With today's tough economy, many people are finding that their credit scores just aren't what they used to be. However almost everyone should still be able to qualify for a merchant account. The only people who may really have difficulty are those who are involved in an open bankruptcy at the time they apply. It may surprise you how easy it is to get a merchant account, even with a poor credit history. However, you will need to shop around a bit and see what various companies are willing to offer.
There are a number of merchant account providers who will work with individuals who have bad credit. The only downside is that they typically charge higher fees to business owners they consider to be a greater risk. Even if you know your credit score is marred, be sure to first check with a merchant account provider who does not handle high risk merchant accounts. The bottom line is that if you can qualify for a regular account with your questionable credit, then you can avoid unnecessarily paying the heightened fees. Remember that one person's opinion of bad credit is not necessarily the same as the next.
Some merchant accounts who provide service to those with bad credit may utilize a rolling reserve. This is where they hold back a portion of each sale for a period of time. It is merely a way to protect themselves in the event that you are unable to follow through with your business as planned. You may often see merchant account providers hold an amount equal to 3%-5% for a time period of 3-6 months. Other credit card processors may just increase your total funding time by a day. Obtaining a merchant account with bad credit may be easier than you think.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Google Check Out Review
Google CheckOut offers an alternative payment form for your customers that makes is easy to complete a sale. They provide security to both parties, a customizable shopping cart program, advertising benefits, and more. There are no monthly fees, and no set up fees. Plus, Google Check Out has competitive rates, provides protection against charge backs, and allows your customers to have a worry free shopping experience.
Third party payment is becoming more and more popular on the web, due to its heightened security features. However, the main advantage to using Google Check Out is that it comes with extra advertising benefits through Google AdWords. Although you do not have to advertise through AdWords to use Google CheckOut, it can help your business attract new customers and even save you money. When using AdWords, Google places a badge icon next to your link, to draw extra attention to your site. In addition, Google CheckOut waves transaction fees, if your sales total up to 10 times the amount that you spent on advertising.
On the other hand, there are some disadvantages to using Google Check Out. It is not as commonly used as PayPal. Many customers might not have accounts and be turned away by the effort it takes to open one. However, when offered in combination with other payment options, Google Check Out may increase the spending of current members who trust in the security of the system. Another disadvantage of Google Check Out is that it cannot be used for any type of eBay business.
All together, Google Check Out can be a valuable asset for your online store. As a trusted name in the internet service business, Google provides a quality program, with a convenient check out method that is easy to navigate. Their shopping cart program is one of high quality and overall, customers have been pleased with the services Google Check Out offers. Visit their website for more details and find out how Google Check Out can become your third party payment system.
Third party payment is becoming more and more popular on the web, due to its heightened security features. However, the main advantage to using Google Check Out is that it comes with extra advertising benefits through Google AdWords. Although you do not have to advertise through AdWords to use Google CheckOut, it can help your business attract new customers and even save you money. When using AdWords, Google places a badge icon next to your link, to draw extra attention to your site. In addition, Google CheckOut waves transaction fees, if your sales total up to 10 times the amount that you spent on advertising.
On the other hand, there are some disadvantages to using Google Check Out. It is not as commonly used as PayPal. Many customers might not have accounts and be turned away by the effort it takes to open one. However, when offered in combination with other payment options, Google Check Out may increase the spending of current members who trust in the security of the system. Another disadvantage of Google Check Out is that it cannot be used for any type of eBay business.
All together, Google Check Out can be a valuable asset for your online store. As a trusted name in the internet service business, Google provides a quality program, with a convenient check out method that is easy to navigate. Their shopping cart program is one of high quality and overall, customers have been pleased with the services Google Check Out offers. Visit their website for more details and find out how Google Check Out can become your third party payment system.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Credit Card Chargebacks - What is a Chargeback?
A credit card chargeback occurs when a payment is reversed. You may be able to see that a purchase was made and that money is on the way and then for some reason the transaction is cancelled and you no longer have funds on the way. This is always a frustrating situation, but one that as a merchant account provider you will likely face many times.
Let's take a look at some reasons for credit card chargebacks:
Let's take a look at some reasons for credit card chargebacks:
- Dispute: item not received by consumer, or is defective, service not performed to specification, or it was a fraudulent purchase.
- Errors in processing: customers was charged the wrong amount or the charge was duplicated and processed more than once.
