Garage door industry magazine for garage door dealers, garage door manufacturers, garage door distributors, garage door installers, loading docks, garage door operators and openers, gates, and tools for the door industry.
Issue link: https://idoi.epubxp.com/i/134362
sales&Marketing; (continued from page 59) What is the variety of equipment available for this solution? Equipment variety represents service variety. If your service provider only offers a reader that attaches to only your phone, you will be limited to retail (face to face) card swipes using a specifc kind of smart phone, and maybe a only certain tablet (like an iPad). When you have the option to choose a different card reader or wedge reader that attaches to your computer, you'll have the option to go mobile OR process payments within your offce or store. When you can process online, that means the solution likely integrates with your website shopping cart, and sometimes you can even accept payment without a website. How much fexibility does your solution provide? Another consideration is the customer support the solution offers. One-size-fts-all solutions tend to offer little, if any customer support. Hobbyists may be willing to make this compromise. Are you willing? CashFlow • Will my funds be held for longer than the standard processing time, which is 24 to 48 hours? Because some solutions do not explicitly charge a fee for compliance or security, it would be a risk for the provider to deposit your funds as soon as you charge your customers. What if there was a charge back situation? The card holder is nearly always favored in disputes, so there are diffculties when a merchant or business owner's funds cannot cover the chargeback. So in exchange for a fat-rate that is not always less expensive than traditional fees, some providers will hold funds long enough to ensure that there will not be a charge back or refund. Your funds may be held for as long as thirty days. Ask your provider if they routinely hold funds. If there is no one to ask, consider what this says about your provider as well. Hobbyists may fnd themselves satisfed with longer cash fow, but consider whether this is right for your business. Pricing • What is the pricing structure? Does this solution come with an infated fat rate to offset the absence of monthly fees and the presence of free equipment • How much will you pay for keying in data instead of swiping credit cards? For example, what if your reader does not work, or your customer's card is scratched or damaged? • Is the rate personalized to meet your needs? Will you be swiping more than 70% of your credit card transactions? Do you know how this affects your rates? While fat rates are easy to read and calculate, they are not necessarily the best pricing structure for established businesses. In addition to rate structure, service variety comes into play, as does equipment. Flat rates are based on the average credit card swipe rate, but are marked up to account for the lack of monthly fees and the "free" equipment that fat-rate solutions offer. In other words, you may essentially pay for the monthly fees and equipment through rate mark ups. If you are a hobbyist, or a low volume small business, you may elect to avoid monthly fees and pay a higher transaction rate, resulting in a lower effective rate. However at a certain volume, it becomes well worth the monthly fees to pay a lower transaction rate (of course resulting in a lower effective rate). The scope or variety of your solution will have an impact on your pricing as well. When you can group all of your payment channels under one umbrella, you can manage and pay fees on only one account. For example, if you currently process credit card transactions over the phone, you are paying for your processing and you are paying all of the associated fees for that account. Now, imagine that you switch to a more comprehensive solution. You still only pay fees on one account, and you are still only responsible for the lower rates associated with traditional credit card processing and not the higher rates associated with mobile, fat-rate solutions. For very similar rates, you can add services like mobile payments, and website shopping card integration to your merchant account. All you have to do is make sure that your chosen solution offers plenty of options. Conclusion Be just as savvy as a consumer as you are a provider. As a business owner you must expect at least the same level of service, fair pricing, timeliness, and variety that you yourself offer. The recommendations detailed in this article will help you go mobile, painlessly. Erica Baker is the Marketing Coordinator for Electronic Data Payment Systems. She can be reached via email at IDA@edpaymentsystems.com for questions or comments. *FollowUs!: facebook.com/electronicDataPaymentSystems Twitter: @EDPS_Processing Blogger: edpspaymentsystems.blogspot.com V o l u m e 4 6 i s s u e 3 2 0 1 3 61