Payment gateways are a crucial tool in both ecommerce and brick-and-mortar sales, but many merchants don’t necessarily understand what their gateways do or why they really need to have one at all. With that in mind, the following is a quick refresher on what gateways are, how they work, and why they’re so important. […]
Tag: merchant services
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What is a Payment Gateway?
Clover is a popular small business point of sale system, offering retailers and restaurants intuitive POS software and a wide variety of hardware choices. But one of Clover’s most standout features is its well-stocked third-party app market, which enables Clover users to expand and refine the capabilities of their systems, as needed, in a matter […]
Next day funding is a service provided by some payment processors that gives merchants access to the money from their sales in a single business day – in some cases, as little as ten to twelve hours after transactions are submitted. Next day funding stands in contrast to the industry standard practice of holding funds […]
An ecommerce merchant is a business that sells online and utilizes payment processing services to collect card payments. In a terminology-heavy industry like payment processing, it can be easy for confusion to arise about what certain terms mean and don’t mean. “Merchant” is one of those terms, and many people incorrectly assume that all businesses […]
Amex OptBlue is a program designed to make American Express payments more accessible to small businesses. Traditionally, the high barriers to entry on the network and the extremely high transaction fees made American Express more trouble than it was worth for smaller merchants. To remedy that problem, the company created the Amex OptBlue program, which […]
A merchant account is a mission-critical piece of the payments puzzle for most full-time business owners doing any kind of significant sales volume. But for new and experienced merchants alike, the process of getting set up with a new account can seem opaque and even difficult. Independent sales organizations (ISO) – sales companies that work […]
Next day funding is a feature offered by certain payment processors that allows merchants to access the money from their batched transactions in a single day – in some cases, as little as ten hours after a transaction is submitted. Most merchants on standard funding plans don’t get access to their funds nearly as quickly, […]
Payment processing is a complex industry with a lot of moving parts, a lot of tech, and a lot of security rules. But, for the end merchant, all that complexity represents a needless source of headaches and potential business interruptions. The best payment processors offer simple merchant services that allow businesses to focus solely on […]
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, or PCI-DSS, is a security standard that must be met by all companies that handle, store, or transmit credit card data from the major card brands. It exists to protect consumers and minimize the potential damage associated with payment-related data breaches. PCI compliance refers to a company’s ongoing […]
A retail POS, or point-of-sale system, is a combination of hardware and software designed to facilitate purchases at a checkout counter in retail and dining. A POS effectively automates most of the functions of an old cash register. Rather than having to punch in a product’s information and price and manually apply taxes, a POS […]
Having a payment gateway that accepts credit cards on-site is important for most modern businesses, and it’s an absolute must for retail businesses, where cash-only sales are all but extinct. But how do you go about getting a credit card reader? The good news is that getting set up with a reader isn’t that hard, […]
Next day funding is a payment processing feature that allows merchants to get their payouts in a single business day, without the need to wait on standard holds. It’s one of the most important features merchants can weigh when selecting the right payment processing partner. Not all merchant services companies offer next day funding, and […]
Retail ecommerce is already worth over 431 billion dollars in the United States alone and is set to exceed $563 billion by 2025. Simply put, your customers are already online. If you’re still weighing the pros and cons of selling on the web, now is the time to take the plunge. Expanding your sales to […]
When Adobe announced their acquisition of Magneto in 2018, it was clear the software giant was making a play at becoming the top dog in ecommerce. Now, the final stage of the rollout of the merged product is underway, and Magneto is set to undergo some significant changes, including a fresh rebrand, a permanent move […]
When many people hear the term merchant services, they automatically think “transaction processing.” And, while that is a huge part of what payment processors do and certainly worth discussing, it isn’t the only thing processors offer businesses. Many merchant services providers today actually offer their clients end-to-end payment solutions that allow merchants to get everything […]
Next-day funding is a payment processing feature that makes the funds from a sale available in the merchant’s bank account in a single day. The uninitiated often assume that when they make a purchase with a debit or credit card at your business, the funds go directly into your account, but, as you know, that […]
Fees matter. In the earliest days of your business, when you were doing low sales volume, and your top priority was just getting to the customer any way you could, you may have put transaction fees low on your list of priorities. After all, what’s a percent here or ten or twenty cents there? But […]
Card dipping is not a term most people are familiar with, but if you’ve ever inserted your credit or debit card into a payment terminal or ATM, you’ve dipped! Dipping stands in contrast to swiping – the most traditional way to use a payment card – and tapping, the newest and arguably most popular way […]
Chargebacks are the bane of merchants, independent sales organizations (ISOs), and payment processors alike because they have the potential to cost everyone involved in payment processing a significant amount of money and headache. Chargeback defense programs are services offered by ISOs, processors, and third parties designed to catch and defeat chargebacks before they have the […]
