Credit Card Processing for Home Businesses

With the surge of the cyber world, home businesses have never flourished more than they are now. Whether you are an online retailer, artisan, craftsman, or practice any number of trades in the comfort of your own home, there has never been a better time to let your business grow. One of the most important steps in promoting your home business is being able to take credit card payments. You will be amazed at the level of legitimacy presumed from this simple ability. Accepting credit cards can increase sales, allowing customers to purchase or make payment immediately, and it can also reduce the number of bounced checks or invalid payments.

Though credit card processing can really impact the level of success a home business experiences, many business owners remain hesitant, and though the process may seem intimidated from the outside, the reality is that accepting credit cards has become an increasingly simple process. If it isn’t the process that worries home business owners, it is the fees. Many small businesses are afraid of the fees and credit card percentages that will be deducted from their sales when using credit card processing. However, with the rapid growth of ecommerce and the flourish in the number of credit card processing providers, the industry has become extremely competitive, offering much better rates to new businesses. In almost all cases, the sales increases make having the ability to take credit card payments completely worth the effort and fees.

The first step in the process that a business operator should understand is that they will need to obtain a merchant account. Merchant accounts can be secured though banks, third-party providers, as well as a number of Internet merchant account providers. Most people are turning to Internet merchant account providers because the fees and rates are far more competitive. Another advantage to establishing a merchant account in this way is that most providers also have the ability to help you set up everything else you need. They will either direct you to, or provide you with a payment gateway, recommend website tools or changes, as well as help you test an order.

There is no reason to delay in obtaining a merchant account and moving on your way towards accepting credit card payments. Many people never deal in cash any more or lug around old receipts, and paying with a credit card makes things simple while providing them with a record of their transaction. So take the time, do your research, and find the right Internet merchant account provider for you. High risk merchant accounts and offshore merchant accounts are also available through some providers.

About the Author: Jennifer Loganathan is the President and CEO of Stradafee Limited. Stradafee is an electronic payments company as well as an eCommerce and offshore merchant account provider. Merchant account providers make it possible for businesses to use credit card merchant account processing. For more information on credit card processing visit www.stradafee.com.

Offshore Merchant Accounts

Tax liability is one of the major concerns of any business, whether that is brick and mortar or through the web. Some businesses look for ways to move their assets to an offshore location while others are creating a new way of doing business with the use of the World Wide Web, and thus they need a secure, simple, reliable way to accept credit card payments. Though must have heard of offshore accounts, many businesses are reluctant to give an offshore account some thought, usually because they are unaware of how easy it is and how helpful it can be.
Internet merchant accounts are not a new concept to most retail and industrial business owners. Simply put, merchant accounts allow for businesses to accept credit card payments without the use of third part processor, which has many advantages of its own. However, upon considering an offshore merchant account, most business owners and managers have little if any experience and are not fully aware of the differences and advantages.
If you have spent any time at all examining the online credit card charging business, you will know that it has quickly become very large and very competitive in the US. Part of the reason for this drastic increase has been the lowering of charges for credit card processing. What was once a 7% charge on average has become more like 3%. This is all great, but US (domestic) merchant accounts still need much improvement in order to truly accommodate the small business owner. Application requirements and deposit requirements still burden many business owners seeking a merchant account in the United States. Some banks that offer merchant services require things like a two year business history, monthly holds to cover credit card charges, and security deposits of $2K or more depending on the predicted average charge amount. What makes doing business even more difficult with domestic merchant accounts is the level of paranoia that banks and other financial institutions have about money laundering, identity theft, and fraud. Many businesses have experienced a hold or complete closure of their merchant account due to a spike in their sales that is suspected of fraud, and this is the worst time a small business can experience such a difficulty. For many of these businesses, and large transaction may mark the their leap to a new level of business, and having to settle banking issues with a new client is the last thing that will help satisfy the customer.
For this reason, it is not uncommon for businesses to look beyond domestic soil for a credit card processor that understands their needs and their problems. Due to the flourish of global communication with things like the internet and cell phones, it is now easier than ever to people to do business with people that are on separate continents. Business can now shop for the best merchant account services throughout the world and decide on an offshore account that has the rates and services they need. Unlike the United States, many offshore merchant account providers have far fewer security regulations that may result in the holding or locking down of funds. These atmospheres are usually far more helpful to small businesses that cannot afford to have half of their revenue tied up in a security investigation.
The one draw back to some offshore merchant account providers is the actual processing fees. Because the extremely intense merchant account competition has not reached every country, some countries may still require higher fees for processing transactions.

