×

Posted on

5 Common Myths about Merchant Accounts Processing That Can Lead You Astray

Category: Growth Hacks

5 Common Myths about Merchant Accounts Processing That Can Lead You Astray
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

5 Common Myths about Merchant Accounts Processing That Can Lead You Astray

When the matter is about monetary transactions on your e-store, suspicion is always there. After all, you are bestowing someone else with the responsibility of handling your customers’ money. Then there are concerns whether transactions are secured against fraudulent attempts or not?

Various myths regarding merchant accounts processing have been circulating in the merchant community. If you are planning to open a merchant account with a payment solutions company, you should know about the common myths that may negatively influence your decision. Let us take a look at them.

All Payment Processing Operators Are Scammers

There are many credible service providers who provide quality services. Their terms of service will be crystal clear. Moreover, they will not have long-term contracts that will unnecessarily bind the merchant for a long tenure. They will let you know about all type of charges beforehand.

The Biggest Is the Most Trustable

You must have heard about the established online payment platforms that are visible everywhere – in search engine ads, on social media, and in renowned blogs. Even some of your merchant friends must have told you about them. But guess what, the biggest is not always the best. There are other service providers who may offer better services at affordable prices.

The lesser-known merchant account processors are more committed to providing personalized solutions to the merchants. They may have a secure procedure for processing payments, may provide services at the best rates, may have better enterprise-level hardware and software, and may take less time to initialize the setup. So yes, you should be willing to consider payment service providers who haven’t made it big yet.

Processing Charges Are Too High

Most of the times, merchants are not aware of the processing charges. Moreover, they assume them to be very high, based on rumors. But this is not true. Depending on the business turnover, you can decide to opt for payment processing services. If you have a massive turnover, it is advisable to opt for a merchant account with a unique merchant number. If you are a small business merchant, opt for a payment service provider that enrolls you in a shared merchant account setup.

Yes, there are charges associated with merchant account service providers such as termination fees, interchange-plus or flat rates, retail rates, monthly charges, and so on. But if you consider your transaction volume, the charges may not be that much. However, discuss with the service provider before finalizing the contract.

They Are All the Same

No, they are not. There are three types of payment processing companies – merchant account providers, payment service providers, and payment gateway providers. The merchant account provider is basically concerned with providing a merchant account and it may also provide payment processing service with the assistance of a third-party processor. The payment service provider does not offer a dedicated merchant account. Instead, it clubs your business with other businesses on a single merchant account.

The last one, payment gateway providers may either provide both merchant account and payment processing or provide only payment processing service. As you can see, they are not at all the same.

Not Better Than Local Banks

Banks do not offer reliable merchant account services, which are necessary to operate a business seamlessly. They will not provide you with the freedom to collect payments via various means, the hardware and software may not match the industry standards, and there is no reliability when it comes to backend support. Processing charges might be low but services are not always up to the mark.

Conclusion

You should not be guided by myths and rumors. Get hold of the facts before making your decision. This was our attempt to clarify some doubts so that merchants like you can make decisions that are beneficial for their business.

6 years ago
Why Do Refunds Take So Long?
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

Why Do Refunds Take So Long?

Online transactions have made life quite easy. We transfer funds, buy things and pay for them, receive payments, and all of this with the simple click of a button. Cash is rarely required anywhere. Online or cashless payments have become quite ordinary. The only time that online transactions frustrate us is when our money gets stuck! But like most out of the ordinary things, we must regard it as an exception.

Most online portals have simple refund policies. The process of raising a refund request is quite convenient; however, there are instances when the process is delayed due to some reason. In order to better understand this process, let us look at detailed insights.

When does the need for a refund arise?

  • When you make an online purchase and pay through your card but later decide to cancel or return the ordered item
  • When you are in the middle of making an online payment and you lose network connectivity

Why do payments fail?

  • Failure in communication – At some point in the payment making process, if there is a failure in communication after the customer has been charged, the customer can ask for a refund. This usually occurs in most cases due to network or connectivity issues and is a rather common occurrence.
  • Failure in a status update – Another reason for the failure of payments is the status of payment not getting updated. In such a case, even though the payment has been deducted, one or more of the banks involved fail to update the status. Since the payment gateway has no information, no information is available to the buyer or seller.

Why getting refunds takes time?

Firstly, the merchant usually needs a certain amount of time to determine whether the request for refund is legitimate or not. In cases where goods are returned, the merchant would like to make sure that the goods have not been damaged by the other party.

Secondly, the banks have a vested interest in keeping your money with them for as long as it is legally possible as they make interest off of that money. That is part of the reason why the bank charges your account immediately while delaying the refund to your account. In these cases, the merchant is able to provide the customer with an authorization code that can be used to hasten the refund process with the bank.

