Credit card processing is a vital piece of the potential success of your business. Merchant accounts are crucial. However, being labelled as a high risk merchant can decrease your profits as the fees associated with high risk merchant accounts are high. Therefore, it is important that you understand how to avoid being put into the category of a high risk merchant.
Keep Your Credit Card Processing Company Informed
Merchant accounts can easily be flagged when changes occur without notice. This could be an increase in the volume of sales or an increase to the average sales ticket. By keeping your merchant provider informed, you can ward off anything that could be viewed as suspicious activity.
Practice Security Measures to Prevent Fraudulent Charges
The more security measures you take to prevent fraudulent charges on credit cards the less charge backs you will have on your account. For in-store purchases, train your employees to always verify the signature on the card. Online merchants will want to take extra measures, including address verification and security code verification. This will ensure that the card is not being used fraudulently.
Provide Quality Customer Service
Your first step in providing quality customer service is to make sure every customer can reach you. Make certain that it is your customer service number after your company name on the customer’s billing statement. Should a customer be dissatisfied with a product, provide them with complete return instructions. It is also important to provide thorough follow-up with each customer complaint you receive. These measures will also help to keep your charge backs to a minimum.
Secure Your Business Online
It is also vital that your customers feel safe using their credit card. If you fail to block hackers from getting your business information, you could lose everything. Encrypting your site and keeping your operating systems up-to-date is an important aspect of keeping your credit card processing safe.
The downfall to being labelled as a high risk merchant is that you will pay higher fees for your processing. Higher fees will take away from your profit and, once labelled, it will take a lot of time to repair your business’ reputation.