Home Business How To Start Accepting Credit Cards for Online Payment at Your Shop

How To Start Accepting Credit Cards for Online Payment at Your Shop

by MarketBillion
How To Start Accepting Credit Cards for Online Payment at Your Shop

Did you know that 80% of consumers prefer to pay with a credit card in comparison to cash? If your business isn’t accepting credit cards, you’re automatically leaving money on the table for other businesses to take.

With credit cards accounting for the majority of payment methods, your business should fall in line with this to level the playing field with the competition. Until you comply with the popularity of credit cards, the way you run your business won’t be able to compete with other companies in your local area, not successfully anyway.

The thing is, a quarter of Americans have said that while they still carry cash but rarely, if at all. Depending on your business presence this means that you can’t take the chance of losing out on those that only carry card options.

Keep reading as we show you how to get started with accepting credit cards.

Accepting Credit Cards: The Process

It’s not hard to start accepting credit cards. All you need is the proper high risk payment getaway to accept payments safely.

To get started you need to find a provider for credit card processing. The point of this is to have a host platform that will take care of credit card transactions for you. These platforms have the capability of accepting all forms of credit cards such as American Express, Visa, and MasterCard.

They also handle processing fees between the credit card network and the type of transaction being made. The rest of the process will work by following the last two steps;

  • Opening an account with the merchant you choose
  • Starting the setup of payment terminals

Once you decide on the platform you’ll be using to handle your credit card processing, you will still be able to take in-person payments. The difference is that you will now be able to accept mobile and online payments for your eCommerce sales as well.

Credit card transactions are a must-offer item for successful businesses. Regardless of the platform you work with, there will only be about three steps involved with getting set up. The good thing is, almost all payment hosting platforms will provide specific instructions to get you completely set up.

Why Should Your Business Take Credit Cards?

Businesses that are cash-only are missing out on potential customers and potential profits that those customers would bring. Cash might be easier for some consumers to pay with but credit cards are significantly more convenient.

You don’t want to limit your business to only taking credit card payments. You can still take cash as well but the point is to expand the way customers can pay. This is so you don’t deter their business along with future business.

Not to mention, if you turn away their money once, chances are, you won’t have access to their money again. The main reason for this is that they will remember your establishment as a cash-only facility and may not attempt to return.

Keep in mind that 76% of consumers have at least one credit card in their name. This means that the majority of the consumer population has credit and will more than likely prefer to use that method. Credit cards are easier to keep up with and they don’t require any fiddling around with such as cash.

Popularity Is Hard to Deny

Additionally, consumers appreciate credit cards given that they can connect them to their smart devices and complete their purchases with one tap thanks to chip technology. With cash, this isn’t possible to do. Credit cards and debit cards, combined, account for at least 76% of in-person payments.

Cash payments only account for 19% of in-person payments leaving about 5% for other forms of payment. If your business is denying accommodation for the majority of the population and what they prefer, you’re hurting your bottom line and that will show when you compare your end-of-year earnings to that of competing businesses that do offer credit card payment options.

When deciding on the way you want to allow purchases to be made, consider how prevalent digital payment methods are. With mobile wallets becoming increasingly popular, this is an opportunity you won’t want to deny your business.

Limiting Your Payment Methods Means Accepting Loss of Potential Earnings

Did you know that if you only accept cash you’re losing 11.8 million customers? This may seem like a high number but think of how many customers you see in a year that comply with your cash-only policies. Then think about how many customers you missed out on once they find out about that policy.

This is an estimation of how many customers you could potentially service if you offer a credit card payment method. You have to also consider the fact that with credit cards you will be opening up scalability opportunities for your business. What this means is that you will now have the capability of establishing an online presence since credit cards can be used online.

If you’re targeting high-income audiences you won’t be able to grab the attention of that audience and sustain it unless you offer them forms of payment that suit the way they like to settle purchases.

There are a few key reasons why most people prefer paying with credit cards. To start, credit card companies offer rewards for using their cards. Whether to earn airline miles, discounts on what they buy or accumulate points to turn into cash, credit cards mean extra money and extra savings for many.

In addition to these perks, credit cards also help with building credit scores and creating more of a healthy credit history. There are plenty of people who prefer to use credit cards to cover major purchases. Some examples would be, a new car, boat, or home, and while doing this they’re working to build their credit history.

Getting What You Need to Expand Your Payment Options

Most consumers prefer digitally-based methods of payment because of their simplicity. Helping customers by providing efficiency will help drive more traffic to your business.

It will also help increase trust and ease when it comes to promoting what you sell. Accepting credit cards is a way to do that.

When you compare what it takes to start offering this method with how much more you will bring in, in terms of earnings, the benefits are hard to deny. Enhance your business efforts by expanding the payment methods you offer and continue growing your business by reading more of our content.

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