Your business exists to make money, whether you sell car repair services or high-end lingerie. Your ability to make that money depends on your customer service and your quality of goods and services, but it also depends on how you accept payment from your customers.
Canadians Don’t Like to Use Cash
According to the Royal Bank of Canada, only 33% of Canadians prefer to use cash over electronic methods, like debit credit cards and so-called “charge cards.” The majority of Canadian consumers find using debit credit cards more convenient, and they prefer the safety that comes with not carrying around a wallet full of cash. As statistics from About.com show, debit credit cards are the most popular type of payment in the Great White North, used by over 50% of its consumers. That’s why, on average, businesses accepting debit credit cards see 12% higher sales than those who only accept cash.
Unfortunately, unlike cash, accepting debit credit cards opens your business up to processing fees, data theft, and fraud. If you want to accept debit credit cards and maximize your business potential without breaking the bank or leaving yourself open to crime, read on.
How to Reduce the Risks and Costs of Accepting Debit and Credit Cards
- Shop Around and Negotiate
- Encourage Debit Use
- Make Sure Your Processing Service is PCI Compliant
According to The Wall Street Journal, one of the best ways to lower the costs of accepting debit credit cards is to shop around between card processing solutions and make an effort to negotiate. Certain rates are set; Visas, for example, have a set processing rate of .61%, but the amount that your processing company sets on top of that may be negotiable.
Debit cards classically offer a cheaper processing fee than their credit-based counterparts. About.com writes that the average credit card transaction will require you to pay upwards 2% of your sales to your processing company. Debit cards, on the other hand, generally won’t cost you more than 1.9%.
While using debit is more affordable for your business, suggesting that your customers use debit credit cards over charge cards isn’t enough to make it happen. If you explain to your customers that debit cards are not only safer, because they require the extra step of entering a pin, and you tell them debit card transactions show up on bank statements much faster, thereby helping them to avoid over-drafting their accounts, you’ll have a much better chance of saving. As an added bonus, your customers will leave your store knowing you’re watching out for them.
You need to be sure that whatever electronic payment solutions you use offers PCI compliant security systems. The FBI reports that a staggering 280,000 cases of cybercrime happen every year, costing American consumers and businesses $110 billion. Even so, as ZDNet.com writes, 55% of small business owners have no idea what sort of security their payment system offers. Before you employ the services of debit credit cards processing services, make sure they offer PCI compliant security.
Accepting debit credit cards is the key to improving your sales. If you want to increase your revenue and avoid the potential pitfalls of accepting payment electronically, keep these tips in mind. Read more articles like this.