Hello

I last left off after briefly explaining fees associated with merchant accounts and accepting credit cards on your website. I gave a brief explanation so please make sure that you ask as many questions as you can so that you don’t have any unexpected charges after locking into a contract with a credit card processor.

In this post I’m going to explain the most popular payment provider out there, Pay Pal, and the pros & cons of accepting credit cards via Pay Pal. For those who aren’t familiar with PayPal.com, PayPal lets you send or receive money from anyone with an email address. They are sort of the middleman to ensure secure transactions for both the buyer and the seller. PayPal makes their money by charging a minimal fee on completed transactions. The fee is generally paid by the seller.

I’m sure you’ve heard and probably used them but Pay Pal is probably the most trusted provider of merchant services on the internet. Most shopping carts out there are integrated with Pay Pal because of the popularity of the payment processor. They offer a few different options but if you don’t have any intention of setting up a true credit card processor right now they are without a doubt the way to go.

Be sure to sign up for their Business or Premier plan because this will allow you to accept credit cards without your customer having to have a Pay Pal account.

PROS:

• No Setup Fees – It’s free to send money, and PayPal is affordable for businesses of all sizes.
• No Monthly Fees – You pay only when you sell items.
• It’s Private – PayPal does not reveal your financial information to sellers.
• It’s Fast – Payments are made immediately and you generally can withdraw the funds immediately. Visit PayPal.com for withdrawal options.
• Trusted Name – Industry-leading fraud prevention keeps you safe and secure. (Assists with conversions)

CONS:

• Processing Fees – A Bit Higher Than A True Merchant Provider. (Visit PayPal.com For Exact Fees)
• Professional Image – Since all you really need is an email address to setup a PayPal account some people would prefer to go through a merchant that has had to be approved to accept credit cards via a true application process.
• Chargebacks – If someone disputes a charge with PayPal it’s very difficult to get them to side with you and will often times refund the customer plus a $10 processing fee on top of it. I know this first hand and I went well out of my way to prove that my customer received their order.
• Support – Although it’s gotten much better, it’s been difficult to receive a timely response. As I mentioned though, it’s gotten much better.

Here are some other basics related to Pay Pal. They offer some great ways to get your money fast, going so far as offering a Pay Pal debit card so that you can start using your funds the same day. You will need to go through some verification steps to be an ‘verified’ PayPal merchant which is a must because it proves to your customers that you’ve gone through the steps to prove you are who you say you are. This is going to help when it comes to conversions.

Also, if you plan on selling on eBay you’ll definitely want to accept Pay Pal because they won’t accept any other payment providers such as Google Checkout. Pretty much anyone that uses eBay will use Pay Pal as their payment method. This is obviously my opinion but it’s an opinion drawn from experience.

In closing, even if you accept credit cards through a true merchant provider you’ll want to also give the option of Pay Pal. Many people don’t have a credit card and this gives them a reason & the capability of still purchasing through your website.

I hope this helps.

Best regards,
David Lalumendre
www.WebsiteToad.com

Hello

It’s been awhile but I’m back with some more great information on how to build a website and accept credit cards online. This is by far one of the most confusing parts of operating a website that has a secure ecommerce shopping cart. Let’s get into the fees that generally are associated with merchant accounts and in the next post I’ll break down the options for merchant accounts based on fees & ease of use.

There are 3 primary fees associated with a merchant account.
1. Initial Setup Fees
2. Monthly Fees
3. Transaction Fees

Here is a breakdown a brief explanation of the fees. By the way, if you think reading a cell phone bill is difficult wait until you receive your monthly merchant statements. Your cell phone bill will look like a Dr. Seuss book.

INITIAL SETUP FEES – You’ll generally run into two fees but these days the market is so competitive that many merchant providers have reduce if not eliminated their setup fees. The application fee is the fee that the merchant provider charges to setup your account. This can vary anywhere from $0 to a few hundred dollars. You will also find a Gateway Fee, the payment gateway provides an interface between your website and your merchant provider.

Think of it as your credit card terminal, you won’t be able to swipe a credit card so the Gateway is the connection to your merchant provider. I personally use Authorize.net as my payment gateway and have never had a complaint. By the way, you generally won’t find a company that waves this fee, if anything they will just add it into their application fee. Lastly, most initial setup fees are non-refundable.

MONTHLY FEES – You’ll generally run into 2 main monthly fees but don’t hesitate to ask about any additional monthly fees that a merchant provider or payment gateway may charge. Your monthly payment gateway fee will vary, I pay $25 for each of my Authorize.net accounts. This fee is for the use of the payment gateway’s processing services and will include items such as transaction reports & many other miscellaneous charges.

