What does this mean for U.S. merchants? First, take a look at your most recent April merchant statement. If you are not on a direct Interchange pass through pricing plan already then you need to take action. Open your browser and … more
With tax day almost here, it seems appropriate to consider what the federal tax system is costing taxpayers in addition to the taxes themselves.
Complying with the federal income tax code amounts to imposing a 22.2-cent tax-compliance surcharge for every dollar the income tax system collects.
Corporations with assets of $1 million or less (more than 90 percent of all corporations) paid a minimum of $382 in compliance costs for every $100 they paid in income taxes.
A compliance burden of 6 billion hours per year represents a work force of over 2,884,000 people: Larger than the populations of Dallas (1,210,393), Detroit (900,198) and Washington, D.C. (553,523) combined; and more people than work in the auto, computer manufacturing, airline manufacturing and steel … more
In our experience, we have found accepting card payments on a smart phone to work best in a sales environment where a single user will operate the device, one customer at a time. And the PAYware Mobile solution has received positive client feedback from our early adopters. The thing about early adopters is that they want the latest technology regardless. But for others, they want to analyze their options. … more
MerchantRates.com, where ALL merchants large and small can get an Interchange rate price structure to lower their costs, has been redesigned with a new look for 2010.
MerchantRates.com has also added new content. In addition to providing an instant, detailed merchant interchange rate quote calculator and guide, MerchantRates.com has created a Frequently Asked Questions resource, covering topics including:
Merchant Interchange Q&A
Merchant Rates Quote Q&A
Payment Technology Q&A
General Merchant Account Q&A
Card Payment Rules Q&A
Vantage Points Rewards, a client loyalty rewards and corporate giving program where a portion of the value of each award is donated to the Food Bank, has also been redesigned.
If you are not earning rewards processing … more
Setting a Return Policy
Refund Best Practices
Handling Refund related Chargebacks
Beware of Refund Scams
Lower costs with Credit Voucher Interchange
Setting a Return Policy
A good return policy can help close sales. Your return policy or lack thereof can justify higher or lower cost as reflected by higher or lower risk of buying from you in the mind of your customer. Your return policy can even define your brand - think Nordstrom.
Handling refund requests in a way that makes good business sense and … more
Employers issuing Visa payroll debit cards to under-banked workers not only benefit by moving all employees to direct deposit but are also providing a cash management tool highly valued by employees. Consumers are focused on controlling spending and understand that cash purchases can be difficult to track. The Visa survey reveals that consumers believe debit cards can help them monitor spending more closely and stay within budget. Plus employees enjoy convenient access to their funds by using their … more
In the beginning, when forced to adopt card acceptance, drivers went on strike citing the burden it placed on drivers. A short two years later overall ridership, revenue and tips for drivers have all increased.
Name another industry right now where you will read the following statements from merchants, trade associations and government commissioners about credit cards being good for business.
“It’s better,” said Naveed Shah, 35, a driver for five years, … more
Today’s most successful SMB are using a mix of technology and best practices to effectively manage their accounts receivables to increase cash flow and working capital. Managing credit risks, using lockbox services to automate paper-based processes and following AR best practice invoice tracking and follow up are being viewed as smart strategic decisions, giving SMB a competitive advantage once reserved only for big business.
Likewise, … more
Vantage Card Services’ seven year old Vantage Points merchant loyalty rewards program is pleased to welcome New Vantage Points Rewards Partners just in time for the Holidays!
Disney
Overstock
Sam's Club
Walmart
Zappos
Nike
Visa
American Express
Avis
Dell Computer
Golf Smith
Jiffy Lube
Pet Smart
Harry & David
and many, many more...
Vantage Card Services was recently recognized in a leading payment industry trade magazine for it’s Vantage Points merchant rewards program as an example of a customer retention focused organization. Merchants earn Vantage Points accepting MasterCard, Visa and Discover and redeem their points for rewards from nearly 200 distinguished program partners.
This one-of-a-kind program is simple to … more
Have you ever used the Wayback Machine?
The Wayback Machine allows users to browse through over 150 billion web pages archived from 1996 to just a few months ago. I used it to craft this brief history of Vantage.
We launched our first web presence as far back as the end of 1997 but the first archive I find is a view from October 1999. That’s a decade ago and just months before the dot-com bubble crash. If I recall, we used Microsoft FrontPage to develop these early versions (we still do all our web development in house today): http://web.archive.org/web/19991004142744/http://www.vantagecard.com/.
And while our site has grown, our messaging hasn’t really changed. In the first paragraph on the October 2000 home page we begin to push the concept of “Interchange … more