As with any service provider for your business, sometimes making a change is a good thing. When reviewing your current merchant service provider, there are a few things to evaluate. The most obvious being your cost for processing credit card payments. Customer experience, the functionality of the payment process, and customer service from your processor are a few other considerations.
But, before you make a change, be certain to read your current contract and check for any cancellation clauses. Do you own the equipment? If the equipment was included in your agreement, will you need to return it upon cancellation? If you leased the equipment, when does your lease end? Always keep in mind that when you do cancel an account, do so in writing and verify that all payments have been settled.
Depending on your method of accepting payments, your company might be concerned about business interruption when making the change. Using a terminal is the easiest switch and is basically plug-and-play. There is no downtime involved. Modern terminals use wi-fi and can be set up with ease and are very intuitive to use. A good merchant service provider will assist you with the set-up, train your staff, as well as provide a “cheat sheet” for quick reference. This usually takes our team at Proudly about 10 minutes in total. It’s honestly that easy! Another positive factor is that machines can be programmed as well to auto-batch at a preferred time daily.
If your business utilizes a Point of Sale or software, making the switch can be a painless process as well. If you are not changing your equipment, there is simply a software download for the new processor, making the process a “flip of the switch.” We do recommend the software download is completed when the business is not operating and a couple of test transactions are done. The new processor will monitor the batch and it should be a seamless change. The only difference will be your new merchant statement. The staff will not even know a change has occurred for the payment processing. Again, a very easy change!
Some Point of Sales will not allow you to have a choice in a payment provider and will not enable another processor’s software to integrate. Buyer beware! If your choice is limited, then so are your payment processing pricing options. If you decide to change to a better Point of Sale, then the process is more involved. But done properly, it can still be done with limited stress. One thing to consider is if your business uses gift and loyalty cards, it’s important to verify that the cards can be converted to the new system and to inquire about the conversion cost. Our team at Proudly can assist merchants with the conversion as we know best practices and are always on-site the day of your first transaction.
There are multiple other methods of processing electronic payments. Mobile card readers with Bluetooth connections to phone apps, web portals, virtual terminals that can integrate with other software such as Quick Books and Electronic Health Records. Perhaps your business could not only be saving money on your payment processing but utilizing a more efficient method that provides a better customer experience. Proudly is an ISO (independent sales office). Essentially, we are like working with an independent insurance agency. We can offer a variety of payment solutions and customize the processing solution to best fit your individual needs. But most importantly, we are present during your installation of the service and continue to be there when needed.
Still hesitant about making a change? We believe staying in a bad agreement can be much more painful. What do you have to lose with a free consultation? At Proudly, we would love and appreciate the opportunity to earn your business.
