Archive for July 25th, 2009

How To Accept Credit Cards Without A Merchant Account

Saturday, July 25th, 2009

How To Accept Credit Cards Without A Merchant Account
To increase sales on your website, you must accept credit cards. To process credit cards, you could apply for a merchant account through your bank or other financial institution. Sometimes, though, you would be further ahead to use the services of a credit card processor. This is especially true when you are first starting out and have more limited resources. In this way, you may process credit card transactions without the high front-end costs and requirements of a merchant account. Here, then, are just a few ways of accepting credit cards without a merchant account. I personally use all of these vendors and can recommend them wholeheartedly. 1. Clickbank If your product is downloadable (such as electronic books or software), you might consider ClickBank.com . For a $49.95 initial fee, you can process credit cards and on-line cheques for $1.00 per transaction plus 7.5% of sales. You receive additional exposure through free listing on their website and through the search facilities of other websites, such as CBMall.com. As an added bonus, you have your own built-in affiliate program. You decide what commission (from 1% to 75%) you would like to pay your affiliates. 2. PayPal PayPal.com has no initial fees. For just 2.9% of sales and $ .30 per transaction (and sometimes less), you can receive money from anyone. Also, you can pay others by credit card or chequing account without supplying your personal credit information to the payee. PayPal can be used to collect money from your auctions, website sales, or even from friends or clients. 3. PaySystems In the original edition of this article, I recommended PaySystems.com (also known as MyPaySystems.com). This is what I wrote about them: “PaySystems.com can handle either intangible (downloadable) or tangible (shippable) products. For an initial fee of $49.00, you can accept all major credit cards as well as online checks. Fees are just 3.95% of sales and $1.00 per transaction. Alternatively, you may pay 5.5% of sales and $ .35 per transaction.” “For this, you receive shopping cart, integration with third-party affiliate programs (such as ClixGalore.com), fraud screening, multi-currency transactions, toll-free support, marketing tools, and more.” Unfortunately, PaySystems.com has discontinued their “Internet Billing Account” for those outside the United States. 4. 2CheckOut 2CheckOut.com can handle both intangible and tangible products. For an initial fee of $49.00, you can accept all major credit cards as well as online checks. Fees are just 5.5% of sales and $0.45 per transaction. For this, you receive shopping cart, fraud detection, integration with third-party affiliate programs, multi-currency transactions, free on-line support, and more. Incidentally, 2CheckOut.com has the same policy as ClickBank.com does with regard to sales taxes. Both companies take the position that you are selling your product to them and that they resell it to the final consumer. Thus, they claim that you are not subject to sales taxes on those sales. J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over twenty-five years. To learn more about accepting credit cards and other profitable Work at Home Small Business Ideas, visit <a href="http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/creditcards.html" target="_blank">http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/creditcards.html</a>
Source: www.ArticlePros.com

