Online Payment Processing Tips That Can Save You Money
Online payment processing is quite literally where the money is. Follow these six tips to help you avoid any unnecessary (or costly) snafus.
1) Use an accurate descriptor.
Using an accurate descriptor can save you TONS of money and heartache. The descriptor is the little piece of text that tells a customer what the charge is for on their credit card statement. You want to make sure that your customer recognizes the descriptor or you will dramatically increase your chargeback rates and customer service issues. Example: If I am selling a product titled Massive Money and my website is www.massivemoney.com, but my descriptor reads “Jon’s Company LLC 405-806-5555,” people are going to call their banks to dispute their charge as well as call the number you have listed in the descriptor because they do not remember buying “Jon’s Company LLC” as they never saw that anywhere during the sales process. You must make sure that your customers recognize the charge and I also recommend using a toll-free number rather than a local number. The flip side of that is that international callers cannot call toll-free numbers. If you sell volume internationally then you might want to consider a local number that works internationally with a country code.
2) Start slow and communicate!
If you are just starting out with a new merchant account there are most certainly limits as to the amount of volume you can do. Talk to your merchant account provider and review the terms of your account and its limits. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to set up an account and try to process large dollar amounts right off the bat. They can put a hold on your money (sometimes for up to a year or more) and it can bankrupt you before you even get started.
3) Understand how long it takes for money to reach your account after the time of sale.
Typically it takes about 10-14 days from the post date for the money to actually reach your account.
4) Understand refunds.
If you issue a refund, you should understand how long your system takes to process the funds as well as how long the customer’s bank takes to put the money back in the account. The typical amount of time from the issuance of a refund until the time a customer sees it in their account is usually about 3-5 days.
5) Check your Address Verification Settings (AVS) in your gateway setting for international orders.
AVS is a fraud and security setting that verifies the address entered with the card. Many international banks do not participate in the AVS program and therefore the orders will not process if you have AVS turned on and the customer’s issuing bank does not participate.
6) List the items that you are selling specifically on your merchant account application and paperwork.
If you process large ticket items (or a large volume of low ticket items) that are atypical to your normal processing volume, then your merchant account provider can withhold the funds. If you list that you are selling sandwiches on your merchant account application and then you sell a $20,000 server, your funds will likely be withheld. If you start selling new products or services you MUST update your merchant account records.
