Increase Your Profits and Lessen Chargebacks!

Sept. 1, 2009 - PRLog -- Increase Your Profits and Lessen Chargebacks!

Boosting Sales

In our world today, even a single cent counts so by adding them to your bottom line is also a big help. The steps here will increase your profits, either by boosting sales, reducing credit card fees and expenses, or blocking theft.

For businesses in the food service industry, running a restaurant point of sale system, this can greatly help you!

Take Checks

They are still widely used, especially among older customers. If you haven’t been accepting checks, start soon. There’s equipment that will scan the check as quickly as a credit card, check out and measure them against a nationwide database of bad check writers, electronically transfers the money to your account, and can guarantee that funds will be delivered to you within a few days. In addition, it costs less than for credit cards and adds up 10-15% of your sales—maybe more if seniors make up the majority of your customers.

Credit Cards

Already accepting Visa and MasterCards?Do consider accepting other credit cards besides Visa and MasterCard. But what about Discover and American Express? The latter, in particular, generally accompanies larger transactions. You might have felt hesitated because of the fee, but reconsider—a 1% difference may not look worthy of consideration for you, and since American Express transactions are often larger than those of other cards, you’ll make it up in gross profit. Furthermore, it can help keep your customers coming back because your business will be well know of accepting all forms of credit cards.

Do A Research

Most merchants think their fees are 1.69 percent plus $.19 because that’s their qualified rate on a tiered pricing program. Though fewer than 20 of 100 transactions receive the low qualified rate and all the rest downgrade and cost one, two, or even three percent. Researching alternate programs that offer different interchange rates could end up saving more than you think.

Understanding Statements

Neither you nor your bookkeeper would have to scratch the back of your heads over complex credit card statements that just doesn’t fit. A few companies have made extraordinary efforts to simplify these reports. You should be able to reconcile your statement and rates without exceeding 15 minutes.

Get Reports Over The Internet

Don’t wait for the post office to deliver a letter disputing a charge. With Internet reporting, you will know within 24 hours, allowing you to aggressively defend against chargebacks. This type of quick action will increase your success rates and reduce your losses.

No need to scratch your head over complex credit card statements and for your bookkeeper as well.

Using Card Validation Value and Address Verification System. These highly effective fraud screens can reduce losses, and by using them correctly, you obtain the lowest possible rate for discounts.

Another thing, avoid by being PCI compliant. There are mammoth fines charged to merchants who are hacked, and they can drive you out of business. Take the time to read Visa’s report on noncompliant systems, be alert at all cost.

Reduce Chargebacks

For Internet and phone orders, implementing the “Verified by Visa” or “MasterCard Secure Code” plug-in on your web site eliminates all cardholder nonauthorization chargebacks. The state of being legally obliged and responsible for these chargebacks is shifted away back to the issuing card bank, and you qualify for the lowest discount rate available. Just by following this simple step, you can eliminate up to 80% of all chargebacks and increase your profits.

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With over 20 years of restaurant point of sale experience and helping businesses in the food-service industry nationwide increase their efficiency and bottom-line profits, the author of this article is the VP of Customer Relations at POS-For-Restaurants.com.

You may visit http://www.pos-for-restaurants.com for further understanding of how our national network of restaurant point of sale professionals can help your business achieve greater success in these difficult economic times.

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