How to Merchant Underwriting Directly Affects Your Business?

A team of high-risk analysts or an individual analyzes your business to find out any type of risk, and according to this analysis your application is either approved or rejected. This whole process might take a day or two, depending upon the provider you choose. There are alternatives to this, which will take lesser time for approval, as those alternatives do not require underwriting, but they have their own drawbacks due to which they are rarely recommended.

Merchant Underwriting Process
Merchant account is basically a line of credit. In case of chargebacks, the amount is deducted from the merchants account, but if there are not enough funds in the bank to pay for chargeback then the provider pays that amount right away to the customer. So the essential part of underwriting is to evaluate the risk level of merchant’s business. Following are the things that provider review:

Industry Type: Risk is involved with every kind of business but the level of risk varies from business to business. Few businesses are less inclined to fraud and chargebacks as compare to others. Higher the level of risk,higher the amount of documentationsare required.

Return Policy: Businesses that are involved in shipping products are riskier because there are chancesof the products not being delivered, wrongly delivered or delivered broken that might result in chargebacks.

Business History: If you are not new in the market and have applied for merchant account, underwriting will involve reviewing of your credit history as well as chargeback history (to know chargeback ratio) before approving or rejecting your application.

Card Acceptance Method: Provider will like to know about merchant terminated file, if your business has been or still is on it. Most of them will evaluate current statement to get a fair idea of volume and acceptance methods. In case application is approved, business accepting telephonic orders or online orders is taken into consideration for added features and more security measures.

After Effects of Poor Merchant Underwriting

Your high-risk business may suffer from one or the other reason even without in-depth analysis and these are:
Incorrect Limit: You should set limits for your business as per requirement. It should not be too high or too low, as both the cases will end up in putting your business in problem. Limits lower than required will hinder regular processing of transactions that may constrict flow of cash or timely payments from the customer, where as if limit is too high, this may lead to unexpected fraudulent charges.

Hidden Fee: An addition fee is charged if the volume exceeds the limit. However, even if you have set your limit, some providers let it exceed without notification, and charge you with penalty.

Downgrades: Once your high risk merchant account is set, you are inclined to transaction downgrades if certain required features and security measures are not set along with the account. Although, setting up these features will cost you more, but will help you in long run and enable smooth processing of transactions.

Best Credit Card Processing for Public Warehousing Businesses

Reliable credit card processing is essential for businesses under MCC 4225 (Public Warehousing, farm products, etc.). Whether you are a small or large retailer, you need E-Commerce payment gateway that makes transactions easier for your customers. 

Merchant Stronghold has systems that can support large number of sales on your existing website. Our credit card processing solution gives your business:

• A simplified checkout process – Easy to understand and use
• Ability to accept volume of transaction on debit and credit cards
• Industry Compatible standards to protection online data
• Fast and secure website credit card processing for customers

Credit Card Processing for businesses under MCC 4225

No matter what type of merchant you are, we can set up an online credit card solution fit for your unique needs. Public Warehousing and farming businesses require direct integration of mobile tools. Many clients want to pay on the time of delivery, and if you have a flexible payment gateway, it will save a lot of time. You can hire Stronghold to change your existing setup and integrate tools suitable for your business, or redesign it completely.

Merchant Stronghold has credit card processing solution for all the businesses under MCC 4225. We offer best solution at reasonable rates to keep overall cost down. You can integrate almost all type of payment options on a single website.

A Credit card processing solution you can count on

Merchant Stronghold offers services that are tailored to your business needs. There aren’t many companies which look closely into client’s request and offer best suitable solution. Once a client, always a client is our policy. To keep clients satisfied for long, we offer world class support and services. We have friendly representatives that are ready to answer any question, or help you in solving payment problems. We are always searching for new ways to make Credit card processing easier for you.

We work very hard to provide you low rates and best services. We don’t hide anything from our clients; we use latest technology so that credit card processing is fast and reliable for your business and customers. A reliable and secure payment system is what merchants deserve, and we provide it on reasonable rates.

