November 1st, 2018 by Admin
We are officially 55 days until Christmas, time to take all of the tricks out of your hat to promote your business. Since we know you will be using social media, here are 30 random holidays you can use to promote your business with their Hashtag.
November 1st:
#ExtraMileDay: Show your customers how you will go the extra mile for them.
November 2nd
#LoveYourLawyerDay: Need we say more? This one is perfect for lawyers or anyone working with them.
#FountainPenDay: If you sell promotional items, this one is for you. It can also work if you want to post the latest contract signed.
#SandwichDay: Even if you don’t own a sandwich shop, Sandwich day can be used to share a more laid back look of your company. Maybe sharing a picture of your last company picnic or lunch will do. Remember to have a good looking picture!
First Sunday of November
#ZeroTaskingDay If you work for a spa or anything that promotes relaxation, this one would be a good one for you!
November 5th
#LoveYourRedHairDay Hairdressers, time to get those finished looks and share them on social media!
#NachosDay Any day is a good day for Nachos, but on Nachos day you can show some humor as a way to connect to your customers. This one is great for restaurants.
November 8th
Guinness World Record Day: #GWRDay: Sharing a fun fact comes a long way in Social Media. Sharing a Guinness World Record that might relate to your industry can attract a new crowd online.
#CappuccinoDay: People love coffee, (search #CoffeeLover, and you’ll see) so why not share Cappuccino Day with your coffee loving crowd. Perfect for the coffee shop owner to the savvy consultant on the go.
November 10th
#SesameStreetDay: If you are in an industry that deals with children, this one is for you. Make the posts funny or just cute but remember you are targeting the parents at the end. Nostalgic posts work well too with this.
#VanillaCupcakeDay: Cupcake lovers beware, this hashtag might be for you. Perfect for the bakery owner and the all-time cupcake lover, there is no need to be a pastry chef to use this one.
November 11th
#origamiday This one might require some skill and imagination, but it can delight your online community and attract them more to what you do. If you use this one, be sure to send us a picture.
#SundaeDay Who doesn’t love Ice Cream Sundaes!
November 12th
#HappyHourDay Geared more for restaurants and bars, but with a bit of creativity, many can use this hashtag.
November 13th
#KindnessDay Show your kindness to others.
November 15th
#AmericaRecyclesDay We all need to take care for our planet. Show your support by sharing this with some facts and information about recycling.
November 18th
#PrincessDay: Pamper the princesses in your business or show appreciation of your customer.
#MickeyMouseDay Need we say more?
November 19th
International Men’s Day #MensDay: Men’s day is great to share information about current men’s health issues. Perfect for those in the healthcare industry
#PlayMonopolyDay: This one we feel is perfect for finance. “Don’t get caught in monopoly games and get your money safe” what do you think?
November 20th
#EntrepreneursDay Completely self-explanatory.
#NameYourPCDay Give some love to those PC users in your industry and have fun too.
November 21st
#HelloDay A great hashtag to introduce yourself and the team.
November 22nd
#GoForARideDay Whether it is a ride on a car or bike ride, many can use this hashtag if you are creative enough.
November 23rd
#FlossingDay perfect for those in the dental industry.
#EspressoDay Just like #CapuccinoDay, this hashtag can help greatly any account.
November 25th
#ShoppingReminderDay If you sell goods, this one is for you.
November 30th
#ComputerSecurityDay Technology always changes, this one can be an excellent reminder to keep online info safe.
All Month Long:
#PeanutButterLoversMonth When you ran out of ideas or inspiration this month, this hashtag can be a lifesaver. Remember that social media should entertain or educate and this one can help with that.
Bonus Holidays:
These might not be random but are always useful to add.
#Movember
#ThanksGiving
#CyberMonday
We hope these hashtags can help boost your business online presence and bring a little more creativity to your social media game. As always, have fun and use your to see if any of these can help your business.
Posted in Small Business Improvement Tagged with: account, business, capuccino, christmass, coffee, consumers, credit card, customer, customers, data, disney, e-commerce, Facebook, finance, fun, hairdressers, hashtags, holidays, Instagram, lawyers, merchants, payments, photography, restautrant, retail, Security, social media, transactions, twiter
October 24th, 2018 by Admin
Having a product or service based business can be easily manageable when you are pricing your business correctly. But can it be done? Before processing, consider pricing.
What does that mean? Before you pick your payment processing service, consider pricing them correctly. Pricing can be tricky sometimes. If you charge too much, you might have a harder time selling your product but if you charge too little people might not honestly see the value of what you have to offer.
There are a certain number of things you need to consider that can make your life easier when it comes to pricing. Knowing your market can, by far, be the most important thing of all. Without knowing your market, you cannot correctly know whether your product or prices will be good.
