Processing Accounts for Online Stores

The most important part of an online store is the ability to accept credit card payments – after all, there’s no benefit to showcasing your products and services if you can’t sell them! In order to accept online card payments, you’ll have to apply for a merchant account. Before you start that process you need to research all the costs and features associated with your provider to ensure that you’re obtaining the best for your business.

Not all merchant account providers are the same, so it’s important to thoroughly understand the features and prices you’re committing to before you sign any contracts. One simple way to do this is to call the customer service line of your top picks for merchant account providers with any questions you may have. You want to get a sense of the company’s customer service because you may have to deal with them in the future if there are any problems or issues with your account.

While speaking to the service providers, you should also ask questions so that you fully understand the fee scale and any other policies that will affect your fees or service. Another thing to look for from the merchant account providers you vet is the other business solutions that they offer. You want to make sure that the processing provider you choose has the ability to help your business grow so that when your online sales soar, so can your business.

Improved Inventory Management with POS Equipment

Point of sale equipment from Merchant Services Irvine allows you to take control of your inventory management in a more organized fashion that you were ever able to before. With the help of POS equipment you can easily keep track of all your sales and what you have in stock with just a few clicks of a button.

No more tedious price changes or manually counting and computing. Point of Sale equipment helps employees find out how many items are in stock and where they are located inside the store. It is all about helping the customer get what they need fast so that they can pay for their items and be on their way. This is very helpful when a cashier has to find out if a certain item is in stock. Instead of having to find someone to check the stock room for them, or go and do so themselves, they can check the database directly from the register and let the customer know right away if they have the item they are looking for available to purchase.

Saving time allows customers to go through the checkout lane quicker and that is one factor that makes all types of consumers happy. You will see a big difference in your sales when you decide to establish a merchant account and begin utilizing point of sale equipment. Your existing customers will come back again and again thanks to the exceptional customer service they received in the past and new customers will stop by to check out your merchandise thanks to word of mouth advertising.

Transform Your Retail Business with Point of Sale Technology

Retail POS software is specially designed to provide businesses with smooth flowing inventory control, gift cards, customer incentives and loyalty programs, and much, much more. This incredible software is designed with cutting-edge technology that allows business to run smoothly throughout the year. A point of sale system from Merchant Services Irvine can help you identify wasteful activities in your business and establish a whole new level of productivity.

Retail POS software provides retail businesses with computer technology that helps run their business effectively and efficiently. This technology provides managers and business owners with the ability to oversee the business from A-Z. This cutting-edge computerized technology provides the ability to make your business efficient by locate hidden waste and organize employee hours while reducing managerial costs and utilizing effective marketing strategies. The POS system is a uniquely designed system that is revolutionizing retail businesses. Retail stores, restaurants, spas, beauty salons, pizzerias and every other type of retail facility, including online retail establishments, can benefit from a customized POS from Merchant Services Irvine. that is designed to specifically meet their individual business needs. To learn more about how this software can revolutionize your business and impact multiple areas of productivity, contact Merchant Services Irvine.

Retail POS software from Merchant Services Irvine provides multiple services that are uniquely customized to meet the needs of each individual business. Online and brick and mortar businesses will experience a new level of efficiency through the use of POS. Daily business transactions and management become simple and organized with the assistance of a customized point of sale system.

Merchant Services Irvine will works with each business to implement POS software that is designed to specifically meet the unique needs of that business. Utilizing this state-of-the-art technology is of great benefit to new businesses, pre-existing retail locations and online merchants. There are so many benefits to utilizing the retail POS software. Business owners and management teams find that they can easily organize their retail store or multi-store chain through the expertise available through the POS. Management is easily able to view and keep track of inventory in one and in multiple stores through these customizable systems. Gift cards, customer loyalty programs, inventory tracking and in-depth reporting and are just a few of the many benefits available through POS software. Contact Merchant Services Irvine today to experience a new level of business opportunity in marketing and organization.