The monthly statement fee is a fixed monthly fee that pretty much all merchant account providers charge. This fee is really a fee that merchant providers provide each month that really breaks down your traffic for the month in regards to charges, credits, charge backs. You’ll find that even though your merchant provider claims a certain percentage of each sale, what they don’t tell you is that these rates vary. For example, someone uses a card that offers them reward points, you’re going to pay a higher percentage on those charges. The bottom line is there is not a way to avoid the monthly statement fees so just make sure that before you sign anything make sure that you ask as many questions about any fees that vary.

TRANSACTION FEES – These are another set of fees that you won’t get away from because this is how the merchant providers make their money. Like I mentioned above, make sure that you get a full report on varying transaction fees, fees for declined transactions & even charge backs. By the way, a charge back is when a customer disputes a charge with their credit card company. Your merchant provider will charge you a fee in addition to refunding the customer. In regards to the transaction fees you’ll run into two different fees of which I’ve broken down below.

Discount Rate – This is charged as a percentage of each transaction. This is the fee charged by the credit card company and your merchant provider adds a certain percentage to this number to pay their bills. These rates vary so much it’s difficult to say what a good rate is, if I say 2.29% someone is going to say that they can do better but they don’t tell you about the hidden fees that you don’t see until your first monthly statement arrives. When you’re just starting out you may find that your provider has a monthly minimum fee of $25. You may also find that as you do more business with a provider that you can earn better discount rates.

Per Transaction Fee – This is a fee that you pay per transaction on top of the discount rate. Let’s say your ‘per transaction’ fee is $0.30, if you have 100 sales/transactions in a month your monthly transaction fee will be $30. Again, this is on top of all other fees including the discount rate.

Well that’s it for now, hopefully this clears things up a bit and gives you an idea of the sort of questions to ask your merchant provider. We offer some great merchant account options so please take the time to look them over and give tech support a call at 1-480-624-2500 with any questions.

In my next post I’m going to list some great options for merchant accounts that can help you cut down on some of the costs associated with a full service merchant account.

Best regards,
David Lalumendre
www.WebsiteToad.com

Historically, logos have been more a luxury than a necessity. Businesses attracted customers because they were the only game in town, so to speak. No longer. Today’s highly competitive industries, global markets and visually oriented consumers have catapulted the logo to prominence. Now your logo is one of the most critical components of your brand. So how can something so little make such a big difference?

Your branding efforts are dictated by your logo

Your logo appears on all of your sales tools, from your business cards to your website. As a result, your logo design influences the design of all your sales tools, for better or worse. A professional-looking logo can be leveraged to create professional-looking materials. A poorly designed logo cannot. In other words, you need a “brandable” logo one that you can make use of when designing other materials to brand your company.

“Brandable” logos are scalable, memorable and meaningful. If people can’t remember what your logo looks like, they won’t remember your brand. Think of the logos of some popular brands today. Perhaps M-shaped arches, a shell, and a swoosh come to mind. All are simple concepts, effectively employed by McDonalds, Shell and Nike. If you can’t look at a logo for less than 10 seconds and re-draw it with decent accuracy, it’s probably too complex to be easily remembered. (Besides being difficult to remember, most complex logos cannot be effectively reduced in size or rendered in black and white, as required for materials like fax cover sheets and other business forms.)

Your logo is the essence of your brand

Perhaps you’ve heard the writer’s lament that “nobody reads anymore.” In today’s markets, not only do you face ever-increasing competition, you also face an audience accustomed to visually stimulating media, convenience and instant gratification. Sure, a few people may read all of your ad, more may read some of it but everyone will SEE it. The overwhelming amount of choices faced by time-crunched consumers forces them to identify shortcuts. Your logo is such a shortcut: it instantly conveys your brand message and emotional appeal.

Logos are essential to the familiarity of your business

Your logo is your brand’s most basic graphic element. It ties together all of your sales materials – in fact, your logo may be the only visual element that your materials have in common. The right logo helps solidify customer loyalty while differentiating you from the competition.

Logo help potential customers judge your business

Think of small newspaper or Yellow Pages ads. Often all that fits is your contact information and logo. If your logo projects the right image, it may be the sole reason someone decides to try your company. Conversely, if it looks unprofessional or unclear, it alone may be the reason they choose your competition.

Finally, your logo affords a unique opportunity for you to look like a bigger (i.e., more established) business than you are. With the right logo, you can look like a large conglomerate even if you have only one employee. People will associate the positive attributes of big companies like security and financial stability with your company.

Building a solid brand identity is pivotal to success in business today. Lay the right foundation with a professional, brandable logo.

Best regards,
David Lalumendre
CEO – www.WebsiteToad.com