Setting your business up to accept credit cards is a great way to reach out to new customers and encourage your existing customers to spend more. Nowadays, most businesses that process credit/debit cards do so via a merchant account. Merchant accounts essentially serve as a credit/debit card processing agreement between a business, a merchant bank and/or a third-party processor.

The following are a couple of tips that both current and prospective merchant account users can benefit from:

Buy Non-Proprietary Hardware

Credit card payments are processed via a POS terminal when customer credit cards are either swiped or manually keyed-in. With so many POS terminals available on the market, it is often times hard to choose between them. When looking at terminal you want to weigh it’s accessibility, flexibility, operating speed, cost, functionality and reliability. You’ll also want to consider whether or not a terminal is non-propriety. Non-Proprietary essentially means that the terminal’s hardware and software are independent of each and thus can be bought separately. Non-Proprietary terminals can pretty much be reprogrammed by any processor, making them a much more open and accommodating option than the alternative- a proprietary system. With a proprietary POS, terminal hardware and software are packaged together, sold, and supported all by the same company. This makes them very vendor specific and severely limits the options that are available to the user. In my opinion you should never buy proprietary hardware or hardware that you can’t take with you to another processor.

Conduct Due Dilligence

This may seem like a no-brainer, but there are a lot of dishonest credit card processing companies out there, and you’d be surprised by how many business owners are duped by them due to lack of research. I cannot stress enough how vitally important it is that you conduct due diligence and fully investigate a credit card processing company prior to signing a contract.

Don’t assume that because a company is large or has been in business for a long time that it makes them a legit or worthy partner. A lot of companies try to hide their less-than-honest practices and shady pasts from consumers by selling out to a bigger vendor or bank. Reading online reviews and ratings in my opinion simply isn’t enough to protect your business from these types of wily providers. The best way to ascertain the legitimacy, trustworthiness and reliability of a potential provider is through performing a background check. Contact the Better Business Bureau where the company is headquartered to get a reliability report or simply conduct an online search through there website here.

Also, don’t solely rely on internet and email when in communication with these types of companies. Talk with someone in customer service via phone or live chat and be sure that you get and later verify their credentials.”

Build a Secure Network

For those looking to acquire an internet merchant account, having a secure network is the first and best line of defense against the many types of online fraud- identity theft, hackers, etc. It is absolutely important that you install and maintain a firewall configuration that sufficiently protects your customer’s cardholder data. This will enable communications and transactions across your network while simultaneously preventing attacks and unauthorized access. Also, never use vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security parameters. Vendors themselves can be hacked, and passwords given to clients can be compromised.

With merchant accounts, comparison shopping is absolutely vital. Be sure to look at a number of processors to find the best contract because the costs can vary greatly.For more information and reviews on merchant accounts and merchant services take a look at the information presented on businessknowhow.com, nabancard.com or credit-card-processing-review.toptenreviews.com