Small Business Merchant Accounts

Are you losing potential business because you don’t accept credit cards? You may think that it is just too expensive and way too complicated to accept credit cards and debit cards in your retail business. It certainly can be if you try to figure it all out for yourself. But if you have the right processing company on your side, it can be a very simple and easy process.

Don’t construe this to mean that the credit card processing procedure is simple. It is anything but that. There are banks, credit card companies, merchant service providers, computer networks and specialized equipment involved. The good news is that you don’t have to worry about any of that arcade detail. It’s all taken care of for you by Elite Processing Systems.

EPS has the knowledge, procedures, financial relationships, equipment and networks needed to make it possible for you to accept credit cards, debit cards and EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) at your point of sale. They’ve been doing this successfully for small businesses like yours for almost a decade. When you become an Elite merchant you’ll get 24 hours US based customer service, individual account management and rate schedules that are customized and competitive.

Any business that wants to accept electronic payments needs what is called a merchant account. That’s how the customer’s payment gets to you. Elite Processing Systems will provide you with that account and everything you need to make it work. But they also offer a lot more in the way of support for your business.

For instance, do you cringe when a customer starts writing out a personal check? Most of them will be perfectly all right, but what about the one’s that aren’t? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could get instant verification that the check was good while the customer was still standing there? You can with the Telecheck service provided by Elite. Verify funds electronically at your POS and avoid the traditional four day delay involved in receiving the check, bringing it to the bank and waiting for it to clear. You’ll breathe a lot easier when you have Telecheck working for you.

Do you have trouble securing working capital when you need it? That’s not unusual in these economic times. EPS has a partnership with Merchant Money, Ltd. to make cash advances available to you based on your credit card processing future receivables. It’s linked to your processing account so you never have to write a check and funds are taken back through your credit card sales. Request funds today and have them available tomorrow.

How about other business services that you use regularly, such as payroll and insurance? Elite Processing Systems offers payroll solutions powered by ADP for efficiency and security. Other available services include life insurance, health insurance, disability and simple IRA plans.

Credit Card Processing by Elite Processing Systems a registered ISO/MSP of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. Walnut Creek CA.

Merchant Account Credit Card Processing Made Easy

Credit card payment processing is essential to even the smallest businesses doing retail sales. You can make this easy or hard, so why not make it as painless as possible with support from one of the best credit card processing companies. Elite Processing Systems makes the complexity of electronic payments invisible, so you can focus on providing the goods and services that your customers want. They also go beyond the traditional credit card processing service to provide a complete suite of financial services for small businesses.

Somewhere along the line you may have heard of EPS or Elite Processing Systems. They’ve been in the business of providing merchants the capability of accepting credit, debit and EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) forms of payment for almost a decade. If you want to be able to accept credit card payments, your system needs to meet electronic security standards set by PCI or the Payment Card Industry. There’s really no need for you to become an expert in this field. EPS has already taken the necessary steps to ensure that all of their merchants are PCI Complaint. They’ll provide you with the right supplies, point of sale terminal equipment and support to ensure your success from the very start. You’ll have access to 24 hour U.S. based support, including technical support, at all times.

You know that not all of your customers have or want credit cards, even at this late date. Their comfort zone is writing checks to manage their money. That can present a serious risk to merchants who don’t have the ability to verify that the funds are really available. Elite Processing Systems works with Telecheck to let you accept checks and immediately verify funds electronically. Save yourself the anxiety of having to take those checks to the bank and wait for them to clear, only to find that there is a problem. Know immediately if that check is good or not.

Most credit card processing companies limit their services to point of sale payment solutions. Elite Processing Systems goes beyond that to support your business operations in other ways. For instance, they also offer a cost effect payroll processing system that keeps your payroll information confidential. Additional services include life insurance, health insurance, disability and simple IRA plans.

Elite also has a service available for cash advance funding. You know how tough it is to get a bank loan these days. Elite Processing Systems can set you up with Merchant Money, Ltd. cash advances based on your credit card processing future receivables. You get cash up front. Funds are taken back through your credit card sales in your merchant processing account. That helps you meet payroll, purchase inventory, pay taxes and fund your marketing campaigns without having to worry what mood the bankers are in this month.

Credit Card Processing by Elite Processing Systems a registered ISO/MSP of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. Walnut Creek CA.

MegaPath’s Black Friday Strategy

Black Friday will soon be upon us. This is the day after Thanksgiving that marks the traditional start to the Christmas shopping season. It’s a day that retailers brace for and depend on. For as Black Friday goes, so goes the profitability of the year.

The name Black Friday is generally attributed to the accounting practice of using red ink to show losses and black ink to show profits. Many retailers struggle all year long just to pay the bills and keep the lights on. Black Friday represents, at least symbolically, the change of the company’s fortunes from red ink to black ink. That’s how important the holiday shopping season is every year. It can be the difference between profit and loss, survival of the business or bankruptcy.

Since Black Friday and its online equivalent called Cyber Monday (The Monday after Black Friday) kickoff the most stressful and highest sales volume month of the year, it behooves retail businesses to have robust processes in place ahead of time. That includes the ability to process credit card transactions rapidly and securely. Lose your connection to the credit card processing companies, even for an hour, and you risk a stampede of irate customers out your front door and directly to your competitor. It’s even worse online. If your site is down or slow or you can’t accept credit card payments, your competitors are just a click away.

With this in mind, MegaPath is asking retailers, “Are You Prepared For Black Friday?” Even with predictions that consumers will be spending slightly less this year than last, there will still be a torrent of sales activity this shopping season. In fact, it might be argued that with less spending each customer becomes more valuable. Anything you can do to give that customer a pleasant shopping experience will work to your advantage.

MegaPath is a major competitive telecommunications carrier and leader in managed IP services. They serve the retail sector with high speed network connections specifically designed to support secure payment transactions. They call their service a “Payment Processor Extranet.” As the name implies, this is a specialized form of connectivity unlike simple Internet broadband. MegaPath’s Payment Processor Extranet connects to your retail site-to-site MPLS VPN service to securely carry credit card and other payment information from your point of sale locations to credit, debit gift and private label card payment and check payment processors. You choose which processors you work with and can and or change them at any time. MegaPath provides a fully redundant proactively monitored communications network to the processors to ensure that your transactions will get through.

For gas stations, convenience stores and other retailers not connected in a MPLS network, MegaPath offers “StoreConnect,” an IPSec encrypted service that works over a wide variety of broadband connections including DSL, cable, wireless and T1 lines. Like the Payment Processor Extranet, this service gives smaller retailers access to the leading payment processors for fast, secure and reliable transactions.

One of the most important processes involved in payment transactions is PCI or Payment Card Industry security. This standard involves a firewalled secure network protected by encryption and strong access control. MegaPath’s retail solutions are designed from the ground up to be PCI compliant.

So, what’s it going to be this year? Will you depend on slow dial-up access from your POS terminals that will likely keep your customers waiting and irritated as they stand in line? Or will you make the transaction process as transparent to your customers as possible with fast and reliable broadband connectivity? If you choose to make your transactions fast, efficient, reliable and secure, there’s no time to waste. Get more information about MegaPath and other retail connectivity solutions and be ready to make the most from the Black Friday weekend and the entire holiday shopping season.