- Issues with authorization
- Unfulfilled copy requests
Often you don't have any control over a chargeback but there are a few things you can do to make the whole process a little less messy.
- Respond promptly and graciously to any inquiries from customers
- Don't accept expired cards
- Obtain and check the cardholder's signature
- Don't accept transactions from cardholder's that don't have their card with them
- Make sure sales receipt is legible
- If transaction is declined, request another form of payment
- Ship merchandise prior to depositing transaction
- Alert customers to any shipping delays or backorders - find out how they would like it handled
- Make sure policy for returns, refunds, and/or cancellation of services is readily available and clearly stated.
While you can't prevent all credit card chargebacks, these tips can help you understand them and make the process as simple and straight forward as possible.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Accepting American Express
Many merchants fail to accept American Express in their businesses. Typically, this cards company does charge a higher merchant discount fee than Visa or MasterCard. However, upon investigating recent trends and statistics, it becomes obvious that American Express card holders account for a large number of consumers who tend to spend more and stay loyal to the American Express company. American Express accounts for more than 24% of the total dollar volume of credit card transactions in the United States. This is more than any other card issuer can claim to do alone.
By accepting American Express in your business, you are giving your customers more payment options. A 2007 survey suggests that 59% of consumers would choose a merchant who accepts American Express over one that does not. 74% of American Express card holders say that it is their preferred card of choice. Also, American Express card holders tend to be very loyal. Therefore, if your company is not accepting American Express, they may be losing business to a competitors who are.
Although some merchants are discouraged by the higher fees that American Express charges for accepting their cards, there is validity in the fact that American Express card holders spend more. According to data provided by The Nilson Report in 2003, the average American Express card annual charges were $9,600, while Visa's were less than half that amount at $3700, and MasterCard's were only $1,900. Most merchants who do their research agree that the increased sales volume makes it worth the extra fees associated with accepting American Express.
If you would like to accept American Express in your business, talk to your merchant account provider or visit American Express online for more details. This is one card issuer who may be able to help you gain and retain business from their loyal card holders. The American Express card is growing in popularity and is being accepted in more locations around the world everyday.
By accepting American Express in your business, you are giving your customers more payment options. A 2007 survey suggests that 59% of consumers would choose a merchant who accepts American Express over one that does not. 74% of American Express card holders say that it is their preferred card of choice. Also, American Express card holders tend to be very loyal. Therefore, if your company is not accepting American Express, they may be losing business to a competitors who are.
Although some merchants are discouraged by the higher fees that American Express charges for accepting their cards, there is validity in the fact that American Express card holders spend more. According to data provided by The Nilson Report in 2003, the average American Express card annual charges were $9,600, while Visa's were less than half that amount at $3700, and MasterCard's were only $1,900. Most merchants who do their research agree that the increased sales volume makes it worth the extra fees associated with accepting American Express.
If you would like to accept American Express in your business, talk to your merchant account provider or visit American Express online for more details. This is one card issuer who may be able to help you gain and retain business from their loyal card holders. The American Express card is growing in popularity and is being accepted in more locations around the world everyday.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Accepting Discover Cards
More than 4 million merchants in the United States accept Discover credit cards. The United States general credit card market shows that the Discover Card share based on purchase volume was 4.75% for 2008. This is relatively lower than that of American Express or JP Morgan and Bank of America's cards. Discover is not as commonly accepted as those cards with Visa or MaterCard logos. However, they are growing in popularity with consumers by offering programs that include a cash back bonus.
Initially, the Discover card company became active in 1985 and was sustained by Sears Roebuck and Company. However, today, they are an independent company and are unique because they are not issued through a variety of financial institutions. Business owners should consider accepting Discover cards as a payment option for their customers. It might help them make sales that they could otherwise lose to their competitors.
In addition to giving more payment options to your customers, there are other benefits of accepting Discover Card. Discover has 50 million card holders. With their combined point of sale and ATM transactions, they top over 3 billion a year. Talk to your merchant account provider about being set up to accept Discover cards and about the associated fees for their services. Depending on the size of your business and the amount of credit card transactions that you conduct, it may be beneficial to additionally include this growing company.
Initially, the Discover card company became active in 1985 and was sustained by Sears Roebuck and Company. However, today, they are an independent company and are unique because they are not issued through a variety of financial institutions. Business owners should consider accepting Discover cards as a payment option for their customers. It might help them make sales that they could otherwise lose to their competitors.