Knowing your market can greatly positively impact your business. It can help you figure out anything from pricing to branding and including what you can do to grow the business. Start by building up your perfect customer or “avatar” write what your ideal client would enjoy, dislike, what age, gender (if applicable), and even area where they would live.
Once you have this, it will give you a better idea on how to price your services. Consider this:
You sell handmade bags. Although it does not take you too long now to make the bags, the materials are costly, and you need to maximize its use. Your ideal client would not hesitate in buying them, is into fashion, and although anyone can buy them, you have seen many girls ages 18-25 falling in love with them as you walk around with your bag.
Knowing the age group, you know how and where to market and can figure out how much are they willing to pay for your bags. You can also research how much are you competitors charging and see if you price matches, is under-priced or over-priced based on this research.
The next thing you need after figuring out the age and market is your materials. How much do you spend per product? You would need to consider if the price covers the cost of making it and gives you profit.
Having all of these factors will help you price your items correctly so that you are on your way to business success. Once all of these are set up and taken care of, then it is time to set up your account with National Transaction to have a personable and secure payment processing service to start earning on your business.
Posted in Small Business Improvement Tagged with: accept payment, b2b business, business, business cards, card payment system, credit card, entrepreneur, fort lauderdale, NAtional transanction, payment processing, retail, services
October 21st, 2018 by Admin
The season is finally here. Time to set up your sales, giveaways, and stock up on goods to sell. On top of that, it is always a good idea to take care of your clients and those who take care of your business year round. We gathered a list of gifts that could bring a smile to their face without breaking the bank.
For the bookkeeper that keeps your budget in check and probably works very hard for you, this nice coffee mug can be a reminder of how much it means to you that they take care of your business.
For the tea-loving virtual assistant that keeps your life in balance. These 5 Pack Silicone Tea Strainers can bring zen into her life. Best part yet, if you are a Prime member, you get free shipping!
For the superstar salesperson in your business life. A funny and cool stress relief toy squishy can be the solution for those high-stress days. It is your way of saying “Thank you for all you do” and having a sense of humor.
For the nature-loving assistant, a little succulent can brighten up their desk or home. What a better way to bring some green into their life and saying thank you for the hard work?
For the graphic designer that gives you brand life. This basic, but very usefull LCD Writing Pad can be the solution for creativity blocks or quick notes as they go through their creative process.
For the savvy social media manager that works on getting your brand to stand out. This 10 in 1 Mobile Phone Lens can be the perfect addition to their social media life on the go.
Lastly, we have another idea for you. Reach out to your local small businesses and see what they have to offer during the season. Not only will they probably have a unique gift for that important person in your business, but you will be helping them grow.
During the holidays is always good to show how much your customers mean to you, but more importantly is to show how much you appreciate your employees and contractors. After all, without them, your business would not run as smoothly as it does.
Posted in Small Business Improvement Tagged with: admin, Amazon, Bookkeeping, camera, coffee, graphic designer, holiday, holidays, ideas, photography, prime member, retail, small business, small businesses, small online business owners, social media, stress relief, succulent, tea
January 31st, 2017 by Elma Jane
Selecting a Payment Provider
Selecting electronic payments provider for your business is critical. NTC believes that the process starts with an honest assessment of your business and the types of credit card processing options it requires. (Retail or e-commerce, Card Present or Card-Not-Present)
Card present transaction is the most common type of account. Card-Not-Present (CNP) is a different type of account if you run a MOTO (mail order telephone order) or Internet operation.
Here are some points to keep in mind in selecting your electronic payments provider:
Referrals from fellow business owners and checking out payment providers online.
Evaluate products and services as well as cost to determine which electronic payments provider offers the biggest savings for your business.
Make sure the deals you’re considering include all the features and services you need and none that you won’t use.
Keep upgrade options in mind.
Look for 24/365 support and discuss customer service support.
Read the fine print in your contract.
The merchant account provider’s reputation is important, so find out how long they’ve been in business and their reputation in the industry.
NTC has over 20 years’ of Bankcard History. Helping businesses of all sizes for over 25 years in the industry. Call us now 888-996-2273 and tell us all about your business needs and requirements and we’ll put together a package of products and services that will best serve your credit card processing needs. There are a variety of solutions, so it’s important to focus in on those that directly address your needs.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants Tagged with: cnp, credit card, customer, e-commerce, electronic payments, internet, merchant account, online, payment provider, payments, retail, transaction
August 11th, 2016 by Elma Jane
CURRENCY CONVERSION
Multi Currency Conversion (MCC):
In addition to 100+ supported currencies and all transactions autosettle at 6pm (eastern) daily.
