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Why Transfer Speed Matters in eCommerce

Transfer speed refers to the speed at which money is transferred between merchant accounts and customer bank accounts. Transfer speed is important, because it determines when you’re paid for the work or items you’ve sold. For small businesses, transfer speed plays a major role in operations for the first few years, as it can impact your operating expenses.

Call customer support for the payment gateway services you’re considering, and ask them how long it takes to process a particular transaction. You might find that you’re only paid once a month, or two weeks after a transaction has been approved. For many, that presents a problem.

The only way out of this dilemma is to shop around, but that’s not possible (or easy) when you’re locked into a contract with a payment processor. Make sure you inquire about payment transfer speed, and get some background information on online credit card processing.

Transfer speed also refers to the amount of time it takes for the user’s browser to load a page, which also plays a significant role in whether he or she completes a transaction. If your site is image heavy, as most eCommerce websites are, then you’re probably going to have trouble loading immediately. You can try compressing your thumbnail images, and using a caching plugin (if you’re utilizing WordPress), to speed up the time it takes for the customer to see a static page.

If you can process transactions in a reasonable amount of time, and present the customer with the Web page he or she wants to view in a decent amount of speed, then you’ll retain more customers and ultimately sell more product.


Bio: Charge.com offers a reliable method of online credit card processing with free software, and no setup fees.

Do You Still Need a Credit Card Terminal?

The future of the payment gateway is starting to look like it lies in mobile, so some businesses that are looking to cut costs have a question: is the terminal still worth it? Is the now old-fashioned cash register slowly going the way of the dodo? Before you make some snap decisions, here are some thoughts.

Terminals are Secure

Credit card processing services offer top notch encryption when moving money between accounts, and it’s only getting better. It’s true that NFC technology is also secure, but public perception of this technology isn’t very high yet. In other words, as secure as mobile is people still trust a credit card terminal just a little bit more.

Mobile payment options are getting better, but some businesses are betting big on this technology. Should you follow suit? There’s conflicting opinion on the usefulness of a POS system to a small business with only one location. You could upsell customers at your POS, and use it as the central hub of your store. However, if you have a busy day your customers will end up waiting in long lines to buy from you.

A better option is to take a hybrid approach. Use a credit card swipe machine, and a mobile unit. Deploy your staff around the store, ready to take a customer’s order with the option to get rung up at the front in a more traditional transaction. This will also prove useful for returns, and other transactions that tend to take up a lot of time.


Charge.com Payment Solutions, Inc.  is the simplest and most affordable payment gateway available online, and has been named the #1 merchant account provider for six years running.

Every Business with a Merchant Account Needs to Know About This Fee

Every-Business-with-a-Merchant-Account-Needs-to-Know-About-This-FeeMerchant accounts have two fairly common pricing tiers consisting of three and six-tiered pricing. This is by design, of course, because these are the easiest pricing tiers to explain to potential buyers. All fees present some form of risk to the merchant, but chargebacks present the greatest potential risk to banks and providers so merchants tend to feel the brunt of these the most.

Chargebacks and Refunds

There is a major difference between a chargeback and a refund. Refunds are mutual because the merchant agrees to take the purchase back and refund the buyer the money they’d spent. Refunds can include re-stocking fees as well. Chargebacks are initiated by the user and carried out between the user and the bank.

The provider can potentially be exposed to millions of dollars in unpaid debt if the merchants the provider deals with are unscrupulous. If the merchant fails to pay those costs, for whatever reason, the cardholder must pay to make the deal right.

Therefore, most merchant companies will take that risk into account when they underwrite the contract. There may be in-depth assessments of a merchant’s potential risk on the bank’s part, which is all a normal part of the process.

Some banks may also impose limits on the amount a merchant is able to charge back to a buyer. Failure to stay within these limits can lead to fines or strict regulations on the merchant’s account. That’s in addition to the chargeback fee that accompanies these transactions.

Bio: Firoz Patel is a passionate marketer and technology enthusiast who founded AlertPay Inc. in 2005. Currently, Firoz Patel lives in Quebec and oversees development of the Payza platform.

What Is Mobile Credit Card Processing?

Mobile credit processing is exactly what it sounds like: credit card transactions made on mobile phones.  You might wonder if this is safe or even necessary for your business and the answer is “yes.”  This is the age of the iPhone, the Blackberry, and the Android.  People are on their phones all the time.  That means that in order to run a successful business today, it’s very important to offer online merchant services for your business.

Another piece of this puzzle is having a great website for your company or business.  If your business doesn’t have a website that allows customers to understand what you do, that’s a major disadvantage today.  As stated before, people are constantly on the internet today and the most popular way to do that now is on a smart phone.  Essentially, people can have access to your products or services at any time, day or night.  How exciting is that!  The proper website and credit card merchant account, can allow your business to grow exponentially.

The most successful businesses today utilize ecommerce.  Ecommerce is essentially any transaction that’s conducted over the internet.  Ecommerce allows both customers and businesses a high level of convenience and ease.  Customers literally can do everything with their fingertips instead of physically having to go somewhere to buy a product or make a phone call.

Mobile credit card processing is completely safe because the credit card information isn’t actually saved on the device.  This is also a very efficient payment method for businesses because credit card transactions are processed immediately.  Businesses are able to get paid more quickly and efficiently than ever before.  You’ll no longer have to wait around for a check to clear in order to get paid.

Mobile credit card processing is expected to grow in popularity in the future as technology continues to advance and the internet allows for even more opportunities than ever before.

On top of all the other benefits, mobile credit card processing can be good for the environment because it allows for receipts to be emailed to customers.  Can you imagine how much paper and therefore trees we could save as a nation if all receipts were emailed to customers?

All the way around, mobile credit card processing is great for the success of your business and the satisfaction of your customers.  Participating in ecommerce will allow you to reach more people and can therefore elevate the success of your business.

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Guest post is provided by Charge.com Payment Solutions, Inc, a leading provider in wireless credit card processing.  Check their website for more information.

The Journey of a Credit Card Transaction

Article Written by : HMS Weather

As a merchant, we run our customer’s credit card through our credit card machine, let it process the transaction, and then think nothing about it after they sign the copy. But knowing the credit card transaction process inside and out as a merchant will allow you to make highly educated decisions on which merchant account services you will use. You will know which services are in your best interest, and which ones are not. The 3 goals in business are: to make money, to save money, and to keep customers happy. Knowing how the credit transaction process works will help you do that.

For those who use an Ecommerce merchant account, the process is relatively similar to those using a machine.

    1. 1. First, the credit card holder will give you their card to initiate the transaction process.
    2. 2. The merchant, that’s you, uses their machine, software or gateway to transmit the cardholder’s information to their bank or credit union.
    3. 3. The acquirer, that’s us, routes the information through the Visa or MasterCard network, and then routes the cardholder’s information from their bank to you for settlement.
    4. 4. The information is then rerouted to your account. The Automated Clearing House (ACH) deposits the cardholder’s payment into your account, and also debits your account for any processing fees.
    5. 5. The bank you have your account with pays the acquirer for any purchases.
    6. 6. In turn, the cardholder is responsible for paying their bank back for essentially borrowing money from them.

 

This process is like a big borrowing chain. The acquirer alleviates the responsibility from the merchant to insure accountability with the cardholder that they will pay what they owe, so the merchant can spend more time building business. You will want an acquirer that has a strong history of providing an accurate and quick experience while credit card processing online.

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