Five Steps to Saving Money with Your Credit Card Processor
Business owners work hard to make a profit, but often before profit is made bills must be paid and costs accumulate through the various services business owners must use to service their customers. One of the most expensive services can be credit card processing; but there are ways you can save money on credit card processing fees and still offer your customers quick payment options that will keep them coming back to you again and again.
Five Steps to Saving Money on Credit Card Processing
While most of the fees charged by credit card processors are upfront, there are backend fees and additional charges that can accumulate as time goes on. But there are steps you can take to ensure these fees don’t cost you the profits you make, especially when getting started as a small business owner.
Popularity Contest
Visa and MasterCard are the most widely accepted credit cards across the United States for a reason: they work with processors and business owners alike to offer discounts and compatibility with various business systems. As hard as other cards try, it often doesn’t work out for businesses to accept them due to the extra processing fees many merchants charge to process them. Encourage your customers to use their Visa/MasterCard over other forms of payment and save yourself money in the long run.
Debit Cards can Benefit you and the Customer
Debit card processing fees are often cheaper than credit cards, especially for larger items. They’re also less likely to be fraudulent as the money comes directly from the customer’s bank account. In addition to these benefits to you, using a debit card saves the customer by not accruing debt that they eventually need to pay off. This is a win/win for both parties.
Unbundle Services
While it is convenient and may seem wise to “bundle” your business services through a bank, they often charge more for processing credit card transactions than many merchants do. In fact, many banks end up outsourcing these transactions to merchant processors than mark up the service to you. Save yourself money by hiring your own third-party credit card processor to handle these transactions and leave payroll, savings, and checking transactions to the banks.
Technological Advances
With new advances in technologies, many merchants can accept credit card payments wirelessly or on handheld terminals. This makes selling product or services at trade and craft shows easier for the business and customer alike, and can translate into more sales overall through these venues and online payments as well.
Shop Around
While customer loyalty is something you want to encourage, it’s typical for customers to shop around for the best deals. Make sure you are doing the same with your processing company. Merchants tend to offer local services and be very competitive compared to nationwide processors, but it’s always beneficial to compare rates every now and again to ensure you are getting the best deal from your processor or see if it’s time to switch.
Business owners must be savvy to both encourage customers to buy, and in order to make a profit when starting out in the small-business world. Do your research on how to save money both on credit card processing and other services you use and that profit will come sooner than you think.
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