There is very little doubt that unless your business is equipped for payment processing, you cannot succeed in accomplishing your business goals.
You must be able to process your customers’ payments when they wish to buy your products or enlist your services.
The ultimate goal for every business is to make money, right? Why else would anyone go into business?
Of course there are plenty of good things besides just making money which can also be accomplished simultaneously, but ultimately, making money is the only way conducting a successful business is possible. It’s like oxygen and water to humans.
So what is payment processing and how does it happen?
Well, we are all consumers in this world. It’s a simple fact of life. The way to get what you need, you have to purchase things. You become a consumer be default when you purchase goods and services.
Your customers constitute your consumer base. If you own a hair salon, your customers come to your salon to purchase your services and hair products. The only way they can pay for those services is by your business’ ability to process payments.
It wouldn’t make much sense to own a business which could not process payments.
Payment processing is the function your POS system must conduct to verify your customers’ information to authorize their payment.
Most customers pay with a credit or debit card of some sort. There is a lot of sensitive information which must be gathered and verified in order to authorize their purchases.
When your customer comes to your business, they find the items they need (or in the case of a salon, they receive a hair service) and make their way to your cash out stand.
Once your clerk scans and enters all the merchandise into the system, the customer then slides or inserts her card into the reader.
Once she does this, the reader (through the Point of Sale system) sends her information in encrypted form to the bank or credit card agency to match her information and verify the account is legitimate, and also to ensure the funds are available for the purchase.
Once all of her credit or bank card information is verified, the system processes the payment and sends back an authorization notification. The customer sees an “Approved” message on the little screen and she can then gather her items and be on her way.
This process takes only a few seconds.
Checks are still used by a lot of people, too. There are several ways to authorize checks but the simplest way is directly through the POS system.
The customer writes out a check for the amount of the goods and hands it to the clerk. The clerk then feeds the check through a reader which scans the account and routing number and then establishes a communication with the bank the check is issued from.
Once the check and funds are verified, the POS processes the payment and then prints out the authorization information on the back of the check. The transaction is complete.
In order to do this, you need a payment processor. Payment processors are the ones who do all the behind the scenes communications between your business and the banks and credit card companies your customers use.
The benefits of payment processing are as endless as they are obvious! You want to make money, right? You want your business to be successful, yes?
This is what payment processing is. It is what funds your efforts and what makes you successful.
Essentially, you’re processing payments when you accept cash, too. Only it’s your human brain (and the cash register or POS) which processes it. 😉
For a retailer, gas station, salon, convenience store, etc. this is the primary function and integral piece of the business. You can’t DO business unless you can DO business.
Processing payments is business. Unless you only accept cash, which very few businesses do, you need to be able to process as many different forms of payment as possible.
You’re a smart business owner. We trust you will ensure you are properly prepared to accept and process your dedicated customers’ payments.
There are a lot of options available for payment processors and a simple Google search will produce plenty of information about those options.
For any questions you may have on the specifics of payment processing (in case we missed something here) please, feel free to call us over here at RedFynn. We are sort of experts on the subject.
Our number? Glad you asked! It’s (888) 510-9871.