Thirdly, refunds take time because there are multiple online payment platforms involved. The process of authorization can be quite cumbersome. A slight delay at any stage further delays the entire process. To explain the refund process further, let’s take an example.

A customer raises the request for a refund. This request will be made to the payment gateway involved. The payment gateway then sends a request to the acquiring bank with which the merchant has an account. After the necessary approvals, the acquiring bank raises a request with the customer’s issuing bank. The entire process of authorization and re-authorization, despite the fact that no actual money is transacted, is a tedious one.

The bottom line

It is important to maintain your calm and understand how the process of refunds works. The movement of money in an online transaction, while faster, is sometimes hindered due to the complexity of the process. The entire process of online payments is monitored by the online payment gateway, the issuing bank, and the acquiring bank.

It is really up to the banks to approve and reflect the balance in their respective accounts. While no money is actually moving, the coordination between the two banks and the gateway determines the amount of time that the entire transaction takes.

6 years ago
Top UX Stats of 2019
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

Whether you are looking to launch a new website, or you are simply curious as to the latest UX trends for 2019, this interesting infographic 15 Website & UX Statistics of 2019 is a must-read.

One of the standout stats that might help you to formulate design ideas is that 59% of people prefer a beautifully designed website. In other words, you can spend as much time curating useful and valuable content, develop a great navigation format, have super-fast loading but if it doesn’t look pretty, you’ve lost nearly 60% of your target audience. Lots of different factors play into what is perceived to be beautiful but it helps if you don’t dabble with unusual colours and fonts, or use poor quality images.

When it comes to UX, slow loading images are a real killer. In fact, they can cause 39% of users to abandon the website, so avoid using slow loading images at all costs. No image is in some cases much better than a slow-loading image.

Another intriguing stat shows that 2 out of 3 minutes spent online are via mobile. So it would obviously make a lot of sense if you were to ensure that your website is set up to handle mobile users well, giving them easy navigation options and easy-to-read text.

One more stat to keep in mind is that video content is 53% more likely to reach the first page in Google, so creating good quality video content for your website is a definite consideration to take into account if you are looking to drive more traffic to your website. The popularity of video content is only going to grow over the next few years, so now really is the time to get started with creating video content for your website.

Top UX Stats of 2019

Top UX Stats of 2019

About the author

Kerry is an experienced content writer, with a First Class Hons Degree in Multimedia Journalism. She currently works for UK Web Host Review, providing content on SEO, web hosting, web performance, UX, web security, web design, and much more

6 years ago
How Millennials are revolutionizing the Digital Banking & Payments Scenario
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

How Millennials are revolutionizing the Digital Banking & Payments Scenario

According to a recent study, 86 percent of the millennials aged 18-34 years say that they are “Mobile Money Users”, meaning they use digital banking and payments solutions on their smartphones. The millennials were the first to get introduced to gadgets and electronic products. And this is one of the reasons why they are more comfortable using digital payment solutions on their gadgets.

Let us discover the aspects that drive millennials to use digital banking and payment solutions. We will also look at the ways they are using these payment solutions in their daily life.

Millennials are Exploring New Options

Digital banking service providers are promoting cashless transactions in order to save recurring expenses and to grow their customer base. The millennials seem to be most interested in the options offered by payment solution providers. The use of hard cash is diminishing day by day and digital banking & payments are on a consistent rise.

Credit card, debit card, and net banking payment solutions are widely accepted around the world. Not only millennials but other generations are equally proficient in using these payment modes. But when it comes to evolving online payment platforms, millennials are the first one to register their presence.

Let’s take a look at the peer-to-peer lending services. Whether you are booking tickets for a concert or dining out at a vegan café; you can use the peer-to-peer lending app to split the bill. This is an excellent choice for all those who go out in groups. Nobody shares the burden of paying bills as everyone can contribute their share. And as millennials tend to go out in groups frequently, they are the ones who are enthusiastically using and promoting these payment sharing services.

Microfinance companies have initiated collateral-free loans. Yet again, millennials are at the forefront to avail these services. The complete process takes place online, from submitting documents to verification to setting up automatic EMIs.

Besides these, unified payment interface (UPI) facility links your mobile number with your bank account, allowing for hassle-free payments without entering user credentials. Similarly, contactless cards working on the principle of near-field communication (NFC) are a rage these days. And undoubtedly, millennials are the ones who are vigorously adopting these digital payment solutions.