About the Author: Jennifer Loganathan is the President and CEO of Stradafee Limited. Stradafee is an electronic payments company as well as an eCommerce and offshore merchant account provider. Internet merchant accounts make it possible for businesses to provide online credit card processing. For more information on credit card processing visit www.stradafee.com.

Fees Associated with Credit Card Processing

Every merchant account agreement has its own policy on the implementation of fees associated with processing payments. The convenience of easily accepting credit card payments over the internet brings an incredible amount of freedom and opportunities to business operations, but with that convenience comes some cost which takes the form of credit card processing fees.
In order to take payments online, four different things must be in place, and each may come with their own host of fees and charges. These necessities include a merchant account, a shopping cart system, some type of web hosting service, and a payment gateway, and they can each tack on their own fees and pieces of the pie if you are not careful. With the competitive nature of merchant accounts in the US, many merchant account providers also provide some of these other services in packages or eCommerce bundles. I will describe the different types of fees that may be associated with setting up your merchant account and credit card processing. Be sure to ask about each of these fees to be certain you are aware of everything that will be charged to your account.
Some merchant account providers will first charge an application fee or processing fee to cover their expenses for looking over your credit history, business history and background. Many merchant service providers wave this fee to gather more business. This is not necessarily the best scenario, as some providers that do charge a fee, charge it because their time is valuable and thus cannot be wasted. This only adds credibility to that provider. After the application fee, there is usually some type of membership fee which is most commonly charged on an annual basis. Membership fees are most common when purchasing merchant account services for specific industries or through trade organizations. Then the Set-Up fee usually comes next. This is some type of flat fee for the activation and setup of your account and may also include gaining access to an online payment gateway. This gateway access will be the portal you use to actually make the credit card transactions online. If you are purchasing these services individually, there will certainly be some type of access fee for using the secure server for approving and processing credit card transactions through a payment gateway. As I said before, some merchant services may include this payment gateway way in their initial set-up fee.
Once the account is in place then come the monthly fees. Monthly service fees are usually in place to make sure a merchant service provider covers their maintenance expenses when the income for that account is below a certain amount. This may look like a base amount a business must pay for merchant services when there are little or no sales. Merchant account providers make the bulk of their income by collecting a percentage of every transaction. Credit card companies take their cut of that percentage, and the rest is income for the service provider. That is why other fees must be charged to cover accounts that have little or no income. It is difficult to cover their costs when they are not gaining enough in transaction percentages.
The last most common fees that many businesses will encounter with merchant services are chargeback/reversal fees. Any time a credit card payment is charged back by a consumer, the merchant service provider will usually have a predetermined fee for correcting the situation. These are very similar to overdraft fees or bounced check fees for a regular bank account.
It is important to ask about each of these types of fees that might be associated with setting up an internet merchant account for your business. As I said before, you will encounter many providers that combine or eliminate fees to increase their business and add value, but it is important to verify what that provider’s policies are regarding each type of fee so that there are no surprises.

About the Author: Jennifer Loganathan is the President and CEO of Stradafee Limited. Stradafee is an electronic payments company as well as an eCommerce and Internet merchant account provider. Merchant accounts make it possible for businesses to provide online credit card processing. For more information on credit card processing visit www.stradafee.com.

Why Should Businesses Use Merchant Services?

Accepting credit cards is a fundamental part of doing business in today’s world of plastic carrying customers. Some people rarely use cash anymore, and lugging around a checkbook is out of the question. So it is vital for small business owners to have at least some means of accepting payment through credit cards, but why should they go with a merchant account? The advantages of merchant services are better understood after acquiring more information on merchant processing.

The basic function of merchant processing is to give businesses the ability to accept credit card payments. This is accomplished through a system serving as a link between the cardholder, the merchant (business), the card issuer (bank or other institution), and the acquirers (or the merchants bank). When a card holder begins a transaction by making a purchase from the merchant, the merchant submits that credit card transaction for processing. When the card issuer authorizes that transaction to merchant processing, the acquirer then pays the merchant for the amount of that purchase (or transaction).

