While price is important, don't let it be the driving force behind your credit card purchasing decision. First, review the service offerings from our network of credit card transaction service providers. Then, consider other important aspects of your buying decision.

Customer support is the most essential – problems in credit card processing can quickly impact your bottom line. The best way to learn about a provider's level of customer service is to obtain customer referrals from current clients. Request referrals to merchants that are comparable to your company in size and industry. Then ask these important questions: do they have to wait several minutes before reaching a customer support rep? Are their needs serviced quickly? How does the provider deal with chargebacks? Also ask the provider about their level of support – do they have phones staffed 24 x 7? Do they charge per incident?

If your business will be selling over the Internet and you do not have a secure server that can encrypt credit card transaction information, make sure your provider can offer secure ordering through SSL (secure sockets layer, a widely-used web standard for security). Setting up your own secure site is expensive and technically challenging.

Finally, if you are not using a bank or financial company you recognize, make sure you verify that the company you are investigating is legitimate – there are con artists and scammers who set up fake processing companies just to collect setup fees then vanish. Contact the Better Business Bureau to check the company’s status if you are unsure, and if you find a credit card transaction service provider on the Web, make sure you get a physical address and phone number.

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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