A Necessary Account to Accept Credit Card Payments

In order to accept credit and debit card payments, you must have a merchant account. A merchant account is a special account established for the purpose of accepting credit card payments as supported by Merchant Services in Irvine.

Applying for a merchant account is similar to the process of applying for a loan. There is the prerequisite paperwork to complete, followed by an approval process that can take several days.

Requirements to qualify for a merchant account vary among companies, but generally the following criteria will be reviewed:

How long have you been in business? Business longevity suggests a history of stability, efficient management, and good financial health, explains Merchant Services Irvine.

What is your product or service? Does your product lend itself to a high rate of returns and chargebacks? A chargeback is a disputed credit card charge that is refunded to the buyer and charged against your account.

How is your credit report? Merchant processing companies will look at how much you owe and how you pay your bills, so it’s important to have good financial and trade references.

What is your anticipated volume of sales and average transaction amount?

You must have a legitimate business to have a merchant account, so you’ll need to show the proper paperwork when setting it up. We live in a data-based world that is losing its reliance on paper-including paper money. Thus, acceptance of credit cards is a must for today’s businesses.

Credit Cards, Merchants Accounts and Business Success

The decision to accept credit cards is a wise one for any retailer. From a practical business point of view, any retail business that does not accept credit cards is leaving money on the table, notes Merchant Services Irvine. Research has shown that accepting credit cards increases profits and helps with cash flow since you receive the money within a couple of days instead of waiting up to a week for a check to clear.

Credit cards don’t bounce, as some checks have a tendency to do. Credit card users are also more likely to buy on impulse and spend more when they do. To accept credit cards at a retail location you typically need four things. The requirements may vary a little, but the following applies in most cases.

To accept credit cards and other electronic forms of payment, you will need:

• A way to enter the customer’s credit card information into a system for verification and processing. This can be done with a swipe terminal, point of sale system, or by calling the credit card in by phone
• A credit card gateway company to verify the credit card’s validity and process the payments
• A credit card merchant account in which the gateway company will deposit payments made to you
• A business bank account into which the settled funds will ultimately be deposited for your use.

The process of accepting a credit card payment occurs when you make a sale and the customer pays by credit card. Next, using a card swipe machine or telephone, you contact what is known as a “gateway company” who takes the card information you submit and verifies that the card is valid and the charge can be made against the card account. The gateway company returns an approval code for the purchase.

With a swipe machine or point of sale terminal from Merchant Services Irvine, the verification process happens in a matter of seconds. If you’re doing telephone verification it can take a couple of minutes. Merchant Services is also a leader in data security features.

Simple processes combined with the latest technology that can help your business fulfill its earning potential by increasing sales and efficiently accepting a variety of payment types.

5 Ways to Improve Your Profits with Point of Sale

For a business in retail, there is always competition. If your business profits have been lagging lately, it’s time to reevaluate what you’re doing to see where improvements can be made, says Merchant Services Irvine. Point of sale software combined with a merchant account can increase customer satisfaction and stimulate sales.

Point Of Sale – Offering Better Payment Options
Point of sale equipment will immediately improve sales potential by giving customers more flexibility in how they pay for what they purchase. The business environment is quickly moving away from cash based transactions; if you still don’t accept anything but cash or checks; you’re losing a large section of the public. Accepting credit cards allows your customers to pay over time, making it more likely that they will purchase a big ticket item.

There are several options in point of sale machines and coinciding merchant accounts available through Merchant Services Irvine, depending upon what kind of features you would like to use, such as credit and debit card processing, gift cards, loyalty programs and electronic checks.

Establishing a merchant account and implementing a point of sale system will also help to decrease potential losses incurred due to bounced checks and lost sales by allowing your customers the option to pay via credit and debit card; no more waiting for a check to clear – with a merchant account, the payment will be processed and added to your account almost instantly. POS also works to increase the speed of the checkout process; two factors that can improve your monthly sales figures, according to Merchant Services Irvine.

