Zed Miller asked:




Having your own online business saves a lot on your start up and operational costs as compared to business with a physical location. Most businesses these days accept credit cards online to expand customer base and increase sales volume. Businesses that accept credit card payments online have sales that are 50-400% more than businesses that do not accept credit card payments.

In case you decide to accept credit card payments online, you’ll have a choice to apply for a traditional merchant account at any of the local bank and get accepted or you can use one of the numerous credit card processing companies that operate online and are looking for online businesses. Many of the card processing providers you can use online allow you to set up your website for accepting credit cards with no set up fees.

When you just start an online business, you are probably not ready to get any credit card processing provider that requires you process a minimum number of transactions each month. It is better to pay a slightly higher per-transaction fee than to pay a higher monthly fee in exchange for a lower per-transaction fee based on a minimum number of cards processed each month.

Benefits that you will get when you accept credit card payments online:

Sales will increase: Credit card customers buy 2.5 times more merchandise than customers who pay cash. To attract the impulse buyer: Credit cards give the customers freedom to spend for previously unplanned merchandise. To move expensive merchandise: Credit card customers are often less conscious of slight price differences, and will seek out the businesses that offer credit rather than the discounter or wholesaler who does not offer credit purchases. Larger volume: Offering Credit Cards helps you achieve higher unit sales and extra orders. Steadier sales: Offering Credit cards can help smooth out the business ‘ups and downs’, cash shoppers tend to buy heavier only on paydays and just before holidays; credit customers buy whenever the need arises. Credit card issues: Of around 280 million North Americans, 150 million have Visa, 95 million have MasterCard, 40 million have Discover and 25 million have American Express. 80% of all Credit Cards are Visa and MasterCard.

Alice

Uma A Ilango asked:


5 Things To Consider When Hiring Online Credit Card Processing Services

Branching out globally is a sure way to keep your clientele growing voluminously. With an online credit card processor, you can now accept all forms of payment anytime from anywhere in the world. However, selecting the best online credit card processing service will probably seem a little daunting with the number of options available in the market. Let us look at 5 main points that you should consider to make the task viable.

1) Fixed fees

Learn about all the costs by reading your contract conscientiously. The common fixed costs are as follows:

Start up costs Gateway fees Statement fees Monthly minimum fees Software costs

Please note that as the market is very competitive, some online credit card processing service providers offer all or some of the above for free. Be sure to compare as many service providers as you can before reaching a decision. Also be aware that some providers may charge hidden costs that may have been added on arbitrarily. Read your contract carefully before making the final decision.

2) Transaction fees and discount rates

These charges are applied to every credit card payment that you accept. It is important that you select a service provider which enables you to increase your profits. Your selection has to be suitable for your type of business and transactions. Suppose your transaction fee is $0.25, your discount rate is 3% and your sale is $100, then you would make $96.75 from that sale and pay your provider $3.25. If your transaction fee and discount rate is the same as above while your sale is $1000, you would then make $969.75 and pay your provider $30.25.

Let us say that you managed to shop around more and find a better deal with a transaction fee of $0.20 and discount rate of 2.25%. You would then effectively make $977.30 and pay your provider $22.70 for the same $1000 sale. However, if your average sale is only $100, the lower charges would cost you only $2.45. Since your average sales size is small, the difference in the charges may not make much difference to you. You should then focus more on the monthly fixed costs when making the final decision. As you can see, depending on your volume and size of sales, a small difference in the charges may or may not translate to big differences in your profits and expenses. Search for the best deal that suits your business needs.

3) Security

Credit card numbers are stolen every day. In order to protect your customers as well as your business, ensure that the online credit card processing service provider you hire is secure, and encrypted. One of the accreditation you can look for is ScanAlert. It is given to providers who are considered safe from hacking and who comply with the rules set up by the major credit card companies in the world to protect your customers’ credit card information. For further information you may want to refer to http://www.scanalert.com/. To help identify service providers who would protect you and your customers, search for customer feedback on the security features offered by them.

4) Customer support

As a merchant accepting credit cards online, you are bound to run into problems. In times of need, it is crucial that you receive prompt, effective assistance 24/7. Obtain referrals from currents users of the service provider to ensure that you would be given excellent personalized assistance.

5) Incentives

Once you have compared the all-important rates, security and quality of customer service and narrowed down your choices, you can now focus on the incentives given by the service providers. As online credit card processing service is highly competitive, most service providers are willing to throw in freebies such as free advertising of your company in popular search engines. Get one that gives you value for money.



CASEY

Kristy1 asked:


If you are handling business online is like stride a straight razor spiky road. There is very small disparity between a good and bad business circumstances. On the other hand, a protected, lucrative and dependable way of payment anthology through online credit card processing can construct all the dissimilarity to the way you do dealing online. It can help out you clutch all information isolation, reward zero taxation and have fortification from currency fluctuations

Online credit card processing permits you to efficiently accept payments for the merchandise and services you put up for sale online. You can accept payments in numerous currencies. Offshore credit card processing service can progression a variety of types of credit cards is they Visa, MasterCard’s, SBI, JCB, Diners or Discover. The order and payments dispensation process gets rationalized with an offshore credit card dealing out account. Your consumers can construct simple and nippy purchases online through a protected server. Your card dispensation system is unswervingly related to your offshore mercantile account. Consequently, you get outstanding tax-reduction profit.

Your business vestiges up 24*7. The dealings are sanctioned within a diminutive seconds. Computerized receipts are sent to you (the mercantile) and the consumers, immediately. The credit preserve is as low as 11%. Most of the offshore credit card dispensation services engage no concealed costs.

An online credit card processing service can condense your accuse back with vigorous consumer hoax viewing and address substantiation systems. The transaction dispensation rates are 6% and upwards depending on the variety and capacity of your business. Add to it a diminutive 0.85% transaction fee and 11% undulating set aside. Though, with the majority of the offshore credit card processing accounts you do not need to pay gateway cost. There are no cards dispensation dollar restrictions.

Offshore credit card processing grants widespread online credit card processing, hasty order dispensation, online mercantile center, swindles and risk administration and 24 hour enthusiastic support. Offshore credit card dispensation gives a turnkey imbursement dispensation solution. Such an account offers immediate online credit card processing. This rally round in maximizing sales chances and purchaser fulfillment.



DEMETRIUS

Roger Powers asked:


Credit card number validation is essential to determining a valid transaction.  Because merchant account fees are so high, verifying a credit card number before submitting it to the processor can save time and money.

Did you know that even for a declined credit card assesses a transaction fee, and often an AVS fee and WATS fee, and other charges that could total between $.30 and $1 each.

Some declined cards can be weeded out using credit card validation at your site, or through a free online credit card verification tool.  Taking bad card numbers out of the picture will drop your declined card rate, and save on fees.

Some merchant providers look closely at the declined card rate when evaluating your discount rate or transaction fees.  A high rate of decline could mean a rise in fees.  By managing bad card numbers, you take one factor out of the loop.

Many online shopping carts and order forms already have a credit card validation routine built in to them.  If you have one that does not, use the readily available JAVA scrips that utilize the card number verification algorithm to eliminate bad card number declines from your merchant record.

You can build in a validation routine for MasterCard validation, Visa card number verification, American Express card validation and Discover verification.  When the number is validated, simply pass the transaction to the merchant provider.  If the number is not validated, you can display a message before the transaction even proceeds to alert the end user that the credit card number entered is invalid.

You can add additional validation by screening the Bank Identification Number [BIN], which is the first 6 digits of any credit card number.  The BIN will tell if the card is debit or credit, what type, what bank issued it and what country it is from.

 

 



DARYL