Get Your Business Ready to Get Paid.
Moolah. Cheddar. Dinero. Okane. Green. Money. It’s what your business needs. If you’re not getting paid, then your business isn’t going to last very long. Unfortunately, the ability to actually get paid can be one of the most complicated things to set up.
Some would argue that simply getting paid by cash means that it’s not a difficult process. But businesses don’t get paid mainly in cash anymore. We have to deal with the more abstract methods of credit and debit cards.
The merchant account
You need to open an account into which the money customers give you can actually be paid. I’m going to assume that you don’t want to use your personal bank account! (Unless you’re just doing some freelance solo work. But, in that case, this article probably isn’t for you anyway!) Even if you’re still certain you only want to get paid in cash, you need one of these accounts.
Setting up a merchant account is you taking the first step you need to take in order to get paid. If you don’t have one, you’re not going to make it very far here. Once you’ve got this account set up, you should then get the business tax process started with your government. This ensures that you are taxed correctly, in accordance with your business type and merchant account setup.
Getting telephonic
Everyone seems to forget about receiving payments over the phone. But people are definitely underestimating how often telephone payments occur. Pretty much all of the big names in commerce will accept payments in this way. After all, it’s actually relatively easy to set up. It also ensures that your customers have as many ways as possible to pay you!
The biggest complication when it comes to telephone payments is making sure that you’re following the law. When we deal with telephonic payments, we’re dealing with a very complex legal area. This is why you should be looking into PCI DSS compliance. If you don’t follow these regulations, you could be putting the card information of your customers at risk.
Credit and debit cards
And so we come to what provides us with the bulk of our business profits. Getting a card machine for a brick-and-mortar store is easy enough. But getting this stuff set up for online payments is a bit trickier. Still, it’s not as complex as some may make it out to be. The right merchant account provider will also be able to provide you with the Internet facilities you need.
When you have the website set up and your account set up, you’ll need a payment gateway. This is the software that actually processes the payment. In a way, it’s basically a digital middleperson. You’ve probably heard of the most famous payment gateway there is: PayPal. But if you don’t want to go with PayPal, you can work with Amazon, Square, Flint, or many others. You’ll also need to make sure your network security is strong. These transactions can also become prey to cyber criminals looking for customer data.
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