In today’s world, you have to be able to accept credit cards both at your brick and mortar store and on your website. But before you sign up for online merchant account services, there are 4 things you need to know:

1. You can’t cut corners on security

Thanks to internet criminals – like hackers and identity thieves – buying things on the world wide web is risky. People don’t hand over their credit card information to just anyone. Even if you have the greatest products in the world, people won’t buy them if they don’t feel comfortable punching in their financial information on your website.

That’s why you need an online merchant credit card processing system that focuses on the latest and greatest security measures. If your merchant services provider can’t give you things like fraud monitoring and encryption services, find another one. You either need to accept credit cards online securely, or don’t bother accepting them at all!

2. It needs to be easy

Even if you have all kinds of security measures in place, you still need online merchant account services that are easy to use. People who buy things online tend to be very impatient. If they have to jump through a bunch of hoops just to place an order, they’ll just go look for a website that’s easier to deal with.

When you accept credit cards online, only ask for must-have information. The more information boxes you make people fill in, the less likely they are to actually complete their order.

3. You need a merchant services provider that offers 24/7 technical support
When you accept credit cards online, you are open for business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you suffer some kind of technical issue, you don’t have time to wait for “normal business hours” to roll around to resolve it. After all, for every minute that you can’t accept credit cards, you’re missing out on business! That’s why you need a merchant services provider that will be able to help you resolve technical issues – whether it’s 3:00 in the morning or 3:00 in the afternoon.

4. You need to be able to accept everything

A good online merchant credit card processing system will enable you to accept all kinds of credit cards, from a variety of different issuers – including debit cards and gift cards. If you can’t accept a number of different credit cards, you’ll wind up missing out on sales!