In addition to giving more payment options to your customers, there are other benefits of accepting Discover Card. Discover has 50 million card holders. With their combined point of sale and ATM transactions, they top over 3 billion a year. Talk to your merchant account provider about being set up to accept Discover cards and about the associated fees for their services. Depending on the size of your business and the amount of credit card transactions that you conduct, it may be beneficial to additionally include this growing company.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Ecommerce Templates
Ecommerce templates can be some of your greatest assets when building an online store. Whether you are using Os Commerce, Agora Shopping Cart, ZenCart, Yahoo Shopping Cart, or any other program to create your ecomerce site, you will most likely be provided with templates for easy design. A template is a generic model or pattern from which other objects are based or derived. Basically, they are a set of pre-designed formats for texts and graphics that allow you to “fill in the blanks” for customization. This gives the user the ability to define a default layout with content and functionality for a newly created site.
Ecommerce site building programs often come with hundreds, even thousands of templates. Many templates contain generic layouts for any type of project, while others are specific for a certain theme or product that is being sold. Once you have selected a template to design a web page, you are usually able to make easy alterations to the colors, fonts, and photos on each page. This permits you to customize your web design so that is stands out among others that may have used a similar template.
Some templates can be purchased with a shopping cart program, while others are available for free. One important thing to take into consideration is that when you utilize a design template to create a page, it may not retain the security setting of the site from which it was copied. Also, a 10-megabyte limit exists on the total size of the template. Regardless, of some of the complications that can occur while creating web pages from a template, overall, they are largely beneficial for web site design and even allow people with limited experience build their own projects.
Ecommerce site building programs often come with hundreds, even thousands of templates. Many templates contain generic layouts for any type of project, while others are specific for a certain theme or product that is being sold. Once you have selected a template to design a web page, you are usually able to make easy alterations to the colors, fonts, and photos on each page. This permits you to customize your web design so that is stands out among others that may have used a similar template.
Some templates can be purchased with a shopping cart program, while others are available for free. One important thing to take into consideration is that when you utilize a design template to create a page, it may not retain the security setting of the site from which it was copied. Also, a 10-megabyte limit exists on the total size of the template. Regardless, of some of the complications that can occur while creating web pages from a template, overall, they are largely beneficial for web site design and even allow people with limited experience build their own projects.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Authorize.net Review
It is important to shop around before selecting a payment gateway for your online business. Payment gateways facilitate the exchange of money for online purchases. They protect the seller by making sure that the consumer's payment will clear the bank. Authorize.net is one of the more popular payment gateways that is available. The company was established in 1996 and has build a strong reputation of reliability. They have competitive pricing and offer a number or useful features that can be helpful to an online business.
As with most payment gateways, you can expect to pay a number of fees for your services. There is usually a set up fee, a monthly fee, a transaction fee, and more. Authorize.net charges around $150 for set up. Monthly fees and transaction fees vary depending on your plan. Monthly fees can range from $10-$15, while transaction fees are between 5-20 cents. These fees are all within the normal range of what you can expect to pay. Although, it really pays to search for the best deal, there are other factors that should be considered when shopping for a payment gateway.
Authorize.net is compatible with almost all shopping cart programs and is easy to integrate with almost any ecommerce site. It can expand with your business and includes tools that add value to it, like automated recurrent billing, customer information management, eCheck.net, and advanced fraud detection. Plus, you can receive payments in a dependable and timely manner. It usually only takes a few days before the deposit is made into you merchant bank account.
Although there has been some controversy about the technical support services that are provided by Authorize.net, for the most part, web merchants are generally satisfied with the help that they receive. Most of the problems that have been voiced have been in regards to their reseller plans and not the actual payment gateway services. However, help from Authorize.net is available by phone, email, live chat, and online user guides. There is no charge for live support on their 800 number, but it is only available during daytime business hours. Although it is to your best advantage to shop around before selecting a payment gateway, Authorize.net is a viable option that should be considered.
As with most payment gateways, you can expect to pay a number of fees for your services. There is usually a set up fee, a monthly fee, a transaction fee, and more. Authorize.net charges around $150 for set up. Monthly fees and transaction fees vary depending on your plan. Monthly fees can range from $10-$15, while transaction fees are between 5-20 cents. These fees are all within the normal range of what you can expect to pay. Although, it really pays to search for the best deal, there are other factors that should be considered when shopping for a payment gateway.
