|
Ah well, I could write a book, coming from both sides of the coin.
There are a lot of good points made here, and some that really don't apply to the majority of people, but I'll leave that alone.
My advice is this:
Get a biller and a backup for credit cards.
Make SURE your IPSP is registered. Make sure they are setting transactions WHERE YOUR BUSINESS IS LOCATED -- not just authorizing them there and settling them elsewhere.
Do a search on ALL boards -- if you find a thread where more than one person says they have been paid late by a processor then INVESTIGATE and find out why. And if they have paid up since the thread started. I'd suggest searching January and February.
DIVERSIFY. Take every possible type of payment you can from every possible source. No, you won't be a big fish at one particular place but you won't have all your eggs in one basket either. Eurodebit, dialers, alternative payment systems, you name it, GET IT. USE IT.
Once you THINK you have settled on a processor, start surfing. Look at the companies that are using this processing company and check out their join setups. If you see companies doing things that you think are shady, then you might want to think twice about using that processing solution since Visa will be knocking and Mastercard probably will come for them as well.
Last but not least, don't try to be cute and skirt the rules. If something sounds too good to be true, guess what? IT IS. If Visa says register, pay your money, settle where your business is, and someone tells you not to worry about what Visa says, RUN. FAST. RUN FASTER.
Pretend like Visa is the IRS or whatever your country's equivalent is. They can fuck you up faster than the IRS and they will if they catch you trying to play fast and loose with the rules.
Sadly enough this industry is so about being on the fringe and a step ahead that often the forest gets overlooked for the trees.
|