As we edge ever closer to a cashless society, it seems unlikely that any business will be able to complete on level terms with their rivals if they are unable to accept card payments.
It is amazing to think that despite a strong trend towards paying by card, it is understood that the majority of British small and medium-sized companies still don’t have facilities for accepting a debit or credit card payment.
An efficient and effective way of making your business instantly more attractive to a lot more customers, is to open a merchant account through a resource like this website.
Here is a look at what you need to do and the five main steps that you need to take in order to get your business credit card ready.
Understand who you are dealing with
A fundamental part of being able to accept card payments, is understanding who else is involved in the transaction.
Every card payment you take will involve a number of parties and they will all receive some level of remuneration from you for providing their facilities and service.
The card issuer is the bank or financial institution who have granted a card to the customer, and they will receive payment along with the merchant account provider, who authorise, process and settle each transaction.
The card scheme (Visa/MasterCard etc) also receive an element of the payment as well.
Why you are paying a charge
You are basically being provided with a payment system that not only makes it convenient and easy for customers to pay using their debit or credit card, but which also provides a system for authenticating the transaction and reducing the prospect of fraud.
Using the chip and PIN system, the merchant account provider is verifying that the person paying is the true owner of the card and their fees reflect this service as well as the other facilities such as the payment terminal that they are supplying and maintaining.
Understanding the fees
Another important step is to get a full understanding of what all the fees are, so that you can account for these in your business projections and pricing strategy.
Some merchant account providers charge a joining fee whereas others don’t. You are probably more likely to pay a fee for joining if you get a representative to come out and explain the service to you and go through the application process whilst they are there.
You might want to follow this route if you are not sure how to fill in the application forms or want to get a greater understanding of exactly everything that is involved.
Merchant services charges
Once you have been signed up and you have a merchant account, there will be ongoing charges and probably a fixed monthly payment for having the facility available to you and to cover the cost of having a payment terminal installed or available.
The sort of charges you can expect to pay will be a basic rate for each transaction (Variable according to volumes) and an authorisation fee if applicable (sometimes referred to as Bank 24 on your statements).
The rates you pay can be influenced by a number of different factors such as whether you take foreign card payments, if the card holder is not present or whether you accept premium cards as well.
Apply now
Provided you have all the information needed to hand and your financial status checks out fine, you could be up and running within a week of signing your agreement for a merchant account.
Don’t let another customer go somewhere else because you couldn’t take a card payment. Apply now and give your business an edge and hopefully enjoy some sales growth as well as a result of greater flexibility for taking payments.
Carl Robinson has been in the business world for a long time now. An avid blogger, he likes to give new business people the information they need to get off to a good start. Look for his helpful posts on a variety of business blog sites.