So why is this important? With the ability to take credit card payment through merchant services comes many advantages. A retailer or merchant can increase their revenue by making payments simpler for customers. Administrative costs will decrease, making room for more profit, and the funds from payments can be accessed faster and more efficiently. These tangible advantages can mean a huge turn in the success of any business, but it doesn’t stop there. The ability to conduct business through credit cards also brings a certain intangible legitimacy to a store front. Merchant services will help project an image of professionalism and innovation to the modern customer who has many businesses and services to choose from. By improving the payment process in this way, customers will associate simplicity and safety with making their transactions.

There is of course, the possibility of accepting credit card payments through a third party credit card processor. Though this is a viable option, it is not the wisest decision in terms of cost and efficiency. With a third party, the fees and percentages are higher, making it more expensive to accept credit. It will also take longer to access payments and transfer money to the correct accounts. A third party payment system also directs customers away from your actual website store front, and will appear much less professional.

The advantages of applying for merchant services are tremendous in the world of business. Reduce payment errors, make transactions more efficient, and receive payments quicker, all the while pleasing customers by making the process more convenient. Credit card payments can be accepted in many ways through merchant services. If a business is hosted online, brick and mortar, or telephonic, merchant processing will make it possible to take credit cards quickly and efficiently, giving any business the competitive edge it needs for the modern world of commerce.

About the Author: Jennifer Loganathan is the President and CEO of Stradafee Limited. Stradafee is an electronic payments company as well as an eCommerce and Internet merchant account provider. Merchant accounts make it possible for businesses to provide online credit card processing. For more information on credit card processing visit www.stradafee.com.

Pre-Credit Card Teens are Buying Online

Shopping online has become extremely popular amongst adolescent teens, and even more so for those that are still without a driver’s license. Though this age group is too young to have their own credit cards, they are the largest growing demographic. And when you think about it, it just makes sense. Instead of parents having to walk around malls for hours for back to school shopping or other needs, they can sit their computer savvy teens at the computer to pick out exactly what they want. When it comes time to buy, they just hand over their credit card or go through the payment process for them. How much more simple is that than running from store to store? The kids can even take as long as they want finding the things they want, saving their shopping carts from day to day so that parents can make the purchase when it is convenient. According to ComScore, four out of five kids from the ages of twelve to seventeen spend time on retail websites. In 2006 alone, Ebay had almost six and a half million teen users. These figures are way to big to ignore, and online retailers have to be savvy to their young audience in order to take advantage of the huge opportunity. This includes advertising, layout, and simplicity.

Keeping up with product trends is an obvious necessity for any retail store desiring to compete in the teen market, and this especially goes for online stores. Utilizing trend following advertisement, product displays, language, and music is likely to keep a teen’s attention. However, you must keep a balance of trendy innovation and simplicity. It is somewhat of a misnomer that teens are super tech savvy. Yes, this age group has grown up with the advantage of many technological advances such as text messaging and mp3’s, but when it comes to monetary transactions and comprehension, their level of attention and proficiency is quite low. They cannot be expected to spend time reading lengthy explanations or follow an extremely long series of steps to make a purchase. The buying process must be very straight forward and fast.

One of the major ways to increase simplicity is to have your own Internet merchant account or credit card merchant account. Yes, you can use third party processing services to allow your customers to make a purchase, but this complicates the process by adding an extra set of instructions and pages that must be completed to finally confirm a transaction. Through the confusion you are highly likely to lose a teen shopper along the way. The same is true if a parent is making a purchase. The point of their children shopping online is to save time, so they will be looking for an extremely straightforward checkout system. In fact, the simplicity of a check out system will also cause parents to influence their children to use that site again. When parents find an easy way to do things, they are likely to repeat it, and for this reason, a credit card merchant account can greatly increase your success.

When trying to tap into the online teen shopping world, remember to keep it simple, hip, and fun. Spend plenty of time perfecting your checkout process and researching the current trends.

About the Author: Jennifer Loganathan is the President and CEO of Stradafee Limited. Stradafee is an electronic payments company as well as an eCommerce and Internet merchant account provider. Merchant accounts make it possible for businesses to provide online credit card processing. For more information on credit card processing visit www.stradafee.com.

