Common Payment Processing Mistakes

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Online payment processing is a must in today’s business world. It means your business can accept credit card payments without a hassle, but it’s not always as simple as you might imagine. In fact, many companies make some critical mistakes when it comes to payment processing, and those mistakes can be costly in today’s business world. Understanding exactly what those mistakes might be is key to helping prevent issues in your company. Take a look at a few mistakes you might be making right now.

Five Key Mistakes

Mistake #1 – Poor Examination of Available Options

The differences between payment processing solutions is vast and knowing exactly what you need at the outset is a good way to avoid any potential mistakes. There are multiple payment processing solutions available today and comparing each one on level ground is a must. While many businesses simply examine the overall cost involved, the reality is that if you look closer at the services and benefits each offers, you’re going to find far more to that bottom line cost than you might imagine, and if you get stuck in a contract with one that doesn’t work for your business, you’re going to create more problems for your company in the future.

Mistake #2 – Lacking A Signed Contract In Place Before Auto Billing

Many companies offer services or products on an auto billing plan. It’s a great way to offer your customers a convenient service they don’t have to renew and keep customers with your brand for longer than you ever thought possible. However, often auto billing can create a headache, particularly if you don’t have your customers sign a contract at the outset. Create a straightforward terms of service agreement before that first bill arrives. If you don’t, you may experience a chargeback that you can’t reverse, which may mean you have trouble working with your payment processor in the future.

Mistake #3 – Failure to Watch for Hidden Fees

The last thing your business needs is additional fees, and in the world of payment processing, they can add up quickly. More often than not, you find hidden fees with payment processors who offer lower rates than you’ve ever seen, but it happens with others too. Cancellations, withdrawals, and batch processing all often trigger additional fees. The volume of business, though, may also impact your fees.

More than that, though, how you process a customer’s credit card can affect your fees. Lower fees are available for swiped transactions, something you may not have realized when you initially signed up for that service. Knowing exactly what you might pay with each payment processor you consider can help you avoid any surprises at the end of the month when you’re working on your books.

Mistake #4 – Avoiding the Right Fraud Solution

In 2018 alone, private companies experienced a fraud rate of nearly 28%, according to 2018 ACFE’s Report To The Nations. If your company is in that 28%, finding the right solution to fraud is an absolute must, and often that begins at the point of online payment processing. Take the time to implement a robust fraud reduction program. Encrypt your data, and keep customer contact information up to date. Only give access to private financial information to those employees who truly need it and see if your payment processor can help offer you additional fraud protection that will keep your business (and your customers) safe.  

Mistake #5 – Settling for a Payment Processor That Doesn’t Work For You

Imagine you’re going out for dinner tonight. Would you settle for a restaurant you don’t like? The chances are good that you wouldn’t, so why would you select a payment processor for your company that doesn’t seem to be a good fit? Because there are so many choices available, settling because you simply want what’s easy now could cost you more down the road. Instead, choose a certified payment processing company that seems like it would work well for every transaction you’ll have this year.

To learn more about common mistakes businesses make when it comes to payment processing, reach out to us today. We can help you decide if we’re the right choice to meet your needs. Call us at 888-693-1850.

What is a Payment Processor?

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A payment processor is a company that handles transactions for a merchant. Obviously, the merchant themselves can handle cash transactions. The payment processor handles payments involving credit cards, debit cards, and more recently, cryptocurrencies. Are there differences between payment processing solutions?

We’ll examine these. The best payment processors provide more than just the basic service. They can help you implement payment processing solutions, solve problems that arise, provide solutions to better handle chargebacks, as well as produce reporting that helps you analyze how your customers spend their money.

ETA Certified Payment Processing

Certified payment processing exists to act as a trusted and accountable mediator between your business and various financial institutions. The payment processing industry holds certain standards and requirements that enable financial institutions to feel comfortable entrusting many businesses with more extensive payment processing solutions.

Certified payment processing means that a processing company has been certified by the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA). This ensures you that a payment processor meets and maintains certain standards that are important to client businesses.  And, yes, Y2Payments is a long-time member of ETA.

High Risk Payment Processing

There are differences between payment processing solutions. To start with, many businesses are classified as high risk. Not all payment processors will provide their services to high risk businesses. If they do, their terms won’t be very favorable because this type of client falls outside their specialty.

A payment processor that handles high risk clients will often be able to provide better terms in your payment processing rates. Not only this, they’ll also be able to provide you more complete service. The best payment processors will help you implement all your payment processing tools, give you training so that you know how to use them, will respond to inquiries, can explain things, and will produce valuable reporting you can use to analyze customer habits and needs.

Payment processing deals with technology is first and foremost, but it excels when personal communication allows for the kind of flexibility that businesses need to operate within high risk industries.

For more information on Y2Payments payment processing, contact us today.