Page 39 - GBC spring 2015

Let’s Break It Down....
BEGIN WITH THE BASICS
Research shows that accepting credit cards could increase your revenue by as much as 23 percent. For almost all golf operations, accepting payments by credit and debit cards is essential. There are only two ways for businesses to process payments: use a third- party payment processor like PayPal, or sign up for your own merchant account with a payment processor.
The benefit of using a third- party payment processor is that set up is easy, so you can begin processing credit card payments immediately. The downfall is that they generally charge very high processing fees associated with third party payment processing providers, and your golf course’s name may not appear on your customers’ credit card or bank statements.
The most cost effective method of processing credit and debit cards is to set up your own merchant account with a payment processor. By choosing this option, you do not have to pay additional processing fees, which will end up saving you a lot of money in the long run. Also, funds are directly deposited into your bank account, and your business name will appear on your customers’ credit card statements.
For the second time in six years, I have had the challenging task of selecting a payment processor for the Golfmax Purchasing Program. The NGCOA Canada invited over a dozen payment processors to submit proposals and pricing strategies for our members. Going through this process has left me with a good understanding of the payment processing industry and an appreciation for its complexity. It is no surprise that the NGCOA Canada fields dozens of calls from golf course owners and operators on a monthly basis as they try to decide which service provider is best for their business. Golf Business Canada Magazine asked me to share my insights to help our readers successfully navigate this complex vendor selection process.
How To
Choose A
Payment
Processor
Competition in the payment processing marketplace has inten- sified price offerings. A lot of pay- ment processors will offer a low “headline rate” on a standard con- sumer card, while making up the margins lost on these cards with much higher rates on the corporate and premium cards which are in- creasingly issued by banks.
These complex pricing strate- gies can make understanding pay- ment processing and service fees very challenging. Understanding the marketplace is critical to decid- ing which payment processor is best for your business.
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