The Rise of Online Shopping

Most of us remember a time when Ecommerce was obsolete. Many industry professionals believed it to be a fad that would fade away just like high top sneakers or bell bottom jeans. Who would want to sit there waiting for pages to load and risk fraud or identity theft to purchase something online? In there early stages of ecommerce, this was the reality, but as the level of internet technology improved and new security measures were taken, a world of online commerce possibilities sprang into motion.

The increase in bandwidth and speed for the average user has been dramatic in the past ten years. Previously, everyone was tied to a dial-up connection, which made surfing the web, much less making a purchase, an exercise in extreme patience. Today, many users are enjoying the speed of cable, dsl, wifi, and wireless connections, providing them with almost instantaneous page search results. This has increased the usage of the Internet on every avenue, from research to email and especially with online shopping.

As connection speed began to improve, a number of hackers began to realize the fragility of non-secure online connections and began to steal the identities and money of thousands of people. This turned many customers away from online shopping, in fear of being taken advantage of and caused online venders to have new determination in finding a better way to conduct business. Thus, encryption came into the picture. Encryption is the single most effective method for transferring data securely. In order to read a file that is encrypted, the user must also have the encryption key or password, which allows the message to be decrypted. With encryption came virtually absolute privacy for important data, such as payment information, which paved the way for online retailers to set up secure and trustworthy marketplaces. There are now various ways to accept payments. Credit card merchant accounts are the most popular and effective, making it possible for individual businesses to process credit card payments without the use of a third party website.

With the possibility of online business as a safe way to do business, a flood of retailers, service providers, and other establishments began to create an online presence. The cost of an online storefront is so much less than an actual brick and mortar store because there is very little need for employees and there are no building costs or utility bills to pay. Not only is it less expensive, but it is not specific to only one area. A website can service anyone, virtually anywhere in the world. Many established retailers began to create an online shopping presence to expand their businesses to the global marketplace.

No one can foresee the future of online shopping, but it continues to rise in popularity and profits. The convenience of purchasing goods and services without leaving the comfort of your own home is becoming more appealing to many people around the world. As technology increases in efficiency, we can only assume that this will enhance the online shopping experience, thus making ecommerce more accessible, convenient, and enjoyable for everyone.

About the Author: Jennifer Loganathan is the President and CEO of Stradafee Limited. Stradafee is an electronic payments company as well as an eCommerce and Internet merchant account provider. Merchant accounts make it possible for businesses to provide online credit card processing. For more information on credit card processing visit www.stradafee.com.

Ecommerce Home Page Information

The landing page for your ecommerce website is like a retail shop window. It should give customers an idea of what your store is all about, quickly and effectively. Because some things are less obvious in an online store, it is important to display the information customers will be looking for in a clear and simple way. Customers will be asking themselves, often times without knowing it, the basic who, what, when, where, and why questions to gain a better understanding of your establishment. So creating a home page that answers these questions in a creative and persuasive way can immediately boost the sales potential of your website.

Letting potential customers know “who” you are is fundamental to establishing a client base of repeat customers as well as getting that first sale. Use descriptive titles and words to broadcast the identity of your store. Slogans are great, but accurate descriptions are even better, and they also weigh more heavily in search engine results. Part of “who your are” is also “who you are selling to.” Let people know what kinds of things you are selling and what kinds of people might be interested in those things. For example, if you sell men’s shoes, you might make the statement that “here, professional men have a variety of styles and price ranges to choose from.” The most closely related question to the “who” is “where.” In order to better know who you are, customers must know where you are located and where they can reach you. This communication can be displayed in the form of email address, phone numbers, zip codes or just regions you service or ship to.

The “what” question should be answered by communicating what it is your store provides. This includes products, but should also specifically designate whether these are products or services, what kind of shipping is use, and anything else the customer can expect. The “why” question is closely related to the “what” as the customer needs to know why they should purchase what it is you are offering, and can easily manifest itself as persuasive advertisement. Effective advertisement is a powerful tool in any sales environment.

“When” is a question less commonly asked, but may come in the form of when your office hours may be or how quickly services are given or products received. Providing this type of information clearly in various places of the website definitely adds additional clarity to a website.