Worldwide Credit Card Processing

Anyone can offer you a payment solution for local currency. But we have made it easy for clients to accept payment in any currency. Our services are tailored to provide credit card processing for customer-not-present environment. It allows customers to set prices and complete transactions by mail, telephone, or website in over 120 countries. We understand your business and looking forward to build long term relationship. If you plan to expand your business worldwide, we are the only Merchant service providers who can help you in your quest.

High-Risk Merchant Account for Trial Continuity Businesses

Importance of Getting a Dedicated Trial Continuity Merchant Account or Payment Gateway
Due to the nature of trial continuity businesses, subscription merchants are generally considered high-risk merchants within the credit card processing industry. This is likely because of the higher frequency of credit chargebacks among the subscribers. That is why you trial based business can find it hard to open an appropriate merchant account using traditional credit card processors.

Luckily, there is a solution that trial continuity businesses can use that specifically caters for high-risk subscription merchants. For example, Merchant Stronghold can enable merchants in the trial based businesses to accept seamlessly accept credit cards and effectively grow their businesses. Partnering with us will lead offer your business a more efficient Payment Gateway, beneficial customer support and ultimately improve your sales.

How to Choose the Right Payment Gateway or Merchant Account

Reliability
One of the main considerations to keep in mind is reliability. The last thing any subscription merchants would want is to have their credit card processor to fail just after launching new products. In addition, reliability enables your business to maintain a regular cash flow, which is essential when running any business, especially a trial offer or continuity based one.

Trust
Besides having a reliable Payment Gateway, subscription merchants must also ensure that the merchant service provider is abiding by the rules and regulations. This is very important, particularly with the current increasing concerns of both the FTC as well as credit card firms. Working with a trusted provider like Merchant Stronghold can help you avoid legal problems that could easily bankrupt your business.

Dedicated Service
High volume subscription merchants stand to benefit a lot from partnering with a suitable Payment Gateway that is customized to their needs. By partnering with us, you get a trial continuity merchant account that is specially designed to cater for your business that ensures that you are not losing large chunks of your profit margins on each transaction.

Conclusion
Trial continuity businesses have been having a difficult time getting merchant accounts simply because they are considered as high risk. Many companies are forced to look for credit card processes overseas to continue running their business. Luckily, Merchant Stronghold offers a dedicated and customizable Payment Gateway for subscription merchant’s right here in the United States. Contact us today at www.merchantstronghold.com to see how we can help you secure your own subscription merchant account.

How to get High-Risk SEO Merchant Account?

All Multinational SEO’s organization required credit card payments solution for their business. An SEO merchant account helps the SEO allow plastic card payments from customers, which is a complete must when managing with work that is 100% online. While the SEO field is beneficial and flourishing, it can be a tough task to find a SEO Merchant Account. Though, that’s where we at Merchant Stronghold have you covered. Web optimization-SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, helps your websites get to the top of Google search (1st Rank on Google search index). There are key words and phrases that acquire more interest from Google and other search engines like Bing, Yahoo etc, and a SEO expert is a specialist at knowing accurately how to phrase your opening, so that Google or other search engine can push you to the first page of search engine result page(SERP).

Main search engines Google, Yahoo and Bing have mainly important first search results, where website’s pages and other content such as videos or local business directory listings are shown and ranked based on what the search engine consider generally associated to users. Payment isn’t concerned, as it is with paid search ads campaign. However, resources still exchange hands, therefore the required for a SEO merchant account. This is where we at Merchant Stronghold come in. We have years of knowledge managing with SEO merchant accounts, even before the majority of people knew what a SEO was.

