Running a business that lacks the ability to process credit cards presents challenges no business owner will want to deal with. It simply isn’t practical to expect all of your customers to always have enough cash on hand to cover their purchases all the time, and there’s always a chance they could be writing bad checks. In the long run, your life will become a lot easier when you have a good merchant processing services program in place and can process both credit and debit cards.
The first step to setting up a merchant processing services program will be taking the time to choose a third party to handle all of your credit card transactions. You don’t want to wait until the last minute to sign up with one of these companies. The amount of money that will pass through them each day is incredible; you need to make sure any company you sign with has a reputation for being both honest and ethical. You also want to make sure the equipment they supply is easy to use and reliable. The final thing you need to check out will be the fees they charge for each credit card transaction. There are a lot of companies that provide these services, deciding which company is the best for your business takes time and effort.
Sometimes it’s not enough to find a company with merchant processing services programs that are appealing to you. The companies with golden reputations are just as picky about who they take on as clients, as you were about selecting a company. You need to qualify for their services. You should be prepared to have your credit history checked, and some of the companies with good merchant processing services programs will also request letters of recommendations.
One of the things you do need to be careful about when it comes to working with a merchant processing services program is chargebacks. Too many of these can make the third party you’re working with antsy, and they will start stressing about the possibility of fraud. The best way to avoid this problem would be, instead of re-swiping the credit card of a customer who needs to return an item; you simply reimburse them in cash.
If the third party handling the merchant processing services program flags you as high risk, you shouldn’t panic. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be denied, but you should anticipate being charged higher service fees for transactions.
