Sunday, June 8, 2014

Learn How To Take Credit Card Payments

By Alex D White


Most people own credit cards nowadays. Long are the days one had to carry cash around to pay for goods and services. Credit cards have give people flexibility and are more inclined to use money. This is in sharp contrast to debit cards where one has to monitor their money all the time. Some brands are losing business since they do not have credit card facilities and thus turn to merchant services. The procedure on how to take credit card payments is easy to follow.

One would start by identifying a merchant company that they would like to open an account with. This is because they will give you the merchant processes of accepting credit and installation of equipment to facilitate people to swipe their cards. Choose the best plan and see if you need to include online or telephone processing.

One should then check on the fees charged on their account. The fees vary from company to company and are normally in the form of per transaction fee and monthly fees. The per transaction fee is usually a flat percentage rate of the amount transacted and the monthly fee is mostly a charge on the number of sales. Therefore, you should pay close attention to cost and look around for the best deals.

The business owner will need to choose the various card platforms they can accommodate. Visa and MasterCard are some of most popular platforms. However, other platforms like JBC exist and a business is in the risk of being unable to accommodate all platforms. It is important to accept as many cards as possible if you are to attract many customers.

The next step is that you have to apply to the merchant company by filling out a form. To facilitate the checking of your credit application, they would require you to send personal details about yourself such as social security number. If your application passed, they will notify you by email and it will come attached with the necessary application information. These are usually instructions that serve as a guide.

The company then issues a point of scale terminal to facilitate swiping of cards. If they do not supply, one would be obliged to buy the terminal themselves. If you want to accept debit payments as well, you should consider a pin compartment so that people can enter their pin numbers. When the terminal is in place a representative of the company installs programs for it to start accepting credit cards.

If you are going to upgrade your payment system, you should educate your cashiers on how to handle the new mode of transaction. Usually, a technician from the merchant company goes over the system rules and educates everyone how to use them. Thus, your cashiers will be in a position to handle issues that are credit based and can be able to offer help to clients if needed.

With the systems in place, it is logical to advertise credit logos that the business supports. You should place posters in strategic places so that you show people that the credit platform is supported. Most businesses set a minimum purchase amount that sought the account fees. Thus, if you are a business and do not have credit facilities, it is high time you did since this will lead you to greater success.




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