What to Consider When Accepting Card Payments for Your Business

Almost all retail stores and establishments accept payments on debit and credit card nowadays.

If you want to keep up with the changing times, you’ll have to start accepting card payments as it will also help you capture customers who are mainly card users.

Here are some things you might want to consider when accepting card payments for your business.

1. Consider which platforms you’ll allow card payments

For card payments, whether debit or credit, you are able to accept it online and offline. In order to do this, there are two things that you’ll need and want to consider: a payment gateway and a merchant account service.

Merchant accounts are bank accounts used to receive payments from your customer’s credit and debit cards. Funds will be taken from the account of the client and transferred to the merchant account.

On the other hand, for online payments, a payment gateway is required as a portal between the client’s bank account and your merchant account.

Every time an online transaction happens, payments online will need a platform called payment gateway for the transaction to push through.

2. Consider the medium you’ll use to accept card payments

The medium you’ll be using to accept card payments depends on how your business functions. There are different components to accepting online, in-store, and mobile payments, and here’s a summary.

For online payments:

Merchant account for the business
Payment gateway
Online platform connecting the merchant provider and payment gateway

For in-store payments:

Point-of-sale (POS) system – This is a terminal that provides a barcode scanner, cash register, and swiper for the credit or debit card
Credit card terminal – This terminal will be used to swipe the card and also provide contactless card readers.

For mobile payments:

Tablet or mobile phone to be used as the card reader
Merchant account for the business

3. Be prepared to protect yourself from fraud

When you start accepting credit or debit card payments, you start exposing yourself to a few security and fraud risks. With many opportunities to capture new clients, it also comes with its own risks.

The good news is that the benefits that a card can give your business will outweigh the disadvantages it might potentially cause. In addition to that, there are several mitigants that will prevent fraud from happening.

To protect your business from fraud, credit cards have security measures installed in the cards. The measures in place include the following:

Mastercard SecureCode
Verified by Visa
SafeKey
Card Verification Code (CVC)

With these in place, it will be harder for other people to attempt fraud on credit cards.

4. Enhancement of customer experience

By accepting credit card payments, you will have to consider the experience that your customer will get and how the customer will perceive your business.

With bank logos in front of your store stating acceptance of credit cards, you’ll be able to build a sense of legitimacy and reliability as a business. This will encourage more customers to buy from you, especially those who were once skeptical about your business.

Moreover, it will make the life of your customers way more convenient. If you accept card payments, you can make purchasing quicker, simpler, and easier. It will also make your customers want to go back to your store because of the ease of payment.

5. Consider your financial reporting and minimization of pilferage

When it comes to card payments, all transactions are streamlined and recorded in one database. This will already simplify your records and allow you to see everything in one snapshot.

You don’t need to record everything manually and input the transactions one by one. The bank can already make a report indicating your transactions for the month.

In addition to that, you will also be able to minimize security risks. With your employees handling less cash, it will also minimize the risk of pilferage.

Moreover, you will also be able to keep smaller amounts of cash in your cash register, which minimizes the risks of stolen money. This will also minimize chances that your employees might give the wrong change since credit card payments are paid up to the last decimal.

Conclusion

Credit and debit cards as a primary mode of payment are increasingly becoming more acceptable not only in one first world countries but in the entire world.

By not accepting credit or debit card payments, you are limiting the reach of your business venture. Re-evaluate your choices and start to consider accepting card payments in order to move your business forward.

Let's Reach Success