If you’re looking to move your brick-and-mortar business into the digital sphere, you’ll need to acquire a good merchant account to handle the financial side. It’s one of the most important online business tools out there as it will process and fund all your customer transactions. It acts as the connection between the credit card providers and your company’s account.
However, if you’re a business going online for the first time, the process of selecting a merchant account provider can be a tough task. You’ll have to have a long think about how your business operates before paying for a merchant account provider.
Choosing a merchant account
For instance, business owners should consider the processing need of their business when choosing a provider. Do they offer the type of processing that you require eg. POS retail, mobile, wireless, online or telephone? If you’re thinking of expanding in the future, you may want to consider your growth strategies and how this can impact on an existing merchant account.
Example: will your merchant account settle in your desired currency should you receive orders from abroad? Acquiring an international merchant account will allow for true multi-currency processing, affording greater flexibility for your business. You’ll also need to consider your processing volume and how this may effect payments to the provider.
If you’re looking for the best merchant accounts, business owners will need to bear in mind the fees each provider charges. You’ll have service fees – one for each transaction and one for each month you use the service – and discount rates as well as charges that could impact your business.
You might want to research customer testimonials and feedback before choosing a merchant account provider, too. Find out what current customers have to say regarding their service while considering the positives and negatives of each bit of feedback.
Customer Service
Putting a merchant account provider in charge of your client payments is a big deal, no question. As a result if a disaster does occur, you’re going to want to be in contact with a provider which has exceptional customer service so any issues are resolved easily.
A quick tip is to call your desired provider’s customer service line during office hours to see how knowledgeable and patient their advisors are. If they’re quick to respond and you feel like a desired customer rather than a number, then that’s a great indication that your working relationship with them will flourish. If they’re rude and inattentive, you might be better looking elsewhere.
Overall, conducting some research into the wants and needs of your business is one of the most important factors to consider when choosing a merchant account. It will also help identify the best provider for the situation as a poor relationship from the get-go will eventually lead to a fragmented, unwanted partnership.
Hopefully, this article has given you a little bit of perspective when it comes to merchant account providers. Do some research, have a think and, when you’re ready, jump into the world of online commerce.
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