The final question is possible one of the most important. That is the “how.” How do customers make a purchase? By providing a shopping cart button or application on every screen, especially the home page, you are quickly communicating which direction a customer should go in order to learn “how” to make a purchase. How customers actually follow through with a purchase is also very important. An online merchant account will allow customers to use credit cards and other electronic payment methods to make simple and easy transactions.

Trying to cover these basic questions of customer curiosity on a home page will make customers feel confident in the thorough organization of your company. The home page is the most viewed page on your website, so capturing attention and quickly answering questions on this page is very important.

About the Author: Jennifer Loganathan is the President and CEO of Stradafee Limited. Stradafee is an electronic payments company as well as an eCommerce and Internet merchant account provider. Merchant accounts make it possible for businesses to provide online credit card processing. For more information on credit card processing visit www.stradafee.com.

Online Business Challenges

Like any business, online commerce has its own obstacles. Though they may present themselves differently than a brick and mortar establishment, many of these challenges are rooted in the same fundamental issues of trust, communication, and convenience. Creating a profitable eCommerce business with a positive reputation depends on your ability to navigate these challenges and provide customers with the best online shopping experience available.

The first thing to realize as an online business owner is that the vast majority of visitors to your site will not trust what they see. Customers are unimpressed with stylish layouts and amazing graphics when it comes down actually spending money. Most people want to see legitimacy. This can be displayed in many ways. Start by including a physical address and phone number, along with several contact emails and company bios. These things can go a long way in establishing legitimacy, but don’t stop there. Partnering up with other valued websites and becoming a member of organizations such as the Better Business Bureau are other proven ways to build trust. Beyond that, you must be good at answering the phones and responding quickly to customer inquiries. Some customers will even call just to see how quickly you respond, looking for comfort in the fact that your business is active and on top of things.

Product presentation is the second most important obstacle to overcome in online business. Unlike in a real world store, customers cannot touch and feel the product under consideration, and for this reason, the level of product showcasing must be very high. Provide several image views, elaborate descriptions, customer reviews, as well as links for other information. Most successful ecommerce sites provide at least five pictures of each product. Descriptions should be unique to your business and as clear as possible. If you or your team is not comfortable writing attractive product descriptions, hiring a writer is well worth the expense.

The last major issue in online business is security. The security of your website determines a customer’s willingness to enter their personal payment information. Part of establishing trust in your security is in having an online merchant account. A credit card merchant account will allow you to accept card payments while keeping shoppers within your website. Moving from your site to a third party processor’s site can be quite unsettling for potential buyers and can also cause a host of other problems. Once a merchant account is in place, making sure your site has adequate encryption will also reassure your customers in the level of informational security employed by your business.

The challenges of online sales are easily overcome with the investment of some time and thought. Without tackling these obstacles, the probability of sales will be very low. Of course, it doesn’t stop there. There are an infinite number of improvements you should continue to make as your business grows and develops. These major obstacles are merely the roadblocks that have a tendency to shut businesses down before they even get started.

About the Author: Jennifer Loganathan is the President and CEO of Stradafee Limited. Stradafee is an electronic payments company as well as an eCommerce and Internet merchant account provider. Merchant accounts make it possible for businesses to provide online credit card processing. For more information on credit card processing visit www.stradafee.com.

Why Choose an Offshore Merchant Account?

The addition of an offshore merchant account for anyone that does business online can be very advantageous. Though many retailers and merchants over look this option, it is increasingly important financial tool that offers many benefits that a domestic account will not, and at no added inconvenience.

The primary reason for moving to an offshore merchant account is to protect the assets while maintaining a lower legal tax reduction. By opening a merchant account that is in a district with lower taxes, you can actually reduce taxes in a completely legal and legitimate way. In previous history, part of the problem with setting up offshore accounts was the low level of banking infrastructure in terms of technology and security. Today, there are many countries outside of the United States with equal or higher infrastructure standards, which also host a more private and tax friendly marketplace. Offshore accounts are great ways to legal cut down on business tax obligations while still enjoying the convenience and security of a domestic account.

