The ability to accept payments online is crucial for businesses these days. Where would the world of business be without this ability?
Online payment services allow businesses and customers to conduct transactions and transfer money electronically.
Accepting online payments is very popular for businesses, whether it is a small “mom n’ pop” shop, an Internet based company, or a large corporate retailer.
A lot of brick and mortar businesses these days are developing an online presence or digital storefront to help them reach consumers they couldn’t otherwise.
Think about it for a minute. Maybe you own a small but successful surf shop on the Oregon Coast. Wouldn’t you like to see success year round? What do you do to compensate during your off season?
If you had an online store, you could offer rad deals to sell and ship gear to your fellow surfer brethren who are just now entering their season wherever they happen to be in the world.
Think about this… with the right marketing, your little local shop could be an international success!
Besides the benefits just mentioned, there are a lot of ways accepting payments online can help your business.
Accepting online payments is much easier than you might think.
Signing up for an online payment account is typically much easier and faster than opening a merchant account.
Both are an option and most often each offers certain features the other does not. Or if they do, there is often a cost associated with “extra” feature.
Considering the recent push for more convenient ways to accomplish everyday tasks, it makes sense customers want shopping to be easier too.
Sitting on the couch and shopping from your tablet during the busy holiday season sounds much more appealing to most people than standing in line at an actual store.
The increase in popularity of online shopping necessitates businesses keep up with their consumers’ wants.
Shopping online is more popular now than it ever has been since it first became an option for customers.
The obvious convenience factors are the biggest reason for the shift towards online shopping. But enhanced security features have also given customers more trust in purchasing items online.
The availability of better credit card payment processors for online businesses helps too.
This being said, there are always risks involved with processing non face-to-face transactions. Your customer isn’t standing in front of you handing you their card and ID to match.
Any fraudster can use a stolen card to purchase items online. Therein lies the risk of online payments and the reason it’s slightly more costly than offline credit card processing.
Most major online retailers have enhanced security features in place which have helped reduce the frequency of fraudulent online purchases but only so much can be done to protect a business when the cardholder is not actually present for the transaction.
One of the more recent security features includes a 2-part verification process where the business taking the payment has to enter a 6-digit code in addition to their password. This helps reduce the likelihood of third-party scams.
To be sure, with the growing popularity of E-commerce, security features will continue to evolve.
There will most likely always be at least a slight assumed risk for businesses and consumers, however, when it comes to digital transfers of money.
Protecting your business from these security threats and fraudulent online purchases is part of what being compliant with PCI Data Security Standards is all about. But we’ll save this subject for another time.
Let’s just focus on your business and the benefits of accepting payments online.
Are you trying to get your small Internet based business off the ground?
If this is you, (first of all, congratulations!) processing online payments is paramount and an integral piece of the groundwork you must lay in order for you to achieve the goal and (equally as important) be successful at it!
Many online payment processors require you have a virtual shopping cart. These shopping carts are very useful for businesses.
Not only does a virtual shopping cart allow your customer to add multiple items to it (thus encouraging more spending), it also calculates the total plus taxes for them. It also collects the shipping information and informs the customer of the shipping costs.
Some payment processors will include this virtual cart for free with their services. If they don’t offer a free and secure shopping cart, a third-party shopping cart service can always be used.
The benefits of accepting payments online are endless. Although we’ve only mentioned a few here, there are many more we couldn’t possibly fit in one article.
There are a lot of online payment processors available out there too, but while you are doing your research take a peek at what RedFynn has to offer… lowest rates and highest quality service, plus personal customer support is a recipe for longterm success!
We take a lot of pride in our ability to provide you the best in services and support!
Call us at (888) 510-9871 with any questions you have.
