Advantages and disadvantages of accepting payment cards for sales

Many businesses accept payment by card for their goods and services, which undoubtedly offer some distinct advantages. However, there are potential drawbacks that should be considered.

Advantages of accepting payment cards for sales

• Responding to customer preferences - people expect to be able to pay by card.
• Encouraging impulse purchases - the customer doesn't need to have cash with them.
• Avoiding lost sales opportunities - if a customer leaves to get cash they may not return.
• Reaching a wider customer base - you can accept payment by phone, mail and online from customers who can't reach your premises.
• Cashflow improvements - card payments usually clear more quickly than cheques, although this depends on your merchant agreement. Funds can take up to four working days to reach a business' bank account for face-to-face sales - this may be different for online sales.
• Improved security - you hold less cash on your premises.
• Easing your admin - a regular statement of card transactions is easier to reconcile than numerous cash transactions.
• Cards can be used internationally and currency conversions are handled automatically - offering an important payment method for tourist-sector businesses or those selling to consumers overseas.
• With card payments, the customer's card is checked to see if it is valid and that it hasn't been reported lost or stolen. In addition, in a majority of cases, the customer's account is checked to ensure the funds are available.

Disadvantages of accepting payment cards for sales

• There are costs involved - though these aren't usually prohibitive. See the costs of accepting card payments.
• Accepting cards can increase your exposure to fraud - see your liability for disputed card payments.
• To accept and process certain major charge cards - including American Express and Diners Club - you must reach a separate agreement with the charge card company.
• You will need to train staff - in the technical and administrative issues of processing a card payment, as well as in fraud prevention measures.

Take into account the expectations of your business sector. If you run a service-sector business or shop selling higher-price goods, life will be difficult if you don't accept cards.

Pros and Cons of Merchant Services

Like every other service, merchant services too have their own advantages and disadvantages. As a result, before opting for a merchant service, it is advisable to take all aspects of this service into consideration as it will help you better in deciding whether the merchant service will definitely prove beneficial for your business or not. Business owners should carefully understand that some of the brilliant merchant services are truly beneficial for some businesses but not true for others. To know more about the pros and cons of merchant services you can log on to www.merchantaccounts.co. However, about a few of the advantages and disadvantages related to merchant services are given below;

Advantages of merchant services:

Merchant services provide lots of advantages especially to those websites making money through e-commerce.  Merchant services offer an ideal way for accepting credit cards online devoid of any fear of shutting down the websites. Though there are some possibilities that your account might get hacked while using merchant account services, this problem can be eliminated by means of quality software.

As their services are quite beneficial in the enhancement of your business’ potential, merchant account offers you much scope and flexibility in terms of accessing online orders. Merchant services proffer you great help especially when you are having problem in your credit card processing due to your domestic banks. Credit card processing is quite essential to all businesses and if at this moment, credit card processing is not the top priority on the list of things in your business, it will suffer extremely in terms of potential.  In addition, merchant services also provide you top-notch multi-currency processing. This means that there are various means by which you can accept your orders with the help of merchant services through credit cards.

Disadvantages of merchant services:

The greatest disadvantage that merchant services pose is that they are extremely risky in nature because they are prone more to scams and frauds. In a business, it is really difficult to evaluate as to which transactions is fraud and which are authentic. In online businesses, it has been found that number of hackers spends a little time on the Internet to carry out their trade for their own benefit from this type of business. With the frequency of hackers and frauds, the cost linked to offshore merchant accounts can prove quite costly to your business. Although there is a possibility of your account getting hacked, there are ways to combat this risk with the help of protective software, thereby restricting the risk of hacking and fraud.

To get detailed information on advantages and disadvantages of merchant services and how they prove beneficial in the growth of a business, visit www.merchantaccounts.co.

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