You know that you must accept Visa and MasterCard; most catalogers wouldn’t be in business without them. And you know that credit card processing can be expensive, typically costing more than 2 percent of sales. But you probably don’t know if your payment processor is doing a good job, or if you’re getting value for your money. And what you don’t know might be hurting your business. But a little information goes a long way. This article will provide ways to evaluate a payment processor, and tips to help you understand your options and make sure you’re getting the biggest possible bang
Payment Options
If you’re shopping for a direct commerce payment processor, you’ll have a bit of homework to do. Following are some tools that can help get the job done quickly and efficiently. What to Look for When selecting a payment-processing partner, determine the data-transmission protocols and transmission gateways it accepts and with which it works. For high-volume batch transmissions, bisynchronous communications are preferable to asynchronous; that is, you can transmit your authorization requests and deposit data, then get approvals and deposit confirmations back from the processor—all in a single phone call. Asynchronous batch transmissions work like a CB or walkie-talkie: One party transmits, then
In a tightening economy, back-end fulfillment costs such as chargebacks—dispute mechanisms credit card customers use to reverse transactions—comprise a line item worth scrutinizing. Depending on the volume of chargebacks a cataloger is hit with in a set time period, fees (which are levied on a merchant) can run from $20 up to a whopping $150 per chargeback. “To say the least, chargebacks can get very expensive for merchants,” says Scott Martin, chief operating officer of EPX, a New Castle, DE-based electronic payment processor. Here’s how catalogers can reduce chargebacks generated from either customer disputes or outright fraud. Tips to Reduce Customer Disputes
The holiday season is over. Those record orders and sales days have finally come to an end. You are feeling optimistic about the season ending but then—reality sets in! You now find your company very short on cash. What do you do? Where do you turn? How can your company continue to operate? Welcome to the dilemmas of the mail order catalog business! Post-holiday rush is the time of year that many catalogers find they need to implement a turnaround plan to ease under-capitalization. Under-capitalization is a common problem among small- to medium-sized catalog companies, especially in times of low activity when
Although Peruvian Connection didn’t launch its first international catalog until 1994, CEO and Co-founder Annie Hurlbut maintains the cataloger was an international company long before its first foray into the global market. As its name suggests, the Peruvian Connection has shared its history with the country and mountain people of Peru. Peruvian Connection began as a “happenstance” when Annie Hurlbut came home for her mother Biddy’s 50th birthday at Christmastime in 1976. At the time she was conducting research in Peru in pursuit of a doctoral degree in anthropology. As a gift she gave her mother an alpaca sweater she found in a Peruvian