Customer is unaware of the converted currency, also customer may not opt-out at the point of sale.
Conversion occurs between the point of sale and settlement.
E-commerce only and no merchant rebate.
Price listed in customer’s currency conversion also Supported by Internet Secure or direct certification.
Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC): Customer is aware of the Conversion Currency, also customer may opt-out at the point of sale.
Conversion occurs at the point of sale and five supported currencies less than MCC.
Merchants may choose settlement method and time in addition to merchant rebate up to 100bp.
Price listed in merchant’s currency conversion.
For Retail, Restaurant, MOTO and E-commerce.
Supported by terminals, via Warp and Virtual Merchant.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, e-commerce & m-commerce, Mail Order Telephone Order, Point of Sale Tagged with: currency, customer, DCC, Dynamic Currency Conversion, e-commerce, Internet Secure, MCC, merchant, moto, Multi Currency Conversion, point of sale, retail, terminals, transactions, virtual merchant
June 8th, 2016 by Elma Jane
Near field communication technology (NFC) is on the rise, and consumers can use NFC not just for making payments.
Top ways consumers can use NFC (Near field communications):
NFC Access Keys – can also be used as your access to certain buildings or hotels.
NFC Boarding Pass – are used in airports to expedite the boarding process. No more keeping track of that printed boarding pass!
File Sharing – on certain Android phones, consumers can share songs, contacts and files from phone to phone with a simple tap.
Retail – Paying in stores simply requires a wave of the customer’s smartphone. This provides speedier transactions, but also provides merchants the opportunity to offer their customers loyalty points and rewards.
NFC Ticketing – speeds up subway boarding time by allowing consumers to use their phones at the reader.
Vending Machines – NFC-enabled vending machines will allow customers to simply tap and go.
With the growing list of NFC technology uses, merchants should be prepared for the adoption. Upgrade your terminal to be NFC-enabled give us a call at 888-996-2273
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Near Field Communication Tagged with: consumers, customer’s smartphone, merchants, Near Field Communication, nfc, payments, retail, rewards, technology, terminal, transactions
March 4th, 2016 by Elma Jane
A number of financial institutions are beginning to implement biometric authentication. They started to replace traditional knowledge-based passwords with biometric authentication.
A British multinational banking is introducing biometric tests for its customers in U.K., letting account holders access online banking using their fingerprint or voice. If you’re using phone-banking services you can register your voiceprint with the company instead of using a regular password. A special voice biometrics technology will analyze a customer’s voice when they call the bank.
Customers using Apple’s Touch ID will be able to access their accounts on their mobile phones using their fingerprint.
Customers in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Hong Kong, and France will have the technology by the end of the year. Other markets will follow in 2017 and 2018. The British multinational banking and financial services company have nearly 50 million retail banking customers around the world.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Financial Services Tagged with: account, bank, banking, biometric, customers, financial, financial institutions, financial services, mobile, online, retail
May 21st, 2014 by Elma Jane
There are no enforced standards in the card processing industry regarding rates, fees, and contractual terms. It is possible for two providers to offer seemingly the same rates and fees that result in different processing costs.
Excessive Monthly, Annual, or Quarterly Fees
There are numerous monthly, annual, or quarterly fees merchants may see on their statements each month. Many merchants pay far more than they should for these fees. The fees may have names like statement fee, service fee, membership fee, regulatory fee, PCI fee, and host of other names. The fair amount each merchant should pay for these fees varies by sales volume and merchant type. Also, the amount a merchant pays for any given fee isn’t as important as the overall processing cost. These are general guidelines; some merchants should pay far less. If you are currently paying more, it may be a good time to review your overall processing cost including your pricing plan, rates, and fees.
Excessive Payment Gateway Fees
A payment gateway route transactions from the merchant’s website to the provider. Some retail point-of-sales devices require a gateway to route the transactions. Merchants generally pay a per-month and a per-transaction fee for use of the gateway. As a rule, the direct cost to process through the gateway is a few cents per transaction.
PCI Non-compliance or Non-validation Fee
Many providers now charge a monthly non-compliance or non-validation fee if the merchant is not PCI compliant. This fee may be in addition to a monthly, quarterly, or annual PCI fee. Supposedly, providers charge the non-compliant or non-validation fee as an incentive for merchants to become compliant. Nonetheless, some providers use this fee more for revenue generation, than as an incentive. Some providers do not charge this fee at all.
Merchants should not change providers because of this fee. Instead, the merchants should become PCI compliant to eliminate the fee and reduce the probability of being breached, which could easily result in huge monetary penalties – tens of thousands of dollars. To become compliant, merchants should complete the PCI Self-Assessment Questionnaire and adhere to the PCI requirements, which may require quarterly scans. In short, if a merchant is being charged a non-compliance or non-validation fee, it is as much the merchant’s fault as anyone else.