Authorize.net is compatible with almost all shopping cart programs and is easy to integrate with almost any ecommerce site. It can expand with your business and includes tools that add value to it, like automated recurrent billing, customer information management, eCheck.net, and advanced fraud detection. Plus, you can receive payments in a dependable and timely manner. It usually only takes a few days before the deposit is made into you merchant bank account.
Although there has been some controversy about the technical support services that are provided by Authorize.net, for the most part, web merchants are generally satisfied with the help that they receive. Most of the problems that have been voiced have been in regards to their reseller plans and not the actual payment gateway services. However, help from Authorize.net is available by phone, email, live chat, and online user guides. There is no charge for live support on their 800 number, but it is only available during daytime business hours. Although it is to your best advantage to shop around before selecting a payment gateway, Authorize.net is a viable option that should be considered.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
GoDaddy Savings 25% Off SSL Certificates
If you have an ecommerce site then you know the importance of a SSL certificate. You simply cannot be without one when you are doing any payment processing of any kind. It is your job to keep your customers information secure. Right now GoDaddy is offering 25% off of their SSL certificates. This is a huge savings!
With GoDaddy you will get the following features and more depending on the plan you sign up for:
- SSL certificate warranty - if your customers suffer a financial loss because of GoDaddy they will be compensated.
- Based on 128-bit and high grade 256 bit encryption
- 99% browser recognition
- Their own Certificate Authority owns their Trusted Root and does not rely on third parties for Public Key Infrastructure.
- 24/7 support by phone and email. Wait times are 4 minutes for phone and one hour for email.
GoDaddy is a trusted name in web hosting, domain registration and all things web oriented. Your customers and you can rely on the safety and security of offering GoDaddy SSL certificates.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
LunarPages Coupon Code Special Discount - 50% Off!
Since 1998 when LunarPages first began they have been providing customers with quality web hosting! They have everything you could possibly need. Their services include email hosting, shared hosting, VPS hosting, reseller hosting, dedicated server hosting, business web hosting and more. Enter LunarPages coupon code - Thanks!
With three data centers, a call center and many satellite technicians nationwide, LunarPages proves their dedication to server uptime and customer satisfaction. There is no doubt about the priority of LunarPages. They know that if they want to succeed they have to make sure you succeed! This means they do whatever it takes to make sure your web site is reliable.
This season LunarPages coupon code is offering a special discount for Thanksgiving. For all new accounts they are offering 50% off when you enter LunarPages coupon code "Thanks" when you order services.
A few of the features you will get with LunarPages Business Hosting are:
- 24/7 customer support
- Dedicated IP (available upon request)
- SSL certificate
- Server Side Includes
- Ruby on Rails support
- Perl, Python, PHP, CGI-BIN
- FrontPage extensions
- Dreamweaver support
- Online control panel
- 3 FREE domains
- 30 day money back guarantee
- $25 Google AdWords credit
- $25 Facebook ad credit
- Unlimited MySQL databases
- Unlimited web space
- Unlimited file transfer
- Unlimited subdomains
- Unlimited parked domains
- Unlimited add on domains
- Unlimited FTP accounts
- Custom error pages
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
HostMonster Coupon Code Special $3.95 per month!
HostMonster has become an industry leader since their beginning in 1996. Their hosting helps customers succeed and they offer great support to make sure you have what you need. For a limited time they are offering their exceptional service for coupon code pricing of $3.95 per month!
HostMonster believes in providing the highest level of customer care, state of the art equipment, guaranteed uptime, administration tools, secure backups that are reliable, and honest business practices. You can rest assured that HostMonster is in business for you and they aren't going anywhere. HostMonster coupon codes don't exist, but you can get the hostmonster pricing discount for $3.95 with our special coupon code link!
Here are a few of the great features in the HostMonster hosting package:
- Free domain
- Host unlimited domains
- Unlimited web space
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Free SiteBuilder that uses drag and drop
- Unlimited email including forwarding, autoresponders and more
- Unlimited add on domains, parked domains and subdomains
- Unlimited additional FTP accounts
- CGI-BIN and CGI library
- Server Side Includes
- FTP access
- FrontPage extensions
- Webmail
- Custom Cronjobs
- Linux operating system
- 24/7 server monitoring
- Courtesy site backups
- $50 Google AdWords credit
- Free search engine submission
- Multimedia features
- Ecommerce features
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