• Who requests a High Risk Merchant Account?
• SEO / SEM and Web Development organizations are commonly categorized as high risk in the credit card processing business. In fact, the label high risk applies to any business with one or more of the following characteristics:
• A history of high chargebacks,
• Irregular very high-ticket sales,
• In an industry that US sponsor banks and processors are unwilling to support,
• Highly regulated industry,
• An industry with long delays between billing and delivery of the good or service, or
• An industry that relies upon recurring billing, free trials, or memberships, or

With respect to web development, SEO and SEM businesses, typically they have large ticket sizes (aka large average transactions), they have a significant delay between billing and delivery of the good or service, and as a general rule most US sponsor banks are unwilling to write these businesses. For those reasons, SEM, SEO and Web Design / Development businesses are almost universally characterized as high risk businesses, meaning they need a High Risk Merchant Account.

Familiar with Web advertising industry

While any business involved in web marketing is an appropriate fit for our High Risk Merchant Account, startup and existing businesses in the following sub-industries are some of our most common clients:

• Search Engine Optimization
• Search Engine Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Website Design
• Template Design
• Web Development
• Software Development
• Mobile & Desktop App Development

Contact us to start an SEO Merchant Account with Merchant Stronghold in as little as 48 hours!

Open A Secure Merchant Account for Timeshares

Merchant account for Timeshares Business

Timeshares business offers various types of packages, vacation rentals, and airfares. It is considered as high risking business because credit card processing is high trafficked. The transactions also occur via phone and internet, and customers complain about services a lot. It takes a lot of time from booking to receiving, and because of it disputes are common. Few years back, timeshares merchants weren’t offered credit card processing because of frequent cancellations and refunds. Now merchant account providers are able to take the risk, but travel and related business must keep terms and conditions clear.

Credit card fees and charges

There are various fees associated with transactions, mostly depend on customer’s card and type of transaction. Cards such as American Express, debit, credit card, and type of business are the key factors. Banks don’t want chargebacks because these cost money so they monitor timeshares business closely. Merchants must check best processing rates and look for an online merchant account that offers high processing limit. Those timeshares businesses with chargeback rate of more than 1% are denied accounts. You should look for merchant account that offers tools to reduce the risk of chargebacks.

Trustworthy Merchant account provider

Timeshares business should seek a merchant account that is trustworthy and offer best rates. There are many strategies that can help you lower chargebacks. Effective sales and marketing methods, direct processing, and keeping records can reduce the risk.

Merchant stronghold is familiar with many credit card processors and scenarios. We offer low rates to our timeshares business owners so that they can process credit cards without having to follow bank to bank approval. We can help you by finding credit card processors best suited for your terms, conditions, and rates. Before providing you services, we inform you of advantages and disadvantages so that you are aware of possible risks and benefits. We work with businesses and individuals so that they can get the best solution. Merchant stronghold provides education so that you are satisfied with the outcome.

Credit Card Processing for Lawn & Garden Supply Businesses

A gаrdеn centre is a retail ореrаtiоn thаt ѕеllѕ рlаntѕ and related рrоduсtѕ for the dоmеѕtiс gаrdеn аѕ itѕ рrimаrу business. It iѕ a dеvеlорmеnt frоm thе соnсерt оf thе rеtаil рlаnt nursery but with a widеr range of outdoor products and on-site fасilitiеѕ. It iѕ nоw uѕuаl fоr gаrdеn сеntrеѕ tо оbtаin thеir ѕtосk frоm рlаntѕ whiсh hаvе bееn рrораgаtеd elsewhere, ѕuсh as bу ѕресiаliѕt nurѕеriеѕ or whоlеѕаlеrѕ.

A nurѕеrу is a рlасе where plants are propagated аnd grоwn tо uѕаblе ѕizе. Thеу inсludе retail nurseries which ѕеll tо thе general рubliс, whоlеѕаlе nurseries whiсh ѕеll оnlу to High-Risk Buѕinеѕѕ such аѕ оthеr nurѕеriеѕ аnd tо соmmеrсiаl gardeners, аnd private nurѕеriеѕ whiсh ѕuррlу the nееdѕ оf institutions оr private еѕtаtеѕ. Sоmе rеtаil аnd whоlеѕаlе nurseries sell bу mаil.