Reasons Why to Include Images in your eBay Auction Listings
When you put an item up on sale on eBay don’t forget to include some product images in your listing. By not doing so you will lose a lot of bids. Even if you write a detailed description of your item, product images are still essential. Despite your past history as eBay seller and even if you have a very positive feedback score, people are always somewhat reluctant to buy online due to the lack of a personal contact with the seller. And I couldn’t honestly say that this attitude is unjustified because unfortunately eBay frauds do exist! Images will help you demonstrate that you aren’t hiding anything with regards to the quality of the product you sell. Depending by the nature of the item you sell, several pictures from different angles can be the optimal choice. EBay sellers often offer slightly defective items at a greatly discounted price. If this happens to you and even if you have well documented the item conditions in your listing, try to include a detailed picture of the flaw. You will show to a potential buyer that you are completely honest about the nature of the item you sell. Selling tutorials available on eBay site will give you some tips on the best way to take picture of your eBay items with a digital camera or a scanner. For more details visit www.auction-entrepreneur-kit-com. They are very basic advices, but still useful if you are completely inexperienced with digital photography. - Optimize your images Images have also some drawbacks. You should always try to find a good compromise between details and image size as biggest images can considerably slow down your eBay listing page and make you lose some bids. Buyers are impatient and not everyone has a fast Internet connection. Usually digital cameras or scanners are sold with a photo retouching software that allows you to convert images in a file format suitable for the Web (JPEG) and reduce the file size by reducing image dimensions or the number of colors. - No broken images please Nothing will drive potential buyers away from your eBay listing page more quickly than a broken image. When you create your listing you are allowed to load images from your hard disk and store it on eBay server. This is the safest choice because your images will be surely available when people visit your listing. But you can also include externally hosted images by using the HTML imp tag in your listing. If you choose to do so, be sure to host your image files with a reliable service. If the host where your images reside becomes inaccessible for any reason, eBay users visiting your listing will see a broken image. If you run your own website you can save the images in a directory on your hosting account. For more details visit www.auction-extreme-package.com. Be aware that some web hosting services don’t allow remote linking of images, i.e. using your host web space as a storage area for images you use on other sites, in this case eBay. This is usually true for free hosting services, so if you have a paid hosting account you should not have problems. Alternatively you can utilize one of the many image hosting services. You can find many of these services with a simple search on Google. Usually every site offers clear instructions that will make the entire procedure really simple even for the most inexperienced users. An image is worth a thousand words. This is true also when you sell on eBay. Make good use of images in your auction listings and you will always receive more bids.<a href="http://www.mining-auction-gold.com">www.mining-auction-gold.com</a> <a href="http://www.auction-words.com">www.auction-words.com</a>
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Merchant Credit Card Account Applications
Since a personal credit card provides us with the means to make life easier and more enjoyable, can you imagine what a merchant credit card account can do for your business? This type of account is more than just a line of credit. It is an entire service package that offers support to help your company flourish and grow. Of course, as with any other type of credit account, it is important to use it responsibly. The first step toward obtaining this type of financial and technical support is to submit an application. Finding a merchant credit card account company is not hard at all. You just have to check with bankers in your area to see if they provide this service and are willing to work with you. Barring that route, you can do an online Internet search to find merchant account providers who are accepting new clients. There are plenty of banks and professional lenders who are looking for entrepreneurs to work with. They often will take a chance on new business owners if they think you have the potential to become a trusted client. But first you will need to pass muster by demonstrating your company’s capabilities in a few distinct areas. One is that you have a solid credit history and are not in bankruptcy. A copy of your company’s credit history should be adequate proof for this requirement. A second criterion is that your business has enough income to meet the new expenses of a merchant account. Bank statements or an annual report should help with this concern. Another thing the lender will want to know is the type of business you are doing. If you traffic in pornography, are engaged in telemarketing, or have left a trail linking your company to some unsavory dealings, the underwriter may decline your application. Conditions can vary; so ask about the eligibility requirements before applying. The next step toward applying for a merchant credit card account is to submit the application. Some lenders provide an online form that you can submit electronically, although you may be charged a fee for this privilege. Other loan agents will let you download a print application that you can complete in ink and mail by U.S. post. Either way, you will probably receive a response to your application within a few days by e-mail or in a letter. If your application is accepted, you can immediately begin to use your credit line and service package to set up a credit card processing system. Working with an account associate, you can arrange to install a credit card processor at your store’s checkout area. Or you can buy a wireless model for several hundred dollars and take it with you on the road when you service computers or appliances, or make deliveries to homes or businesses. Discuss the applications of your new merchant account with the loan officer to clarify limits and equipment options for your company’s use. You won’t be able to enjoy the use of merchant services until you apply for them, so ask your preferred lender about the application process for a merchant credit card account. Shane Penrod is the founder of <a href="http://www.merchant-account-quotes.com" title="http://www.merchant-account-quotes.com" target="_blank">http://www.merchant-account-quotes.com</a> Specializing in allowing merchants the ability to shop and compare multiple quotes from national merchant account providers. For free quotes on merchant account rates and fees, please go to <a href="http://www.merchant-account-quotes.com" title="http://www.merchant-account-quotes.com" target="_blank">http://www.merchant-account-quotes.com</a>.
Source: www.ArticlePros.com