Are you looking for an e-commerce merchant services provider for your business but you don’t know how to pick the best one? If yes, then you have come to the right place. Just read on to find out more!
When you are trying to find an online ecommerce merchant services provider, chances are that you might get overloaded quickly with information, visions of new opportunities or big changes, promises from salespeople, and advertisements. We are not aware of your wish list but we can try to nail it down with a practical view of what you actually want:
- You want convenient and easy access to customer services without hassles whenever you need it
- You want a reliable partner to get all your credit card payments processed correctly, quickly, and affordably
- You want to fully understand your statements and your contract. You want to know that you are being treated fairly and honestly
- You want great rates which make sense for your restaurant or business
- You want the truth
So, how can you possibly tell that you will get all these things when you are assessing your prospective credit card payment processing provider? That is the one million dollar question! As the best ecommerce services provider, we are happy to help you find that out.
What to look for in an e-commerce merchant services provider
Before we get to what you are supposed to look for, you should take note of the following:
Be wary of the rates that seem too good because they are probably not true. Maybe the salesperson is telling you that you will be offered an introductory rate but they might actually be quoting a rate that applies only to debit card transactions. Be sure to dig deep and get the details.
While low rates are important, you should also keep in mind that the relationship between you and your merchant services provider is way more important even than money. Find out what their customer service is like.
Now let’s get down to what you should be looking for. You definitely want to choose your merchant services and credit card processing provider based on some specific criteria.
While there are a lot of criteria to use in choosing the best online ecommerce merchant services, we suggest the following to be by far the most important. Check them out!
- Ensure that your potential ecommerce merchant services provider will not require you to accept or take more than more than you need. There are merchants who are only on-line but have been required by their processors to take ownership of a physical terminal. In case this happens to you too, you will need to another yearly PCI Self-Assessment Questionnaire besides the one that is compulsory for your payment gateway for a closet-living terminal. You definitely don’t have time for that. Do you?
- Yes, low rates are very important but you should be very keen because they are not everything. Ensure that the rate you are quoted is not just a bait to lure you into signing the contract. Be sure to ask details regarding what rate applies to the greater part of your transaction types (card-not-present, card-present) and also whether the rates they are quoting to you apply to both reward cards and pin debit transactions. Besides, you should also be absolutely sure that you are not being quoted what service providers call “introductory offer” which expires after a specified period.
- Does the Restaurant Merchant Services provider offer all of the services that you need? If you are running a small company, you should ensure that the merchant processor offers all the Small Business Merchant Services that you need to operate smoothly. If you are brick and mortar and maybe you are also in need of a virtual terminal, and you also have an online store, then you should dig deep to ensure that your potential processor handles all of these needs. And do you also want to be able to receive or accept checks with confidence? All these services should be available.
- Be sure that you understand fully what access you will have especially to customer service people in case you need them. Is customer service round-the-clock operational? Will you need to go through a computer-answered phone line (an automated attendant) followed by a very long hold time? Are members of the customer service team based where your business is, 100% of the time?
These are the questions that you should ask at the very least when trying to find the best Small Business Merchant Services provider before you sign anything.