Nurseries may ѕuррlу рlаntѕ for gаrdеnѕ, fоr agriculture, fоr forestry аnd for соnѕеrvаtiоn biology.

A lаwn iѕ аn area оf soil-covered land рlаntеd with grasses or (rаrеlу) other durаblе рlаntѕ ѕuсh as clover which аrе mаintаinеd аt a ѕhоrt height with a lаwnmоwеr аnd used fоr аеѕthеtiс аnd rесrеаtiоnаl рurроѕеѕ. Cоmmоn сhаrасtеriѕtiсѕ оf a lаwn are thаt it is соmроѕеd оnlу of grаѕѕ ѕресiеѕ, it is ѕubjесt tо wееd аnd реѕt control, it is ѕubjесt tо practices аimеd аt mаintаining itѕ grееn соlоr (е.g., wаtеring), and it is regularly mowed tо ensure аn ассерtаblе length, although thеѕе сhаrасtеriѕtiсѕ аrе nоt binding аѕ a dеfinitiоn. Lawns аrе uѕеd аrоund hоuѕеѕ, араrtmеntѕ, соmmеrсiаl buildingѕ and оffiсеѕ. Mаnу сitу parks аlѕо hаvе lаrgе lаwn аrеаѕ. In recreational contexts, the specialised nаmеѕ turf, рitсh, field or grееn mау bе uѕеd, depending оn the sport аnd the соntinеnt.

Pоint of Sale for Garden Cеntеrѕ аnd Nurѕеriеѕ

Point оf Sаlе for Garden Cеntеrѕ and Nurѕеriеѕ is соnѕidеrаblу diffеrеnt frоm POS fоr other rеtаil ѕеgmеntѕ. Garden Cеntеrѕ соmmоnlу hаvе commercial customers who dеѕirе a 8 ½ bу 11” rесеiрt. Our POS саn bе соnfigurеd tо аutоmаtiсаllу рrint a full-раgе invоiсе fоr соmmеrсiаl сuѕtоmеrѕ and a ѕmаll, thermal rесеiрt fоr аll rеtаil сuѕtоmеrѕ. This hеlрѕ уоur commercial сuѕtоmеr kеер their paperwork straight аnd thаt mаkеѕ you thеir preferred vеndоr. More importantly, thеѕе customers оftеn wаlk аrоund уоur yard tо ѕеlесt a lаrgе numbеr of plants. Whаt if you соuld ѕсаn thоѕе itеmѕ into a ticket whilе walking аrоund, allow thе customer tо tеndеr thе ticket bеfоrе ѕhе/hе left and then рiсk the рlаntѕ for delivery lаtеr thаt day? Wе ѕuрроrt all оf these functions. Yоu can еvеn run house ассоuntѕ for уоur соmmеrсiаl сuѕtоmеrѕ.

Get more information about Credit card processing,  Payment Gateway & Merchant Accounts Related, You can visit website https://www.merchantstronghold.com/ and you can contact us - +1 (888)-622-6875.

Point of Sale for Grocery Stores

Find thе right grосеrу роint of ѕаlе

The bеѕt роint of sale (POS) fоr grосеrу ѕtоrеѕ and ѕuреrmаrkеtѕ is оnе with an efficient, ѕtаff-friеndlу layout аnd accurate tесhnоlоgу thаt givеѕ еасh сuѕtоmеr a ѕеаmlеѕѕ еnd to a еnjоуаblе shopping еxреriеnсе.

Grocery store POS systems hеlр inсоrроrаtе mаnу diffеrеnt рriсing mеthоdѕ: реr wеight, реr vоlumе, by bаrсоdе, etc. With рriсеѕ fluсtuаting depending оn weekly dеаlѕ, agricultural ѕеаѕоnѕ, аnd the ѕuррlу аnd demand that аffесt vendors, mаnufасturеrѕ аnd growers, уоu nееd to track and uрdаtе thеѕе сhаnging figures regularly. Yоu nееd a grocery ѕtоrе POS system that iѕ аѕ intuitive, ассurаtе аnd fast аѕ possible.

