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That is why it is extremely important that
you offer some type of online payment solution for your e-business.
Accepting credit cards is the most well
known way to accept payment on the Internet. Almost everyone has a
credit card and by accepting his or hers, it makes customers' ordering
process much more convenient and time saving, not to mention it
encourages them to purchase from you. Accepting credit cards has become
a necessity to the survival of e-businesses. In order to accept credit
cards, you're going to need a merchant account. To obtain one, just do a
search on your favorite search engine. You will be provided with a list
of many different merchant account providers to choose from. Merchant
services contract with several merchant-processing banks that will
actually accept and process your business transactions.
For each transaction the bank
processes, you will be charged a discount rate, or percentage, of the
face value of the amount charged, along with a per transaction fee
(usually ranging from $0.20 to $0.30). When you perform your
transaction, and receive an authorization number, the charged amount is
immediately wire-transferred out of your customers' credit card account
into your merchant account. The merchant bank will then discount, or
deduct, the percentage rate and per transaction fee, and wire-transfer
the balance of the charge into the business checking account of your
choice. At the end of the month, you will receive a statement, for your
records, so that you can balance your account.
There are three ways to perform
transactions:
1. Terminals/Hardware
2. Point of Sale Software
3. Real-Time (Automatic Online
Transactions)
Since this article is focusing solely
on online payment solutions for your e-business, I will focus on
real-time. How real-time works is when your customer is finished
shopping and is ready to pay, they simply go to the secure order form
page where they type in their credit card information. In a few seconds,
a message appears on their screen, showing whether their card was
accepted or declined. A few days later, the money will appear in your
business checking account. With real-time, you will be provided with an
online database containing all of your credit card transactions so you
can balance your account at the end of the month.
There's a second, and probably more
unfamiliar way, to accept payment online, and that is accepting checks
by email. Until recently, service bureaus have been responsible for
check drafting, but now any business can do it. Federal banking
regulations and the Uniform Commercial Code permit this process.
How it works is: a customer submits his
checking account information and authorization to draft their account;
then the merchant takes the information and enters it into a check
printing program on their computer. From that point, the merchant can
print it on special check paper (available from the software provider)
and take the check "draft" to their bank and deposit it as if the check
was mailed directly to them. Not only can a merchant accept checks by
email with the program; they can also accept them by phone and fax
capabilities, also. This is a great alternate solution to credit cards
as you will find some customers who aren't interested in putting their
credit card information on your site. If your interested in this type of
payment solution many merchant account providers can help you get this
solution along with a merchant account for credit card acceptance.
In summary, I would highly recommend
obtaining a merchant account for your business. As the Internet
continues to grow, more businesses come online and more people decide to
make purchases on the Web, it will become essential that your business
accept payment online (especially credit cards) in order to survive in
today's business world.
I hope this helps in your future
marketing decisions.
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