Here are a few things to think about as you’re looking at the various payment providers out there:

What types of payments do you want to accept at your business?

Which payment types do your customers like to use? Primarily Visa ® and MasterCard ®? Do many of your customers want to pay with a Discover ® card? What about American Express ®? JCB ®? Would you lose business if you didn’t let customers pay by check? Do you want the convenience of electronic check processing? There are many options available:

• Visa and MasterCard are the standard credit card payment types. Most payment processors will include Visa and MasterCard as a standard.
• American Express, Discover, and JCB are other options.
• Electronic checking or echecks allow you to process checks electronically and have the funds automatically deposited in your merchant account. You may also consider whether you want to use a check scanner–sometimes these devices allow you to receive the funds faster.
• PIN debit allows customers to enter their PIN at the checkout and get cash back. If you run a retail store, this is a nice option.

Think about what payment types you want to accept for your business, whether you want the convenience of e-checks, and how quickly you want the funds deposited, and keep that in mind when you’re comparing payment providers.

How do you want to process your payments?

Will you be processing payments face to face, by mail or telephone, or online? Which of these payment processing methods do you want:

• Credit card terminal–dial-up, internet, and wireless are the three main types of terminals. Consider where and when you’ll be processing so you can decide which is best for your business. Which terminals does your payment solutions provider offer? Will they suit your needs–and fit your budget? See How to choose a terminal to help you decide which terminal will best suit your needs.
• Online terminal–virtual terminals allow you to use your computer like a credit card terminal. User friendliness and features vary, so ask for a demo or trial so you can see whether the solution will work for you.
• Online store–Is selling on eBay good enough for you, or do you need your own online store? If you want your own eCommerce store, look for a payment gateway with the features you need for your type of business.
• Custom integration

Do you need a payment gateway?

If you’re serious about running an online store, you probably want to look into using a payment gateway. We’re partial to the Intellivative Payments API, but First Data (previously LinkPoint), Cybersource, Verisign, and Authorize.net are some other gateway options.

Does the gateway work with your shopping cart?

If you’re running an eCommerce store, you probably have selected a shopping cart. (If you haven’t chosen one yet, see how to choose a shopping cart). Any good payment gateway will be flexible and should support most carts, but you should double check before signing up to make sure the cart you want is compatible with your choice of gateway.

Do you need your payments to integrate with other business systems?

If so, compare the payment solutions you’re looking at. Are they flexible enough to allow you to integrate your systems? What type of expertise is required to do that? Do you have the expertise you need? Does the payment solution support the programming language your developers use? Are there simpler solutions available? Get your technical people involved in helping with this piece of the comparison.

Do you need recurring payments or payment plans?

Good for big ticket items, subscriptions and membership-based services, recurring payments can be used for ongoing payments, or to break up one large payment into a payment plan. Is this type of service valuable to your business? Then look for a payments provider that offers recurring payments.

What do they do to ensure security?

Are they Level 1 PCI compliant? What measures do they do to keep sensitive data safe? Do they encrypt credit card numbers? How do they protect passwords? If you have a security expert at your disposal, ask them to assess the security measures of each payment provider you’re considering.

Do they have a disaster recovery plan?

Where is their data center located? What happens if their data center goes down, for some reason? Do they have a plan in place to keep their payment processing system available at all times, even in the event of a natural disaster like an earthquake, hurricane, or tornado?

What kinds of payment reporting do you need?

Is a printed batch report enough? Do you want a transactions report that you can download and import into your accounting software? Do you want a dashboard that helps you keep a finger on the pulse of your business? What types of reporting do they offer–have them show you a demo or give samples so you can see what you’ll be getting.

How much are they charging?

Is the pricing competitive? Be wary if the cost is too low, or too high. Look for hidden fees–and ask what happens if your transactions downgrade? How much will you be paying when transactions downgrade–and how often will that happen? Your salesperson should be willing to step you through that and help you figure out what your monthly merchant fees might realistically be, given the way you plan to process your payments and your monthly transaction volume.

How does ApprovedPayments compare?

ApprovedPayments offers Intellivative payment solutions for their:

Fill out our no-cost, no-obligation application and see how ApprovedPayments compares!

Here are a few facts about merchant accounts and credit card spending:

• Americans spent over $2.5 trillion with credit cards every single month of 2008 (according to the US Federal Reserve). It may go down a little in a recession, but credit and debit cards are and will continue to be a heavily used form of payment.
• Even in these troubled times when many consumers are turning to cash, there are many, many debit cards that can be used like credit cards, so they can pull money directly from their bank account. With a merchant account, you can accept debit cards and even prepaid cards as long as they have a Visa ® or MasterCard ® logo on them.
• Credit cards and debit cards are convenient. They are easy to carry and quicker to use in the checkout lane or on an eCommerce web site.
• Consumers tend to spend more when using a credit card than when using cash. There is no imposed spending limit like there is with cash, so it’s easier to keep spending.
• Accepting credit cards help customers make faster buying decisions. Impulse buys are more likely with credit cards than with cash or checks.
• Because funds are deposited directly into your merchant account, accepting credit cards as a form of payment saves you both time and money.

Get started processing credit card, debit card, and eCheck payments–apply now for a free, no-obligation quote.