If you’re a business owner, it is to your advantage to have merchant services as a form of payment for your customers. Today, almost everybody pays with their debit card or credit card, and if your business establishment doesn’t have merchant services, you’ll potentially lose a lot of business. Now, the big question is, how do you choose a merchant service provider?
When you’re on the hunt for a merchant service provider, it could get quite confusing. There’s a lot of information you need to look into, advertisements and promises that you need to check, review to read such as the Payzone review, and you also have to make sure that it is what your business needs. Here are some things you need to consider when you’re deciding on a merchant service provider:
- Track Record: There are many merchant service providers out there. You need to make a list of those that have been in the industry for a long time. If they have been in business for a couple of decades at least, this means that they may be doing things right. You can also check reviews of these companies and see what the usual customer complaints are. No business is perfect, but if you read way too many complaints that have not been addressed, you should do business elsewhere.
- Equipment: The equipment that you will be provided with is important. There are wireless and wired credit card terminals. The wired terminals are still preferred by many businesses because it’s more reliable. However, if your Wi-Fi is stable and reliable, you can opt for a wireless terminal. You should also check if you can buy the equipment from the very start. Some merchant service providers lease the equipment and it becomes more expensive in the long run.
If you’re going to choose to rent the equipment, make sure that you’re renting from the merchant service provider and not another party. Sometimes, the contract for the equipment is different and lasts for a longer period.
- Customer Support: The type of customer support you need will depend on your business. If your business is open 24/7, you will also need a merchant service provider that offers 24/7 customer support. However, if your business doesn’t need 24-hour customer service, you can choose a good one that doesn’t offer it, but may have lower monthly fees.
Most of all, your provider needs to have excellent customer support when issues arise. You can never expect things to go smoothly all the time. Equipment could malfunction or it could be the system. It is, however, crucial that you will be provided with solutions within a reasonable amount of time or you’re going to constantly lose customers.
- Reasonable Processing Rates: When you’re looking for a merchant service provider, you have to keep in mind that the company that provides the cheapest rates may not be the best one out there. You will need to find a happy medium. The cheapest may not provide the best services, yet the most expensive may not be all that different from the others. You will need to do a thorough research on who gives good services, but offers reasonable rates.
- System Compatibility: If your business has a website and has an existing online shopping cart, the system of the merchant service provider may not be compatible with yours. You need to ask how their system runs and consult your web master. If you’re not familiar with online payment systems, you can have your web master talk to the merchant service provider. If you find out later that the systems are not compatible, you may have to pay a cancellation fee or you will need to modify your online payment system. Both will cost you money.
- Fraud Protection: Fraudulent activities are rampant. Hackers will always find a way to steal sensitive data. Your provider should be able to explain to you how they protect sensitive data or reduce the risk of any fraudulent activities. This is always a concern of each customer and, as a business owner, you should be able to tell your customers that using your payment system is safe.
Conclusion
You have to keep in mind that there are companies that have bad business practices. You need to weed out the bad from the good because there are good merchant service providers out there. You just need to find one that will work well with your business and will provide you with the services that you require. This is why reading reviews about each company is important as you will get the most feedback from there.