Jeeves Regency, Negosentro | In this day and age when most people hardly carry cash, and where e-commerce continues to boom, it is more important than ever for businesses to ensure they offer customers a variety of payment options to choose from.
To save time, increase security, and make clients feel comfortable buying online, it is a good idea to utilize a merchant services firm for your payments. These service providers can handle all your payment transactions for you for an affordable fee, allow your customers to quickly and easily pay for goods and services at any time of the day or night, and stop you from having to store any sensitive financial data.
However, with so many different payment processors to choose from, it can be a bit tricky trying to work out which company will be the best fit for your needs and budget. Read on for some tips you can follow today to find the perfect solution for your business.
Compare Costs and Factor in All Potential Charges
Obviously, one of the first things you’ll want to do is compare the costs charged by various merchant services firms. Please note that companies tend to have different ways of structuring their fees, which can mean you should do your research to really ensure you’re comparing “apples with apples” as you go.
For instance, it is common for payment providers to have variable fees which are calculated according to the number of transactions processed per period (usually monthly, quarterly, or annually). Alternatively, lots of firms also have various monthly payment plans you can choose from, where you pay a set fee that doesn’t change, no matter how many purchases get processed. If going down this road, just make sure you choose an appropriate plan for your firm’s sales volume, so that you don’t end up paying too much.
Another factor to keep in mind when comparing payment processors is whether or not there will be any additional fees involved. It’s important to factor in all the potential costs that could arise, such as set-up fees for creating an account for your business and configuring things for your particular point-of-sale system; or cancelation fees if you choose to end your contract within a certain period of time.
Also keep an eye out for extra charges for getting access to customer support, or costs added to your account each time you want to move money from transactions over to your business bank account. In addition, some firms also charge extra for processing transactions which are made using methods like American Express or Diners Club credit cards, or PayPal or other similar types of payment systems. Allowing customers to pay using loyalty points or gift vouchers can also sometimes cost more.
Find Out About the Available Support
To find the right kind of innovative merchant solutions which will do everything you need, it is important to ask your short list of firms about the customer support they provide. No matter how good a system is or how careful you are with how things are set up, it is common for digital transactions and busy websites to sometimes not run so smoothly.
As such, when choosing a payment provider, find a firm which makes comprehensive customer support available if and when you need it. If you don’t, you could end up with lost sales for hours, days, or even potentially weeks if something goes terribly wrong, not to mention a stressed-out workforce and annoyed customers.
Before you sign on the dotted line with any payment processing company, ask them about the kind of customer service they provide clients. It’s best to opt for a firm with reps available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to assist with problems or answer questions. Also, try to find a provider that gives you a choice of how to contact its customer support team. For example, it’s nice to be able to make a phone call, send an email, have a conversation through a Live Chat program, post a question on social media sites, or use whichever other communication tool you prefer.
Look Into Security Levels
Lastly, don’t forget that the level of security provided by a payment processing company is another very important factor. Hacking and online fraud continues to rise around the world, so you need to make sure that all the sensitive financial and personal information typed in by your clients, not to mention your firm’s various details, stay safe from prying eyes.
Ask your shortlisted merchant services candidates about the security measure they have in place. Those who take digital security seriously will typically have protocols such as CVV2 verification for all transactions, high-level data encryption using complex algorithms, and support for the most comprehensive SSL certificates on the market.