Merchant Accounts Make Online Shopping Easier
Offer your customers new ways to shop. Even if you’re primarily a local or regional business with one or two store fronts, having an active and fresh website is crucial. Repeat customers will visit your website to check out promotions and make online purchases. By establishing a merchant account with Merchant Services Irvine, your online customers can conveniently pay for their purchases with a debit or credit card. An additional benefit of accepting credit card payments is the potential for call-in orders. Wireless point of sale equipment makes it easy for you to accept credit card payments even while you are away from the business headquarters. Today’s point of sale equipment is designed to make paying easy.

Streamline Your Products
Streamline your merchandise and track your inventory easily with a point of sale system. Eliminate poor sellers, but don’t limit yourself too rigidly. Let your customers know that you can easily special order something if they are looking for a specific item you’ve carried in the past. The key to success is to understand your target demographic. No store can have everything that everybody needs, but that is why getting to know your different types of customers is essential. Cater to your demographic so they will recognize your store and your brand as one that represents who they are. Streamlining and being well stocked are not mutually exclusive. Point of sale systems can help you track inventory as well as complete sales transactions.

Reward Repeat Customers
Consider a rewards program for loyal customers. By offering incentives to buy, you increase your repeat sales as well as sales of more than one item at a time. Don’t forget to offer your rewards program through your website as well. Merchant Services Irvine can provide you with several options that will work to help you sell items online and easily accept credit and debit card payments. Offering online purchasing capabilities can vastly expand your market. Online customers don’t need to know you’re a small store; all they need to know is that you carry what they want and are willing to ship it directly to them.

Offer Outstanding Service
Excel at customer service, recommends Merchant Services Irvine. Most businesses throw their clerks or cashiers into the mix with very little training. The training that is offered is often about how to stock merchandise properly or use the cash register. Don’t forget to train your staff extensively on superior customer service, including how to properly utilize your point of sale system. Your employees should know your products well enough to answer any customer questions and guide those customers in choosing the right product for them. They should also know how to handle returns, refunds, and discounts quickly and efficiently using point of sale systems.

Communicate With Customers
Talk to your customers. They are your best source of information on what they do and don’t want to see in your store. Hands down, the most popular request from shoppers is the introduction of point of sale equipment so they can easily pay with debit or credit cards. Coming in a close second is having more flexible hours. Of course, by establishing a merchant account with Merchant Services Irvine and accepting online payments, you can let your customers know that your store is available online 24/7.

Establishing a Loyalty Program to Reward Your Customers

Everyone has some idea of how a loyalty program for their business might work, says Merchant Services Irvine. Chances are very good that if you’re reading this article, you’ve already thought about the logistics behind a loyalty program. Most people that have businesses hesitate to think about instituting a loyalty program for the simple reason that they are afraid of what it might do to their bottom line. The fact is, implementing a loyalty program can actual help your business by increasing your opportunity for improving profits and success.  Below are some other reasons that you should definitely consider instituting a loyalty program in your business.

Everyone Else is Doing It

If there is one reason that could be pointed to as being the single most convincing reason that anyone should ever need for rewarding their customers with a loyalty program, it should be the fact that everyone else is doing it, notes Merchant Services Irvine. When you are dealing with competition between businesses, someone offering a loyalty program is going to have a huge advantage in the marketplace over someone else that is not offering it to their customers.

For this reason, you need to offer a loyalty program to your customers in order to remain competitive and help your business succeed. Even if you look around the industry right now and see that none of your main competitors have a loyalty program going, wouldn’t you rather be the one that initiates rather than the one that has to react? Throw your competition off by putting a loyalty program into place and you’ll find your business successfully leading the pack.

Building Brand Image

Another good reason to create a loyalty program for your customers is to build up the brand image that you have, explains Merchant Services Irvine. Whenever people talk about Subway or another one of those restaurants, what they usually talk about is the fact that they can get the 10th sub free after they have purchased the first nine. This is nothing more than a loyalty program.

