Welcome to part 5 of our 12 part series – “Tell Me the Best Merchant Solution for My Business.” In this chapter of our services we will discuss the following question: Can I accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Gift Cards, Promo Codes on my website, Debit Card, or eCheck?
The short answer: Yes any high quality merchant service provider should be able to offer you everything mentioned above.
The next question is: should you accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover Gift Cards, Promo codes on my website, Debit Cards or eCheck?
The short answer: It depends. Let’s break this question out in parts.
Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover
First off, any business should accept all major credit cards. That includes Visa, Mastercard, American Express & Discover. If you don’t you will lose sales revenue.
Debit Card & eCheck
If your business is a doctor’s office, business to business company, or retail outlet you should also accept Debit Card and eCheck. You should do all of the above because it increases your sales. Some companies may opt to accept checks but will not electronically verify them. This is a mistake. Electronically verifying the checks made out to you at the point of purchase will let you know if the check you are accepting is good. It will save your company a lot of lost revenue and lost time in collections.
Promo Codes on a Website
If your business offers ecommerce transactions online, make sure you have the ability to offer promo codes on your website. These promo codes can be used in your online advertising, word of mouth advertising, advertising on online coupon sites, as well as television and radio advertisements. Promo codes not only increase your sales but they help you track the return on investment from all of your different advertising offerings.
Gift Cards
The last question is gift cards. All retail companies and restaurants should offer gift cards. The advantage of doing it through a merchant service processor is that you can see the balance of all of your unused gift card amount and you can make sure that no one takes advantage of the system as is often the case with paper gift cards.
