Posted by Elissa Beckman

At PaySimple we are always looking for ways to get involved in the community, so earlier this month, we got a group together to volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House in Denver.

If you’re not already familiar with the organization, the Ronald McDonald House is a wonderful charity that provides housing for families with children in the hospital. It allows families, who might not otherwise be able to afford it, to be close to their children—so they can provide support and love during the healing process. No family is ever turned away. The Ronald McDonald House serves as a home for 3.7 million families around the world each year. And during their stay, families are offered a number of amenities including home-cooked meals.

As such, we decided the best way for us to help out was to cook for the families at the Denver RMH. On the menu was: Sloppy Joes, chips, coleslaw, Rice Krispies Treats, and drinks. And while some of us don’t have the best cooking skills, all of the families seemed to enjoy our home-cooked meal.

It was a wonderful experience being able to put a smile on the faces of families that are going through a tough time. We encourage all small businesses and individuals to do what you can to volunteer and give back to the community. If you’re interested in volunteer opportunities at the Ronald McDonald House visit their site at: www.rmhc.com.

Popularity: 52% [?]

Posted by Sarah Jordan

Despite the doom and gloom in the economy lately, a recent press release from NACHA states that ACH payments actually experienced growth in the 4th quarter, with an amazing 4.5% increase in Q4 2008 over Q4 2007. That means that more than 3.8 billion ACH transactions were processed last quarter. The growth shows that more and more people and businesses are using ACH as a payment method, which is a promising sign that businesses (especially small businesses) are moving toward utilizing new cost-cutting, green technologies.

The overall 4.5% increase was spurred from some remarkable double-digit growth in specific segments of ACH processing. One segment was Internet ACH payments (known as “WEB” entries), which had a 16.5% increase, reaching 552 million transactions, and accounting for $220 billion. Another segment with double-digit growth was business-to-business ACH payments (known as “CTX” entries), which had a 15% growth, with 14.4 million transactions, and accounting for $691 billion. One of the most impressive areas of growth, though, came from back-office conversion (known as “BOC” entries) which grew to more than 39 million payments—up from 3 million payments in 2007.

Growth is the buzz word in the ACH payments industry and we should expect that word to stick around. NACHA President and CEO states that “…opportunities exist for great adoption of all native ACH payment types as the safe, secure, and green attributes of ACH are embraced by businesses and consumers.”

The most exciting part about this growth (other than the fact that something grew last quarter) is that business owners are consistently moving toward making their lives easier! Internet payments, check conversion, and B2B direct payments all cut costs for businesses and free business owners from the paper rut of legacy invoicing and collection processes.

Read the full article from NACHA
Learn more about ACH payments

Popularity: 70% [?]

Posted by David Sharp

With more and more small businesses obtaining merchant accounts to accept credit cards, it is essential to review some common scenarios that business owners and their consumers may run into. The merchant account agreement contains a complete explanation of key procedures, but here are some highlights.

Within the merchant agreement, there are card acceptance procedures, also known as Operating Rules. Most of these rules are generally set in place to protect all parties in the process and keep commerce flowing. If you are a business owner, at first glance, some of these conditions may not seem advantageous to your business. But it is important to keep in mind that aside from running a business, you are a consumer protected by these rules just the same.

The following is a list of common merchant violations (most you have probably even witnessed):

1. Honor All Cards Policy – Merchants are required to honor all cards presented by their customers if they have a merchant account set up to do so. They cannot turn away Corporate Cards, Purchasing Cards, Rewards Cards or the like to prevent paying additional fees and potential surcharges for accepting them. Although those card types may carry an additional expense, businesses are actually likely to experience a net benefit by taking these cards because the Corporate & Rewards card transactions are generally higher than normal Consumer cards. In other words, the higher transaction amount offsets the additional card acceptance expense.
2. Transaction Surcharges – A fee or surcharge may not be added to the advertised price of goods or services in an attempt to offset the cost of card acceptance. For example, a merchant cannot charge an extra percentage or flat fee on the payment if the customer pays with a credit card instead of cash. However, discounts may be offered off the advertised price for cash, check or other payment methods. There are minor exceptions to this rule, so be sure to check your merchant agreement to see if your business may qualify for this sort of payment.
3. Floor Limits – Merchants may not set an artificial ‘floor limit’ under which they would not agree to accept a payment card. If a business signs up to take credit cards, they must take the card presented regardless of the dollar amount. You will sometimes see merchants with a sign at the register that reads (“Credit Cards NOT Accepted for Sales Less Than $15.00”). This is a violation of the Operating Rules. If the cardholder complains to its issuing bank, the compliant would be sent from the issuing bank down the ladder, where fines or termination of the merchant account could result.

