If your company is successfully invoicing your customers, you may be put off by the costs of merchant services, which take a percentage of all your sales. However, avoiding potential loss from non-payment can quickly make up for the expense. Plus, you will no longer have to spend staff time issuing late invoice notices or wait 30, 60 or even 90 days for invoices to be paid.

Accepting credit cards allows funds to be transferred to your bank account in less than a week. This can be a welcome relief for businesses that experience a tight cash flow.

If you are selling to consumers, merchant services will allow you to expand your customer base and provide a more convenient method of payment than cash or checks. And if you are interested in selling over the Internet, accepting credit card processing is a must.

It's possible to accept credit cards over the Internet without establishing your own merchant account. Third party merchants like PayPal or cc:Bill can accept credit cards on your behalf, without requiring a credit check, but have several serious disadvantages for businesses.

They typically batch your money into regularly scheduled payments, negating the advantage of quick turnaround. Their rates tend to be higher – significantly higher, in some cases. And, they may not accept all types of transactions, potentially resulting in your legitimate transactions being frozen. Generally, they make your business seem like a small-time operation. They're really only appropriate if you process one or two transactions a month.

Not every company needs to accept credit cards, though. If your per order cost is typically in the thousands of dollars and your customer base is stable or subject to credit checks, you may find it cheaper to continue invoicing your customers.

Additional Credit Card Processing Articles

A sampling of actual credit card processing rates paid by customers who have used BuyerZone’s service. The exploding world of online commerce and the increasing use of credit cards in business-to-business transactions continues to drive incredible growth for businesses. If you aren't taking advantage of the benefits of credit card acceptance, you might be missing out.

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