5 Common Mistakes Merchants Make When Choosing An Echeck Processing Company

By: Kay Fione

Carl Mahoney owns a ladies' perfume shop. At the start of his business, he used his garage and converted it into a makeshift store where customers can drop by and purchase items using cash, credit cards or personal checks. His store made good business. Soon rented a decent space from a mall for his unique brand of perfume. Then he expanded his store space. From one outlet, Carl got additional three outlets.

Later, a friend advised him to put up an online shop for his business. He did. Hardly has his site been uploaded in the Internet when he got swamped with offers for his payment processing requirements. Being a busy man, he didn't spend time scrutinizing each of the company but instead settled the very first one. Soon, he had to pay a bewildering array of exorbitant fees to this company. His business record books showed he was losing money fast with the processing system that he chose. It bit a sizable chunk into his profits. It took time before he realized such mistake. And when he did, it was too late. He already lost to it a considerable amount of revenues.

Learn from Carl's bitter lesson. Be vigilant and watch out for these five most common mistakes merchants make when choosing for an echeck processing system:

1.)MERCHANTS USUALLY TAKE THE FIRST ECHECK PROCESSING COMPANY THAT COMES THEIR WAY

From a financial point of view, only lazy people make this blatant mistake. It's nonsense, and very costly, too. To remedy this, take time to examine and scrutinize each echeck processing company that vie for your attention. Look for a company that had been long in the business.

2.)MERCHANTS DECIDE ON ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE ECHECK PROCESSING COMPANY BROCHURE

This is where deceptive individuals come in. They will mislead you into thinking that they operate a legitimate company by the attractiveness of their accompanying brochure when in reality, they are nothing but a bogus. Only a careful background check will reveal the sad sorry state of their company. Never fall for full-colored, glossy brochure. It's a bait to lure unsuspecting merchants like you. Go for a company with a proven track record.

3.)MERCHANTS CHOOSE AN ECHECK PROCESSING COMPANY WITH COLORFUL, WELL-DESIGNED HOMEPAGE.

Similar to mistake #2, only this time, it's not about the paper brochure but the homepage of the echeck processing company. Remember that, for a little fee, one can hire a good webmaster to design an excellent, corporate-looking website. Don't fall for this one. Just like in error #2, be sure to check the company first. Search your government's listing of legitimate companies and do some double-checking, if possible. Select a company with stable resources.

4.)MERCHANTS CHOOSE AN ECHECK PROCESSING COMPANY ENDORSED TO THEM

Let's say a merchant attends a business forum. When the topic centers on echeck processing service, one or two attendees will drop hints about a particular company. The poor merchant will take that as gospel truth and then subscribes to its service. Of course, this particular company may or may not be a good one. Only a careful scrutiny will tell. But why take unnecessary take risks? As we have said in #1, choose a company with a proven track record.

5.)MERCHANTS FALL FOR SMOOTH-TALKING ECHECK PROCESSING SALES PEOPLE

More so if the salespeople happen to be sexy, attractive and very persuasive ladies. The sales talk will be too convincing you will be blown away with the salespeople's purported facts and figures. Usually they talk glibly. They assure you with empty promises. If you get into their bait, you will end up the loser. So be vigilant and don't fall for this lousy mistake. Remember, it's your hard-earned money at stake here.