The application process can actually less difficult than securing a domestic merchant account. Some countries are far more helpful to the entrepreneurial spirit and believe in promoting new business even more than the United States. If cash flow is a problem, there are also many offshore merchant account providers that require little or no start up deposit. Furthermore, once established, your offshore account can actually improve your international presence. By accepting credit cards that are only offered in other countries or accepting funds in a variety of different currencies, you can make it easier for international patrons to make simple purchases. The more convenient an online shopping experience can be, the more profitable it will be.

If your business operates in a taboo or questionably obscene realm and is considered so by the United States government, it can be quite difficult to get a merchant account. Though some merchant provides will make the excuse that chargebacks are a big problem in such industries, the real reason has nothing to do with dollars and cents. The potential profits in the adult or alternative industries far outweigh the small amount of chargeback problems.

Offshore accounts are every bit as flexible as a domestic merchant account will be. You can find accounts for shopping cart integration, recurring payments, and even download sales solutions. You may experience larger hold amounts because of distance and time, and depending on your situation, it may well be worth the wait. If you do in fact choose to open an offshore account, be certain you are applying with a legitimate provider. Do your research to protect your assets and move forward with the benefits of offshore merchant accounts.

About the Author: Jennifer Loganathan is the President and CEO of Stradafee Limited. Stradafee is an electronic payments company as well as an eCommerce and offshore merchant account provider. Merchant accounts make it possible for businesses to use credit card merchant account processing. For more information on credit card processing visit www.stradafee.com.

Dropped Shopping Carts

Walking through the grocery store you might notice the occasional shopping cart piled high with groceries and abandoned in the middle of the store. Though this is an infrequent occurrence in physical shopping environments, you have to wonder why they jumped ship and abandoned their shopping cart. In the world of eCommerce, dropped shopping carts are far more common. Shoppers can save themselves the embarrassment of leaving a large physical cart and actually wash their hands of their shopping experience with one fast click of the button, and just like that you have lost a sale. Though it is somewhat difficult to determine the cause in some situations, statistical analysis has provided ways to decrease the amount of dropped or abandoned shopping carts by improving upon the actual checkout process.

The most common place for shoppers to drop their cart occurs upon entering the checkout process. Some of this may be do to consideration of the cost, but there are also other reasons that might discourage shoppers from continuing. A lengthy check out process is one of those reasons. Customers do not want waste time filling out laborious and unnecessary forms. The process must be short and easy to understand. An extremely helpful strategy is to continue updating the customer on how many steps remain in the process, which should also be a very small number. More than three steps is unnecessary, and fewer steps is more effective.

Determining necessary text fields for your checkout center will also improve the usability and simplicity of completing purchases. How much do you really need to know, and how much are you simply asking because you can? You must respect your customer’s privacy in order to keep an outstanding reputation of simple and secure transactions. Also, bombarding a customer’s email box with advertisements is actually not the best way to see them return for another purchase. Many shoppers are extremely turned off by spam-like campaigns. Do you really need such information as their middle name, occupation, and three different telephone numbers? Yes, this might provide interesting information, but is it interesting enough to warrant possibly losing a sale?

Security is another major issue when utilizing a merchant account to receive credit card payments. Customers must feel assured that their personal information is protected. This might be accomplished through SSL encryption or other verified protection, but it must be clear to the customer that such protection exists. This may consist of a particular seal or icon in the browser line that displays the level of security your website provides.

One more step for improving your check out clarity is to provide action-based buttons that guide customers to the end of the process. These buttons may direct the customer to “continue to checkout” or “finalize purchase” and they should be clearly visible. By spending some time to make the check out portion of your website more customer friendly, you are sure to decrease the number of dropped shopping carts, and that means more sales over all. It is well worth examination.

About the Author: Jennifer Loganathan is the President and CEO of Stradafee Limited. Stradafee is an electronic payments company as well as an eCommerce and Internet merchant account provider. Merchant accounts make it possible for businesses to provide online credit card processing. For more information on credit card processing visit www.stradafee.com.

Ecommerce: Avoiding Credit Card Chargebacks

With all of the preparation, problem solving, and management involved in having an eCommerce store, there is one precaution that is grossly overlooked which has the potential of creating huge problems. Credit card chargebacks were created to protect cardholders from unauthorized transactions, and they make it possible for customers to refuse payment for goods or services based on the claim that the services were not received or goods were never delivered. Credit card institutions may also approve chargebacks based on damaged items and items that are not what they were claimed to be, even if the items were never returned to the vendor. As a result, a few customers regularly abuse the system in hopes of receiving products for free. Naturally, this greatly impacts those in the business of online sales by suddenly removing funds that are already collected, thus these entities must take care to utilize certain protocol to prevent as many chargebacks as possible.

