Accepting Credit Card Payments Can Help Your Business

If you are still believe that “cash is king,” your business may be losing out big time. People don’t want to carry cash around anymore, and neither do they want to pay by check.  (Did people ever like the hassle of writing a check?) No matter what type of business you run or how big or small it is, if you don’t accept credit card payments you are probably losing out on a lot of sales. And not only are you losing out, but every sale you lose is one more sale your competitors can grab from you.

Getting set up for card payments is easy:

Many small business owners think that accepting card payments is a complicated and costly process, but that is just not true. Once you’ve found a reputable merchant service provider that can explain and guide you through the application and implementation process, don’t be surprise if you wind up wishing you had opted for credit card payments sooner.

In the card processing world, businesses that accept card payments are known as “merchants” (which is short for “credit card merchants”), so to accept credit card payments you first have to open a merchant account. A merchant account is a kind of bank account provided by a bank to route money from credit card sales to your bank account.

From the beginning of transacting the card payment until the merchant is paid, the transaction follows multiple processes between your customer’s bankers, other stakeholders and your merchant service provider. Ultimately, if the transaction is approved, the funds are reserved for you, and then transferred to your merchant account.  From there, you can instantly transfer the money to your regular bank account.

A merchant services provider not only opens a merchant account for you but they also manage your whole credit card payment processing system. You don’t need to have any special software, equipment or accessories beforehand to accept credit card payments because everything is provided and set up for you when your merchant account is approved.

If you sell online, you will receive software to enable you to accept payments directly from your website (or over the phone or by mail or in person). If you sell face to face, you will get a card-reading terminal to use at your point of sale, or you can have your mobile phone or tablet setup to accept card payments. It is that simple!

You are giving your customers what they want

Everything today moves at a rapid pace, and convenience is key. People don’t want to have to go and draw cash when they want to buy from you, and neither do they want to pull out the outdated check book.  Why? Even putting aside the inconvenience of dealing with cash or checks, both cash and check payments are very high risk, as compared with credit cards.

Although you might not realize the impact, you have potential customers who would like to buy from you but don’t because they can’t pay by credit card. Do you keep track of the people who browse but don’t buy? And if you do, have you asked them why they didn’t buy?  If so, then you already know that a very common reason that is often given by customers is that they don’t carry cash, but would buy if they could pay by credit card.

Consumers today are very aware of the risk of carrying cash, and they know that checks can easily be altered or written out fraudulently. People want to know that their money is safe and secure, and credit cards offer that peace of mind.

For more information about how accepting credit cards can help your business thrive, or to sign up for a merchant account, please call (888) 924-2743 or go to Charge.com.