Sharing thoughts, facts, ideas, and best practices for business owners of all kinds.
Credit Card
Partnership
Point of Sale
POS
Once you complete a sale and sign an agreement with a merchant, it’s often easy to just move onto the next one and focus on finding more of them to sign. Merchants you’ve signed tend to stay happy and complacent as long as their hardware and software are functioning properly…
Read ArticleGateway
Free Payment Gateway
Every small business owner understands how expensive the services required to manage your business can be, which is why when something like a free payment gateway is offered, most business owners perk up! Heck, anything being offered as “free” to a small business is something to get excited about. Unfortunately,…
Merchant Account
Internet Merchant Account
If you conduct any of your business on the Internet, you need an Internet merchant account. It’s a crazy world these days… Remember a time when “Internet” wasn’t a household word? Before dial-up, cable, and DSL. Before fiber optics. I never thought or could even conceive of a day when…
EMV
EMV Card Reader
An EMV card reader (see also, smart card reader) is like the machine you’re used to swiping your card through to run it for a transaction. Except it’s designed to read the new, more secure, encrypted credit cards the world is switching over to. I say “the world,” but today,…
EMV
EMV Smart Card Reader
Criminals are tireless. No rest for those wicked souls, right? Wrong. They’ll have no choice but to rest once their efforts at fraud are thwarted by an EMV smart card reader! These criminals… they will stop at nothing until they figure out a way to get as much information about…
Merchant Account
Merchant Solutions
If you own a business and have a merchant account set up through your financial institution, you are receiving merchant solutions. Not necessarily directly from your bank, although some may be provided by them. And it’s not just one thing you’re getting… you’re getting multiple solutions. This includes a multitude…
Credit Card
Accept Payments Online
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…
Affinity
Affinity Programs
Affinity programs are partnerships. Partnerships you build between your company and a non-profit group or organization. You provide discounts, special rates or other perks and benefits to your partners. In exchange, they use your company’s product or service. Together, the members of this partnership make up an affinity group.
Gateway
Payment Gateway Services
There comes a time with every online business owner where you must decide who offers the best payment gateway services for your business. Meaning, which company will allow you to accept credit cards over an Internet connection, without the card present, with ease of use and low fees? And when…
Customer Loyalty
Customer Retention
There a big difference between getting people to come through the doors of your business and getting them to come back. Customer retention is paramount for the success of your business. It costs about six times more to acquire a new customer than to sell to an existing one. Retaining…
EMV
EMV Compliance
What is EMV compliance? Credit cards never looked as “smart” as they do lately. At least in the United States, where we are all accustomed to the traditional magnetic stripe cards we have used for years. There hasn’t been a major change to them in a long time. Credit cards…
EMV
EMV Credit Cards
Get used to the EMV credit cards because they’re gonna be here for a while. Financial institutions here in America are starting to catch up with the rest of the civilized world. They are currently transitioning all credit cards, financial institutions, businesses and card holders to a more secure chip…
Merchant Account
What is a Merchant Account?
A common question we hear is, “What is a merchant account?” A merchant account is a bank account for businesses which allows them to accept credit and debit card payments. The business accepts the cards and the bank handles and “settles” the transactions. You are the “Leader” of your business,…
The world of payments is rapidly changing in front of our eyes. Massive consolidation is happening at a record pace, and this will inevitably impact your business as a merchant services agent.