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course. Take the time to research what the associated costs are for these services, even if they are not services that you need for your business today.
2. Investigate your options
There are dozens of payment pro- cessors available, with both simi- larities and differences. Merchants should educate themselves on the latest advancements in payment technology, and changes to how businesses have traditionally closed sales to determine where they will get the best value for services rendered.
For example, there are e-com- merce solutions, mobile payment solutions, classic terminals for retail pro-shop environments, and wireless terminals for both short and long-range use out on the course.
Aside from facilitating the actual customer transactions, most payment processors also offer inte- grated management solutions that not only provide the required hard- ware, but full software solutions. The “point-of-sale” system inte- grates with the payment processor, so the merchant only has one contact person and vendor to deal with.
Additionally, some payment processors may offer other services and products, such as gift and loyalty programs.
3. Understand what’s important
With all of these solutions, it is important to get the most value for the types of solutions your business ispayingfor.Forexample,does your payment processor provide a reliable system? Is it fast and efficient, with no lag time, and low breakdown rates? What about security? All transmitted data should be encrypted, so both
Your payment system should also be user-friendly and easy to maintain. If something does go wrong, you should be able to access helpful, courteous service 24/7.
Finally, payment processors should provide comprehensive reporting tools so when you are closing your sales at the end of the day, you can quickly pull up easy- to-read reports detailing what has been sold, and total revenues accumulated over the course of a day, week and month.
If an offer received from a payment processor sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Here areafewpointstoconsiderwhen looking at these offers:
• Low rate offers are often made by exploiting an interchange pro- gram offered by the card brands but subject to certain requirements, such as industry, emerging, recurring or performance pricing. Your golf operation may not qualify for these interchange programs.
• Payment processors may not be generating revenue on the processing fees alone; rather they may be looking to collect revenue on supplementary fees and/or on the lease/sales of devices.
• Overall fees may be unclear if emphasis is placed on an extremely low “headline rate,” while de- emphasizing other, higher fees.
• If you are presented with a lower percentage cost per transaction, it may be because you will be charged a flat transaction fees for credit transactions in addition to the percentage fee. Depending on your average ticket sale or the number of transactions you process in a month, your overall fees could be higher than paying a slightly higher percentage fee. Your overall costs will depend on certain factors, including your monthly volumes and the types of cards you process. You must read the fine print on each offer you receive.
• How long is my contract? The term of your payment processing agreements will vary based on the payment processor you choose. Make sure the term is clearly stated in the Terms and Conditions of your agreement and that you understand what the associated fees will be for breaking your contract.
TAKE THE TIME
In summary, the payment processing world is complex and ever changing. However, it is critical to your business that you take the time to thoroughly consider all of the factors outlined in this article before selecting or changing your payment processor.
If you have specific questions, or would like to compare your current payment processing agreement to the benefits of the new program offered by the NGCOA Canada, I welcome your call or email.
Sources: Baumgartner, Jim,
“Payment Processing Fees” and “Payment Processing Myths and Truths” www.monerissolutions.com
Golf Business Canada
merchant protected activity.
and customer are against fraudulent
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Golf Business Canada