It is extremely important for an eCommerce website to exercise extreme clarity in regards to shipping information, products, and checkout. It is imperative that the customer is aware of how the charge will appear on their card statement. Some customers mistakenly submit a fraudulent charge claim because they did not recognize the charge. Another way to prevent such confusion is to send automatic follow-up emails reminding customers that their card will be charged. These emails are also an appropriate time to reiterate to the customer that they are welcome to call you with any questions concerning this order. The business telephone number should appear clearly on the website as well as on the actual credit card charge. This allows customers to easily call to verify the charge without having to research what the charge might have been.

Pre-ordered items should not be charged to credit cards in advance. The time in which it takes to receive the item in stock may give the customer time to change their mind or simply claim a false charge on the grounds that no items were shipped. Instead, wait until the item is in stock and ready to be shipped before charging a customer’s credit card.

Getting rid of mistaken charges quickly is also a valuable policy for eCommerce. Not only does this avoid confusion and assure the customer that you will not be keeping the money, but it will also build your reputation as a professional and organized establishment. If a mistaken charge is not quickly voided, the customer is likely to take matters into their own hands by simply requesting a chargeback. If a customer reports a mistaken charge, you must never put off responding. It is imperative that you send an immediate response at least to let the customer know you are looking into the matter and will correct it as soon as possible.

The basic idea of preventing chargebacks is to have professional quality control and customer service policies that deal with the problem before a customer has time to consider disputing the charge with their credit card institution. It is much better to deal with these issues with customers directly, both for your future business and for your credit and legal integrity.

About the Author: Jennifer Loganathan is the President and CEO of Stradafee Limited. Stradafee is an electronic payments company as well as an eCommerce and Internet merchant account provider. Merchant accounts make it possible for businesses to provide online credit card processing. For more information on credit card processing visit www.stradafee.com.

Safe and Secure Online Payments

Approximately 85% of online shoppers are concerned with their security, as well they should be. Credit card fraud and identity theft is at an all time high following the explosion credit card transactions made through the Internet. This is why it is extremely important for online retailers and businesses to gain the trust of customers, helping them to believe in the security of your eCommerce system. According to recent research by TNS, 65% of purchases are lost when the customer reaches the check-out area. This is largely due to doubt in the security of the credit card form, which can be avoided by making sure your website displays proper security measures.

Many eCommerce savvy shoppers have learned to look for certain signs of security before entering their credit card information. Some of the most typical security signs are “https” and the padlock graphic found in the URL of the website. The padlock graphic is a VeriSign Secured Seal, one of many companies providing secure transaction online. Almost four out of five Americans recognize the VeriSign Secured Seal, making it an extremely effective security mark. Newer browsers make it possible for authenticated certificates to be detected, displaying the address bar in green. However, most people do not have this feature to help them along and are looking for other signs.

Most reputable companies providing online transaction security utilize SSL technology. SSL, or Secure Sockets Layer, is a military grade encryption that protects customer credit card information as it is transferred on the Internet. This type of information encryption authenticates identity information in association with the credit card data by an authority, verifying the identity of the owner of that certificate. Thought SSL is not a required element for shopping cart security, it certainly shows your commitment to the level of security customers will experience.

The use of these online security measures not only provides protection, it also helps to demonstrate the authenticity of your business. Some customers may still be wary to enter their credit card information online, but the demonstration of such security measure may help them in deciding to make a transaction over the phone, or perhaps contact you for further information. Online retailers see an increase in sales on an average of ten percent after installing some form of security system on the payment pages of their website. This should be a sign to retailers that customers are really looking for ways to make sure their credit card information is safe. Earn the trust of online shoppers by providing the professional security people want.

About the Author: Jennifer Loganathan is the President and CEO of Stradafee Limited. Stradafee is an electronic payments company as well as an eCommerce and High Risk merchant account provider. Merchant accounts make it possible for businesses to use credit card merchant account processing. For more information on credit card processing visit www.stradafee.com.