Digital Solutions Because…

There are various reasons to opt for digital banking and payment solutions. For millennials, the following factors prompt them to opt for digital solutions:

  • Real-time – You don’t need to wait for hours, or even minutes, to complete a digital transaction. Everything happens in real time, whether it’s splitting money amongst friends or subscribing to a recurring OTT subscription.
  • Secure – Financial transactions must happen over secure online payment systems because financial fraud is a common phenomenon. And millennials, like everyone else, opt for digital banking solutions that integrate robust security measures such as PCI-DSS compliance, 2FA, 256-bit AES encryption, and so on.
  • Convenience – You don’t need to step into the bank premise, sign up checks, count the cash, etc; there are countless ways of conveniently transacting with digital banking solutions. And as time is the most important asset for everyone, including millennials, you can save a lot of it by using digital payment solutions.
  • Personalization – As millennials are tech savvy, they are more inclined towards personalizing preferences on digital banking apps and systems. So whether it’s opting for subscriptions, managing contact list, or browsing offers; these apps have features that millennials simply love.
  • Environment-friendly – Digital banking solutions eliminate the need to use paper and don’t require you to commute to and fro. These are progressive steps that aim at reducing carbon footprint. The millennials are quite conscious about the need to keep the environment clean and prefer eco-friendly solutions.

Final Words

Millennials are surely harbingers of change in the digital banking and payments landscape. While the previous generation is learning from millennials to adapt to digital solutions, the future generations will surely take these to the next level.

6 years ago
How to ensure fraud and chargeback prevention
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

How to ensure fraud and chargeback prevention

Fraud and chargeback claims can malign your reputation, eventually resulting in loss in your business. In order for merchants to safeguard themselves against fraud and chargeback, it is recommended that they either choose a reliable and secure online payment platform available in the market or hire professionals to handle cases of chargeback and fraud within the company. Before we discuss the strategies for fraud and chargeback prevention, let us look at the definition of chargeback.

What is a chargeback?

Chargeback refers to an appeal made by a cardholder/consumer against fraud committed by a merchant. The appeal is made to the issuing bank. The bank deducts said amount from the merchant until the merchant is able to collect enough evidence to prove his/her case, in which case the money is returned. In some cases, the cardholder may issue a second chargeback known as pre-arbitration. This occurs when a consumer is determined to prove that he/she has been a victim of fraud at the hand of the merchant.

Let us discuss certain principles and restrictions that a merchant should look into in order to prevent fraud and chargeback.

Restriction on the number of payment attempts

Most online transactions happen through an online payment gateway. One way to minimize the risk of chargebacks is to impose a restriction on the number of times a cardholder can attempt to make a payment. Additionally, the number of purchases made through one card in a day can also be restricted. This simple principle can help you reduce the risk of chargebacks and even prevent the problem from occurring altogether.

Restrictions with regard to email

It is often found that people who come with an intention of committing fraud use multiple email addresses to make purchases using the same card. A merchant must monitor the cards that are linked to multiple email addresses. This may seem like a rather simple way of dealing with it, but it can be a highly preventative measure. It is always better to catch them before the crime occurs.

Monitoring IP addresses

Technology now makes it possible to monitor IP addresses. This can work in favor of the merchant since they can monitor the addresses and find out the e-commerce history and reputation of a particular buyer. There are multiple restrictions that a merchant can apply, such as blacklisting a particular IP address.

Customer service

Credit card companies often offer chargeback notification as a service. This means that any time a cardholder raises a dispute, the merchant is informed simultaneously. By making use of this service and providing good customer support, it is oftentimes easy to address the customer’s issues. Prompt action in such cases can help prevent chargebacks and build better customer relations for the future.

Maintaining and updating records

It is always a good idea to maintain complete and up-to-date records of all transactions made by a cardholder. These records should include dates of purchase, the amounts paid as well as authorization information. These records can be very helpful while handling and fighting chargeback disputes.

Proper training of employees

Employees should be trained on how to handle card and non-card transactions. By enlightening them on the subject, the merchant can save himself/herself from fraud altogether. Verifying signatures, requiring complete card information, etc. are just some ways that fraud can be prevented. As the popular adage goes ‘prevention is better than cure’; it would save the merchant a lot in chargeback fee if the fraud was to be prevented altogether.

Choose your battles

The merchant is charged a certain fee when a chargeback is asked for. An additional fee is imposed if the merchant decides to dispute it. Too many chargebacks also damage the merchant’s relationship with the account provider. Therefore, it is wise for the merchant to choose to dispute only the chargebacks that he/she is likely to win.

The above-mentioned steps may seem like too much for a merchant to take on by themselves. It is advisable, in such a case, to hire a chargeback management firm to deal with the issue of fraud and chargebacks, and adopt these effective strategies to safeguard your business.

6 years ago