Instead of attempting to avoid the cost of accepting cards under these scenarios, embrace card acceptance for all transactions to yield higher net sales and improve your customers’ experience while doing business with you.

While merchant processing agreements are sometimes worded differently, most of the information is typically the same across the board. When situations like the aforementioned arise, it is always best to consult your agreement for specifics. If you need additional assistance with the terms of your agreement, please contact a representative to help understand the guidelines and benefits of the Operating Rules.

Popularity: 84% [?]

By Chad Gardner

With the rapid expansion of technology seeming to be coming at us from all angles, small businesses have the opportunity to test the early adopter waters to see if they can harness these advances. If all turns out as desired, this could help mitigate business expenses, while increasing business productivity – switching what would be high operational costs into increased value for consumers.

We have spoken countless times in the past about how our electronic payment processing solution gives small businesses the opportunity to collect payments like large corporations. This value can largely be attributed to the PaySimple Solution being a Software as a Service (SaaS). The value that SaaS can bring is clearly seen by the maturation and migration of companies of all shapes and sizes, shown in this survey by Gartner.

What are the small business benefits of using SaaS?

As shown above:

• Reduced or eliminated costs – There isn’t the need to invest in expensive hardware or software, which means low maintenance costs and no licensing fees. The “rental” of a web-based application means the allocation of expenses to operational, not capital focuses.
• Easy integration and functionality – Most systems are designed to be simple enough for the average Internet user. This means, for implementation and day-to-day operations, expensive IT usually isn’t required.
• Easy to use = Limited IT Expenses – Take away the need for a highly technical employee, and do it yourself – most SaaS models have a low monthly cost and can be managed and navigated by the average computer user. Not only is managing of resources made simpler, but costs for the SaaS are more predictable month-to-month.

Other benefits that may not stand out in this chart:

• Added feature sets – Having an all-in-one solution means there are probably features included a small business would have the availability to (or have to pay extra for) without a quality SaaS.
• Scalability – Small businesses don’t have to worry about system capacities, technical specifications, etc. – one size fits all. Letting the provider of SaaS use their knowledge and experience results in having time-tested answers to create maximum results.

In 2009, SaaS usage will continue to grow amongst small businesses because the cost-effectiveness of the value is hard to match, given limited resources. In times of change, the businesses that seek out alternatives, cut expenses, and show their agility will continue to survive – SaaS is becoming more and more an integrated part of this approach.

Popularity: 88% [?]

Posted by Chad Gardner

With over 25 million small businesses , all in a wide range of industries, all needing a variety of products and services – and most willing to invest to improve right now – it’s important to take a look at how advances in technology have brought down the cost of implementing services like recurring billing and electronic invoicing for your customers, and how this can help your niche.

Recently, we’ve had an influx of customers from membership and contract-based businesses, like health clubs and gyms. So I wanted to share information we have learned from our day-to-day operations about how online payment processing helps this niche.

The payment solutions that have advanced over the years are allowing small businesses to use the same payment collection technology as larger corporations – but it doesn’t stop there – the functionality of the solutions allow additional benefits, such as setting up recurring billing through credit card payments or ACH-echeck processing.

If you own a business that requires a membership or contract, it makes sense to automate your collection process. This is not only going to improve your cash-flow, but reduce invoicing costs, eliminate late payments and collections calls, and prevent manual data entry so you can focus on what matters most – your business. By automating the transaction side of your interaction with clients, customer loyalty and service will improve because the focus can be on the service provided, not on billing and payments.

As seen on this CrossFit Message Board, an online community for CrossFit affiliates and customers, payment is something they inevitably have to “chase.” But as our own customers will attest, online payments and recurring billing add convenience for customers to pay membership and tuition fees, increasing your on-time payments.

When you customers hit your gym, they are not there to work up a sweat over their next month’s bill payment – so keep it simple and take care of that for them.

Find out more about Recurring Billing or learn what an all-in-one electronic payments solution can do for your business with our Easy Demo.

Popularity: 100% [?]

Posted by Chad Gardner

Regardless of the economic climate, finding and retaining great employees is essential for a small business, even more so than for large companies. Most small businesses have limited resources and thus talent becomes one of the most important assets they have.

So the good news for 2009, according to a press release by TriNet, is that two-thirds of small businesses will be looking to hire. With the recent splash in the unemployment pool this year, there are undoubtedly top prospects available to help your company’s productivity and profitability moving into the New Year.

Looking at the projections going into 2009 might leave some skeptical, but small business hiring is up 3.3% in 2008, and 80% of respondents in the TriNet survey said they tried to hire this year. This is just point-in-hand that small businesses are able to run leaner than companies we see in the news on a daily basis.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 98% [?]