Increase Sales

What you need to realize regarding loyalty programs is that while they do decrease your earnings in the short term, they will increase them in the long term according to Merchant Services Irvine. When a loyalty program is put into place, you will find that the number of units sold of whatever business item you are offering will go up. This is something that is pretty much universally true about loyalty programs. The sales will increase as the loyalty program gets instituted. For this reason, many of the companies that put loyalty programs into place actually do end up finding that their customers are rewarding them by spending more money on their items. If you want to get more sales and break into that next level, a loyalty program might very well be the vehicle to get you there.

Establishing a Gift Card Program

One of the benefits of a merchant account is not only the ability to offer your customers a variety of payment options but also to offer gift cards. An electronic gift certificate – or gift card – is becoming a widely accepted and popular gift in the modern, hectic and crazy world that we’re in, explains Merchant Services Irvine. No longer are gift cards and gift certificates thought of as impersonal and unimaginative. More and more people are opting to give them as gifts based on sheer convenience and knowing that they can’t go wrong by allowing the recipient to choose their own gift.

There are several advantages of providing your customers with the option to purchase and utilize gift cards. Most importantly, it is one more method for you to generate a sale which means more purchases and more income for you, notes Merchant Services Irvine. There is no inventory so there are fewer returns and any unredeemed credits automatically become bonus profits. With the help of a merchant account this process is an easy way to increase sales. From a customer’s perspective, you are offering them more convenience and choice.

Gift Cards can also be a great promotional tool such as creating contests and rewarding the winner with a specified dollar amount to spend on your products, recommends Merchant Services Irvine. The great thing about this tactic is that not only will this winner become aware of your products, but all the other participants who were once unfamiliar with your business now know exactly what you have to offer. The best part of holding contests is the ability to acquire the contact information of all of the participants. You can use it to further establish a relationship with them and get them to become a potential customer which leads to an increase in your earning potential. Another helpful tip is to use a gift card as a reward for customers that are involved in promoting your store to their friends and family members. All of that free advertisement is well worth the price of the card.

Offering your customers the option of purchasing via gift card does not have to be difficult. As long as you contact Merchant Services Irvine, you will be able to sell gift cards alongside your store products with just a few clicks; it is almost effortless for you and adds a whole new dimension to your business.

Merchant Services Irvine Account Tips

So, you have started or currently run a business, and you want to accept credit cards. Merchant Services Irvine suggests that you take the time to understand topics such as: what a merchant account is, deciding on a merchant account provider, obtaining and setting up a credit card terminal, and how to handle online transactions.

Below is an outline of what you will need to get your business set up to accept credit card transactions.

A merchant account provided by Merchant Services Irvine will allow your business to take payment from customer’s credit cards. They will handle the transaction details and deposit payments into your account. Merchant account set up is simple and allows you the opportunity to increase sales and the opportunity for success.

Now, why should you accept credit cards? The obvious answer is more sales, notes Merchant Services Irvine. It is not unheard of for a business to see an immediate, and sometimes a huge boost in sales. Many businesses report that credit card transactions account for at least 75% of their overall transactions. Credit and debit cards are a convenient method for customers to pay and customers tend to buy more – and more often – when paying with plastic.

Why will you see more sales? Well, there are several advantages to setting up a merchant account with Merchant Services Irvine and offering credit as a payment option. You will see more impulse buys from customers; these payments can now be processed immediately and by accepting credit cards, you offer more flexibility for the customer.  Your business will also have more credibility in the customer’s eyes, explains Merchant Services Irvine. You are not a fly by night business that can be gone tomorrow.

When you are ready to establish a merchant account,  Merchant Services Irvine will look over your business, check your credit and business plan, as well as the financial health of your business to determine if you will be able to pay the costs associated with having a merchant account.

Once you are approved, you will be informed by your Merchant Services Irvine representative and you will then have the ability to process credit card payments.

Merchant processing also allows you transparency and better decision-making capabilities. By choosing Merchant Services Irvine as your merchant account provider, you will be able to accept credit card payments for the lowest possible cost for your business. The name of the game is maximizing profits, and a merchant account will help you do that.