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Benefits vs Risks
For those of you starter companies, you may be trying to decide whether or not to accept credit cards from your customers. What are the risks? How do you minimize these risks? What are the benefits? How do you maximize on these benefits? Well, although much can be written on these four questions alone, I will give you my quick two cents on some of the risks and benefits of credit card processing.
What is a risk?
Fraudulent Charges
How do you minimize this risk?
You may want to ask your customers for CVV codes when charging credit cards. You won’t need to do this with debit cards because debit cards require pin numbers. CVV codes are the numbers that appear on the back of the credit cards. Three digits long. They are card specific. If the CVV doesn’t match with the card…that’s a red light for you! You may also want to add the AVS feature to your credit card software or terminal. AVS stands for Address Verification Service. You can enter the street number or simply the zip code. If this information doesn’t match with the card…red light! These suggestions mostly apply to non-face-to-face transactions. If you have the customer right in front of you, just as for ID and have them sign the credit card receipt for documentation and support in case of a chargeback.
What is a benefit?
You are providing your customer with a convenience.
How do you maximize this benefit?
How many of you carry $100+ dollars in your wallet at any given time? Probably not many. Most individuals like the convenience of carrying around their debit or credit cards as opposed to cash and coins. So why not provide a service to your customers that will make them more likely to purchase a product from you for the sheer sake of convenience. If your competitor is “Cash Only” and you allow your customers the option of cash, credit, or debit who do you think they will go with? That’s right…you! You may not only want to accept MasterCard, but you may also want to accept credit cards such as Visa, American Express, or Discover to give your customer the maximum amount of options. Just make sure that when you open a merchant account, you go with a company that will take care of your needs. Merchant processing can get confusing, so go with a company who will make the process as transparent and as simple as possible.