Rules to follow when processing E-checks
The decision to accept electronic checks in your business is almost certainly the right one. As an extra payment option for your customers, it gives them greater choice and convenience, which can both give greater satisfaction to your existing customers, and help to increase sales and broaden your customer base. Nonetheless, implementation of an e-checking system should also follow a few basic rules if you want to get the full benefits for yourself and your customers. Below are ten basic principles that you should consider:
1. Set up a merchant account
Any respectable trader needs to establish a merchant account as the very first step in doing retail and online business. Contact your local banks to find the best deals available, and prepare your merchant account application.
2. Insist on high quality products and services
Whatever field you are doing business in, you need to ensure your competitiveness, and the most surefire way of doing so is to ensure that the products and services you are providing are of the highest quality possible.
3. Leave nothing to chance
However successful your business is, or however innovative your business model, you should always be working to improve the way you operate through research and better business strategies.
4. Go to a legitimate e-check processor with a solid reputation
When choosing who will process e-checks for you, be sure to choose a well established company that fully understands your requirements and offers pricing options that are relevant and beneficial to your business.
5. Be good to your customers
The easiest way to ensure customer satisfaction is to treat your customers with respect. Be sure to attend to any valid complaints they may have, and bear in mind that customer satisfaction and good will are normally far more important to your business than rigid adherence to company policy. If, for example, a customer returns a defective product after the deadline in your refund policy, think first if it is possible to bend the rules and accommodate them. This type of thinking will do a great deal for your reputation on the market.
6. Always check the checks
Obvious as it may seem, it bears repeating that it is vital to ensure your customers checks have been properly completed.
7. Buy your own e-check processing equipment
While it is possible to rent e-check reading machines, you will find it much cheaper in the long run to invest in your own reader or writer equipment. You should only consider renting if you are very short of capital at the start.
8. Use additional processing services
Check verification and a variety of other anti-fraud services are available for nominal fees, and a well worth using to ensure that your business is properly protected against fraud and scamming.
9. Take responsibility to validating and scrutinizing checks
It is, of course, possible just to pass checks on to the processing company, and leave the validation and scrutiny to them. However, by taking the time to implement a few checking systems in your company, you can save yourself a number of headaches down the line. Use an e-check reader, and refuse transactions if the result is a bad check. It is never worth accepting bad checks, even from good friends or valued customers.
10. Make sure your fiscal management is running smoothly
However good the results from implementing e-check processing, they won't turn around a business with badly managed finances. The basic rules of financial management need to be adhered to, and you should always be striving to minimize your costs and increase the profits you save. It is also vital to stick to the terms and conditions agreed with your e-check processing provider. If problems arise, and your agreement is terminated, not only will you not be able to process e-checks, you could also face the closure of your merchant account. That, of course, would cause serious problems for your business.
