Through online commerce small companies are able to expand their territories, attract new customers and gain exposure. At the same time, selling your products via the web can also attract negative elements. Whether you complete thousands of online sales or only a few dozen, keeping your customers’ credit card information safe is extremely important. If one of your new or existing customers experiences a security breach you run the risk of losing them forever. Although you are responsible for safeguarding credit card transactions, you will not be able to do your job if you do not work with a responsible credit card processor.
Your company may have a Costco merchant account because you assume that they offer the lowest merchant fees. If your business happens to be one of the fortunate few that actually qualify for the advertised merchant fees then you will not need to compare different credit card processors. If you take a close look at your merchant account billing statement you might just find quite a few transactions that are subject to exceptionally high merchant fees. This problem can quickly be remedied by contracting with a new merchant account processor that offers business customers heightened security features as well as low transactions fees.
Until you take the time to compare credit card processors your company will continue to be at risk. If you have found online commerce to be beneficial for the growth of your company then you need to find a credit card processor that provides adequate Internet safety. Through your merchant account you can view orders as they come in, which will enable your staff to initiate, ship and complete orders more efficiently. Literally every part of your business can improve just by choosing the right credit card processor.
You can find out exactly how safe and secure your company’s online shopping cart and other payment processing options are by processing what are known as test orders. See how long it takes for your test payment to be processed, then read your transaction records to see how your credit card details have been submitted. If it is easy for you to see the credit card number, CVV code and expiration date, then there is a good chance that your credit card processor has not encrypted the data. Since you will only be provided with a singular opportunity to impress your new customers take the security steps needed to ensure that you get repeat business.