Visa FANF Fee
In 2012, Visa started charging providers a Fixed Acquirer Network Fee (FANF). The actual fee charged by Visa is dependent on the merchant type. The fee for customer-present retail merchants is based on the number of locations. The cost for ecommerce and fast food merchants is based on the volume of business. Customer-present retail merchants that have non-swiped transactions can also pay an additional customer-not-present FANF fee.
Most aggregators – i.e., merchant account providers that group multiple merchants into a single merchant account, such as Square, PayPal – integrate the FANF cost into their rates and fees versus itemizing them out separately. Most traditional providers properly pass through the actual Visa FANF fee to their merchants. However, there are a few that treat this fee as another hidden revenue stream. I’ve seen providers charge a flat monthly fee for customer-present merchants and I’ve seen the FANF fee inflated by as much as 50 percent for ecommerce merchants. Keep in mind when reviewing that the fee is generally based on the volume of the prior month. In order words, the fee you see on your statement for April activity is likely based on the March volume, as providers need to know the monthly Visa volume before they can assess the fee.
Unusual Discover Card Fees
For Discover transactions, some providers charge a higher percentage, or higher per-item fee, or monthly access fee.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit card Processing Tagged with: (FANF), access fee, aggregators, breached, card processing industry, compliant, contractual terms, customer-not-present, customer-present retail merchants, devices, Discover transactions, ecommerce, ecommerce merchants, fast food merchants, fees, Fixed Acquirer Network Fee, flat monthly fee, gateway, integrate, membership fee, merchant account, merchant account providers, merchant type, Merchant's, merchant’s website, monetary penalties, non-compliance, non-swiped transactions, non-validation fee, payment gateway, PayPal, PCI fee, PCI non-compliance, PCI requirements, PCI Self-Assessment Questionnaire, pci-compliant, point-of-sales, pricing plan, processing cost, processing costs, provider, provider's, quarterly fees, Rates, regulatory fee, retail, retail point-of-sales devices, revenue, route transactions, sales volume, service fee, Square, statement, statement fee, statements, transactions, visa, Visa volume, website
October 1st, 2013 by Elma Jane
PayPal announces updated app, device for hands-free, in store payment.
A busy few days at PayPal. Late last week, the global payments giant announced a major update to its app for Android and iOS. The new features have a strong mobile payments bent. And now, the company has announced the planned roll-out of “Beacon,” which uses Bluetooth Low Energy Technology to let customers check into retail stores and pay by verbal consent.
Paypal’s President calls the solution PayPal’s “most significant contribution to date in reinventing the in-store shopping experience.”
Beacon is a new add-on technology that merchants plug into an A/C outlet. When a PayPal customer walks into a participating store and agrees to check-in, Beacon triggers a quick vibration or sound to confirm a check-in; customer’s photo then appears on a point-of-sale screen. To pay, the customer simply gives a verbal confirmation. “No wallet and no card. Nothing to do. Not even touching your phone.
BLE was chosen to resolve some problems posed by traditional geo-location, including power consumption. It will look for any store running a PayPal compatible POS system, and will only transmit information to PayPal or to the merchant if the customer agrees to check in.
The solution aims to improve on the credit-card-swiping experience. PayPal figured the only better way to pay would be to do nothing.
The company will be piloting Beacon in the fourth quarter.
New App
PayPal’s vastly redesigned app for creating a more seamless in-store shopping experience is getting a lot of kudos across the web.
A New tab called “Shop” the first thing that appears when the app is opened, it displays nearby stores or restaurants that accept PayPal payments. Users can check in and open a tab, then select various payment methods from the check-in screen. Upon payment, the app generates a confirmation alert and sends an email receipt.
You’ve really got access to your entire wallet in the app.
The app also lets you order food ahead of your arrival bypassing the line. The feature works through PayPal’s partnership with Eat24 . Dinners can pay at the table, and at some locations, order more drinks.
For the first time, the app includes a Bill Me Later tab that lets users apply to finance PayPal purchases, and it integrates coupons and offers.
The company wanted the new app to help solve problem, and that payment isn’t something they typically complain about. So they focused on other potentially problematic experiences in the retail environment, waiting in line, waiting to pay the bill at their table and keeping track of coupons.
Posted in Credit Card Reader Terminal, Credit Card Security, Digital Wallet Privacy, Electronic Payments, Mobile Payments, Near Field Communication, Point of Sale, Smartphone Tagged with: Android, app, Apple, card, credit-card-swiping, geo-location, iOS, payment, PayPal, POS, retail, system, wallet
