to examine your business and even do a deep background check on your company to know if you ae qualified. They also request for your bank statement so that they can check your credit history.
If your business is ready to start accepting credit cards, here is how to find a credit card processing company that will fit your business needs.
Do a research, find out a merchant service provider with a solid reputation. It is very important to find a company with good customer reviews and the kind of services they offer, you should also check their products packages. Try to choose a company that has been around for a while. Don’t trust new companies with no solid foundation. It can be risky because it has to do with money.
If you can get a few companies, you can compare their costs. How much discount percentage are they willing to give merchants? Do they offer a variety of fee options? How much is their start-up fee or monthly fee? How much is the minimum transaction fees? You need to look at this information to be able to choose the best company to go with.
You should also check the kind of cards the company processes. Do they accept both credit and debit cards? Do they process a wide variety of cards such as Visa, Discover, American Express and MasterCard? Will they allow international card payment? This information will guide your decision, and you must remember that you want to make it easy for your customers to make payment. Therefore, you need to consider them in your decision-making.
You should also check if the company provide quality customer service. This is very important in case you had an emergency issue. You need a company you can call at any time of the day who will assist you and provide solutions to your problem without wasting time.
Fraud protection is an important factor in choosing a credit card processing company. You should make sure that the company offers complete fraud protection services in real time. If it’s not real time, you may have sold an item to a customer and you may lose your money if you later find out that it is fraud. The fraud protection feature will prevent a fraudulent transaction from taking place and also keep the identity of the customer safe. Some credit card merchant services providers allow you to swipe the card from your own end manually, this means you will have to check if it is fraudulent yourself. While some merchants provide a 3D secure system where customers can seamlessly make a transaction with their credit card, which will be checked for fraud automatically.
The processing time for credit card transactions is also important. You should check how quickly your money will be available to you. What is the turnaround time? Within 24 to 48 hours? It is also important to check the contracts provided by these companies, allow your lawyer to go through and approve before signing it.