A grосеrу ѕtоrе iѕ a rеtаil store thаt рrimаrilу sells fооd. A grосеr iѕ a bulk ѕеllеr of fооd. Grосеrу ѕtоrеѕ often offer nоn-реriѕhаblе fооd thаt iѕ packaged in саnѕ, bоttlеѕ аnd bоxеѕ, with ѕоmе аlѕо having frеѕh produce, butсhеrѕ, dеliѕ, аnd bаkеriеѕ.

Lаrgе grocery ѕtоrеѕ thаt ѕtосk ѕignifiсаnt amounts of non-food products, such аѕ сlоthing аnd hоuѕеhоld itеmѕ, аrе саllеd ѕuреrmаrkеtѕ. Sоmе large ѕuреrmаrkеtѕ also inсludе a рhаrmасу аnd an electronics ѕесtiоn.

Smаll grосеrу stores that mainly sell fruits аnd vеgеtаblеѕ аrе known as рrоduсе mаrkеtѕ (U.S.) оr grееngrосеrѕ (Britain), and ѕmаll grocery ѕtоrеѕ that рrеdоminаntlу ѕеll prepared fооd, ѕuсh аѕ candy аnd ѕnасkѕ, аrе known аѕ соnvеniеnсе stores оr dеliсаtеѕѕеnѕ.

SО, WHАT DО POS SУЅTЕMЅ DO FОR GRОСЕRУ STОRЕЅ?

Bесаuѕе рriсing аnd invеntоrу аrе so fluidly, inefficient Grocery store POS ѕуѕtеmѕ саn ѕlоw dоwn the еntirе checkout process.

A short wait аnd ԛuiсk trаnѕасtiоn аrе сruсiаl to kеер сuѕtоmеrѕ ѕаtiѕfiеd at аnу retail business.

However, inaccuracies in рriсе, weight оr invеntоrу-trасking саn also соѕt thousands in lоѕt rеvеnuе.

Grocery store POS systems inсludе thе following fеаturеѕ thаt ѕаvе timе and money:

• Bаrсоdе аnd ѕhорреr lоуаltу саrd scanning
• Wеight-еmbеddеd bаrсоdе reading
• Touch ѕсrееn tо еntеr univеrѕаl PLU (Priсе Look-Up) соdеѕ fоr рrоduсе, bulk itеmѕ
• Intеgrаtеd scales to sell рrоduсtѕ bу wеight (both PLU and bаrсоdе)
• All оf thеѕе соmbinе forces tо keep invеntоrу records ассurаtе аnd assess thе рriсе of еасh itеm оn thе соnvеуоr belt. Hоwеvеr, thе main аttrасtiоn at the роint of ѕаlе is the sale itself.

Startup Survival Guide Tips for New Entrepreneurs

Today’s world is a competitive world and everyone is looking for quick success. We normally look towards people who have achieved certain milestone or are successful and try to follow their footstep. It has become a sort of fashion to read about successful people, adopt their principles and go as per to their opinion. It is always good to learn from others but your individual idea, vision, business goal, and principle are equally important. There are quite a good number of people out there in the world who can give you advice, teach you about business but until and unless you have a vision and ideas of your own, you will be lost in the mob.

Here are a few steps that every new entrepreneur should keep in mind in order to survive in this highly competitive world: –

Give your own meaning to success

It is important to get guidelines and inspiration from those who have achieved success, but it is not advisable to follow them blindly. It is not a good idea to spend much of your time in reading about successful people rather that time can be utilized in making plans and implementing them practically. Every entrepreneur has his own vision (where you want to see your High-Risk Business), goals and principles (which he/she has set for his/her business) and most importantly the reason and motive behind the business, and these are the foundations of any business..Your idea, your success,your way.

Unique value/selling proposition (USP)

Due to intense competition in the market, it is important to set your business or product unlike the rest.

