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How Important are Merchant Services for your Small Business?

Dave Thomas

September 17, 2012

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As a small business owner, you have more than enough on your plate to keep you busy 24/7. Given that fact, where do merchant services rank on your list of important items to stay on top of?

With the ever-evolving technological world small business owners and consumers live in, how companies go about doing business always seems to be changing.

Some have suggested that the onset of mobile payment processing services might eventually make traditional merchant accounts go the way of other services that have essentially become a thing of the past. So, where do you see your small business going in this arena?

In order to be competitive in today's marketplace, small business owners need to have hardware in place to take customer payments by credit or debit cards. Not doing so can oftentimes mean losing customers who will take their shopping elsewhere in order to make shopping and purchasing easier.

For the small business owner either starting out or still requiring a viable merchant services plan for payment processing and e-commerce needs, turning to a merchant service firm can be beneficial.

With the right firm in place, the small business owner opens up more options for customers to do business with them, including:

* Streamlined payment checkout process;

* Doing away with the need to always have cash on hand;

* Making it easier to shop for products and services from the comfort of home;

* Ability to use electronic checks as another form of flexible payments.

In the event one of your concerns in providing credit and debit card usage with customers is online security, rest assure that security can easily be taken care of. Small business owners want to make sure that the merchant services firm they deal with is complying with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), meaning both your data and that of your customers is protected against credit card fraud.

In order for your small business to find the right merchant services firm, do your research, not settling for the first company you come across.

Along with finding a company that protects your information and that of your customers, you also want a firm that can provide quick and accurate account verification.  It is always good to check with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to make sure the firm you are considering has a good track record, along with being void of a history of customer complaints.

Lastly, make sure you take the time to research and understand a firm's features and services, including what their rates and fee schedules consist of. Know what and when you are paying for in order to avoid any nasty surprises.

With the right merchant services program in place, you can grow your small business, making it as competitive as the next guy.

Without the right merchant services program in place, you can't take credit for being a very good small business owner.

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