Vital Mistakes To Avoid When You Choose A Payment Processing Company

When you first start a business, your priorities generally revolve around making sure that the products/services that you provide are as high quality as possible. As time goes on and your products/services are improved and perfected, your priorities shift to marketing and making it easy for customers to make a purchase.

With this shift comes a focus on finding a reliable payment processing company that can handle credit card payments. Unfortunately, many businesses mess up this process by choosing a company that doesn’t provide high quality and secure payment processing.

To help ensure you make the right decision, here is a look at some vital mistakes that you’ll want to avoid when choosing a payment processing company.

Mistake #1 – Not Prioritizing Security

When it comes to payment processing, security is absolutely essential. There can be no compromising on this. If the company you’re looking into doesn’t have a history of strong security, choosing them is not an option.

Nothing, not even price or ease-of-use, should take priority over security. If you do not choose a secure credit card processor, you are putting your customers at risk.

Not only are your customers at risk, but if a situation does occur where your card processing systems are compromised, it has a negative impact on the reputation of your brand and business. Customers will often not even consider that it was the payment processing company’s fault.

Even major brands like Target and Home Depot are not immune to having their reputation significantly damaged by compromised payment processing systems. Both companies saw their stocks drop by well over $5 in the weeks following hacking scandals related to their processing systems.

So, before you even think about working with any payment processing company, make sure the security measures they have in place are reliable.

Mistake #2 – Not Knowing About Early Termination and Inactivity Fees

With most payment processing companies that you work with, you will be required to sign a contract. In general, this contract will be an agreement that you, the business, will be using a company’s payment processor for anywhere from 1-3 years.

As payment processing expert Ben Dwyer says, a payment processing contract is:

“…a good thing because it provides protections for businesses and processors by clearly outlining the responsibilities of each party.”

The problem with many of these contracts, however, is that there is often hidden language that includes information about early termination and inactivity fees. This means that, if you ever become dissatisfied with the processing company you’re working with, canceling their services could cost you hundreds of dollars.

You can generally avoid these issues by simply asking the company what their policies are for early termination or inactivity. It is also a good idea to look over your contract thoroughly before finalizing any type of agreement.

No matter how you get the information, make sure you know exactly what fees are associated with early termination and inactivity before signing on the dotted line. While it is important to have a written contract, you want to make sure you’re not getting ripped off in the long run.

Mistake #3 – Making the Decision Based Off Pricing

As much as you want to save money and get the best rates when choosing a payment processing company, this cannot and should not be the basis for your decision. Security, reliability, and ease-of-use should all trump pricing when making your decision.

By basing your choice off the above factors, you raise the likelihood that the company you end up choosing will remain your payment processor of choice for many years to come. This, in turn, can help you make up for the potentially higher costs of their services over the long run.

Avoiding the mistakes listed above will help ensure that you don’t end up in a bad contract with an unreliable payment processing company. By doing your research and basing your decision off of factors that make sense for your business, you can avoid making a decision that could cost thousands.