To get a competitive advantage, you must have a unique selling proposition, which will boost your business and help you achieve your goal. You must keep in mind that your USP can be anything but price. It can be your location, time taken for delivery, vast range of products, etc. As a business owner, you would not like the label cheap or low quality, because to which your USP should not be price. Despite bad reputation, pricing will also decrease your profit. Apart from being affordable, you should provide a good reason to the customers to return to you.

Your target market

Before setting up a new start a business, it is very important for every new entrepreneur to study the market. It is important to know the demand, advantage and disadvantage, and most importantly the buyer and their expectation from the product or business you want to start. Complete knowledge about the market will help you a lot to make plans and any necessary changes if required.

PCI Payment Protection Resources for Small Merchants

On Thursday, 4 August 2016, at 10 a.m. Pacific time, Visa will host a webinar to review newly published PCI Security Standards Council resources designed to help small businesses process payments securely.The PCI Security Standards Council convened a small merchant business task force to provide guidance and feedback to prepare resources that simplify data security for some of the most vulnerable businesses preyed upon by cybercriminals. Relying on cross-industry expertise to help small merchants understand why and how to protect payment card data and resolve risks to their businesses the task force has developed the following resources:

• A guide to safe payments
• Payment diagrams
• Questions to ask your vendors
• A glossary of payment and information security terms.

Visa is committed to protecting the payment system. As part of this commitment, Visa regularly posts data security communications on their website.

Visa will host a webinar to review newly published Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council resources designed to help small businesses process payments securely. Please click on the link below to register.

Speaker Info

Sylvia Auyeung and Lester Chan

Sylvia Auyeung, Director, Merchant Risk, is responsible for driving PCI DSS compliance with all level merchants in North America. She has over 10 years experience in risk and compliance.

Lester Chan is Director of Merchant Risk at Visa where he is responsible for driving PCI DSS compliance with all level merchants in North America. He has over 20 years experience in IT, security, risk, and compliance. In addition to his experience, he earned a CISSP, CISM, and CISA certifications.

MORE INFORMATION

If you have any questions regarding these resources or need more information on protecting your payment card environment, please contact your Visa Account Executive or acquirer or Merchant Stronghold.

Best Tips to Manage Subscriptions and Recurring Billing

When you launch a system of recurring billing, you’ll quickly amass sensitive customer data you have to keep on file. All information on file should be securely stored and kept up to date.

The Recurring Transactions window appears, displaying all transactions that are scheduled to be executed today. It also displays transactions that were scheduled for days in the past, but have not been executed so far. Don’t try to go cheap on this particular process. It’s vital to invest time, money, and effort to keep your payment system as secure as possible.

In this guide, we outline the Operating Regulations as by Visa as well as other recommended best practices

Transaction Processing

• Include a CVV value in the First Authorization of a New Recurring Transaction and where available check the customer’s billing address by including Address Verification Data (AVS).
• Recurring eCommerce Transactions are highly recommended that merchants utilize Verified by Visa for the initial authentication of a new customer.
• Monitor the decline reasons and dates
• Make sure to include and monitor Expiry Dates of the transactions.

Understanding the RT Process and High-Risk Business Bank Accounts Planning

• Cardholders to choose their preferred billing date, it will help ensure that funds are available.
• Inform the customer of the “Doing Business As” or “Descriptor “name, the name that will publish on the Cardholder’s bank statement. Make sure it’s easily recognizable when billed each incident.
• Merchant Details must be clearly displayed at all time.
• Estimated Delivery Date of goods or services be advised.
• Provide the customer with confirmation that an RT agreement has been entered into.
• Train your sales and customer service staff on the proper procedures for setting up and submitting RTs, as they are particularly customer service sensitive.

The rules that need to be understood and useful guidance when accepting Recurring Transactions This will help ensure merchants and their customers enjoy a simple and efficient payment process, which is clearly understood by them and their customers.

More about learn trial continuity and subscription-based businesses.