Tag Archives: merchant services

Grow Your Merchant Services Agent or ISO Business in 2020

In the competitive world of merchant services ISO, you need to leverage every aspect of your skillset, your schedule, and your merchant servicer to grow your business. Independent sales organization (ISO) agents have the potential to make a significant income – but only when they stay focused and disciplined. Follow these steps to grow your ISO business:

1. Find the Right Partner

Customized Merchant ServicesSign on to a processing partner where they provide outstanding training and support. You’ll need to not only learn their products inside and out, but you’ll also need marketing tools to get the word out. Your partner’s customer service has to be there for your merchants – otherwise, you know who will also be customer service. And, of course, they need to pay you what you deserve with expediency and transparency.  This is even more important in the current climate.  You want a partner that is going to find ways to help you win new business and to close every opportunity.  With options for physical prospecting being more limited, a partner like Host Merchant Services can help you find new customers and win a higher percentage of new opportunities.

2. Know Your Product

Now that you have your merchant services partner with all of its training, take advantage of it! Learn your business so thoroughly that you can turn around and educate your current and potential merchants. Not only will your knowledge build your confidence, but it will increase your sales. Merchants want to work with credit card processing agents who can expose them to new trends and products, as well as explain to them the details of fees. Understand what merchants are looking for now, and how that may have changed over the last few months. Merchant needs in 2020 are not the same as 2019. Many are looking to survive, and programs such as reducing monthly fees and costs might be very attractive. But merchants also need to adapt, so online ordering and new business tools may be the right angle to win new business. Know your prospective customer and partner with Host Merchant Services to meet their unique and changing needs.

3. Stick to a Schedule

Make a plan and stick to it.  How can you demonstrate and provide value to your prospects?  Plan your day and stick to your schedule. Understand how the landscape has changed and phone and email may replace some of your in person prospecting.  Make appointments by phone, as merchants may not be as receptive to surprise visits. Just understanding when your prospects are open and how their businesses have changed can be an important first step to forging a lasting relationship.

4. Decision Point

When visiting with merchants, your aim is to create a decision point, not make a sale. If a merchant eventually decides to make a switch in merchant service providers, they will choose you because you triggered the need for their business. Don’t underestimate the power of planting the seed. And remember this when you’re feeling like you’re not getting anywhere. You’ve already done the work. Keep following up and be patient. Persistence matters now more than ever, and if you build relationships you will be top of mind when merchants are ready to make a switch.  Maybe they aren’t ready today, but when they are ready you want to be the first person they think of.

5. Special OffersExcellent Merchant Services Customer Support

Always have a special offer on hand when meeting with merchants. Create a limited time offer. Sometimes cash back or reduced monthly fees can work for small cash-strapped businesses. If they qualify, remind them you can provide a free terminal or other equipment. Maybe you’re providing a new technology that is alleviating a pain point or streamlining operations. When you’re demonstrating how much you can save their business, always multiply the savings by 12 to show them their annual savings.

6. Social Media

Take advantage of social media, especially now when it’s free or very cheap to advertise. Connect to your entire network, including friends, family, and colleagues on LinkedIn and build upon your presence by posting articles, commenting on discussions, and joining groups. Facebook and Instagram advertising are still relatively inexpensive. In addition to building your business profiles on both sites, post frequently for free, and test out their paid advertising. Leverage your current personal and professional network on all social media sites to grow your online presence and attract new merchants to your business.

7. Retention & Referrals

Keeping a merchant is a lot easier than finding a new merchant. While it is great to have a reliable partner like Host Merchant Services to support you, don’t rely on that entirely. Follow up with all of your current merchants, and while you’re at it, ask them for referrals. Make it part of your routine to schedule a meetings with your merchants. It’s a valuable aspect of your business and helps build long term value in your merchant portfolio.

Host Merchant Services & Merchant Services Agents

Host Merchant Services equips its merchant services agents and ISO’s with the tools necessary for success. We approve your deals quickly, never leaving your merchants waiting. Once your merchant is signed on, HMS further supports our agents with our top-rated customer service. We make PCI compliance a quick and easy process for both agent and merchant. 

HMS, with its account management portal provides unmatched transparency into residuals, allowing HMS to pay its ISO sales agents on-time and accurately. And with online reporting and marketing support, HMS helps agents track merchants and activity, as well as help agents build skills to further grow their business. HMS and its agents are in a position to offer a wide range of products and services to merchants, including the elite Bonsai Point of Sale, Clover, Vital, and much more. Host Merchant Services supports its agents and their merchants in every way possible.  With the current business landscape and challenges facing merchants in 2020, choosing the right partner – Host Merchant Services – can make an even bigger impact on setting your business on a path for success.

Chinese Hackers Were Successfully Able to Bypass 2FA

On December 19, the cyber security firm Fox-IT, which is headquartered in the Netherlands, reported that they discovered a previously-unknown infiltration of managed service provider and government computer systems in at least 10 countries, including the United States, Mexico, Brazil, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain. These systems covered a wide range of industries, including aviation, construction, energy, finance, gambling, healthcare, insurance, offshore engineering, payroll and HR services, physical lock manufacturing, software development and transportation. Fox-IT believes a Chinese government-funded hacking group managed to bypass two-factor authentication (2FA) to initially access and then spread through these systems.

What Is 2FA?

Two-factor authentication was designed to make it more difficult for hackers to access secure, private data. It requires that a user provide two unique forms of information to prove identification when logging into accounts. For example, a system might recognize a user by their physical hardware, via a unique linked code, coupled with a separate unique password. The user might input a memorized password or a one-time password generated by a separate piece of hardware called a token or password generator. In banking, 2FA occurs when a card holder uses their physical card with their unique PIN number at an ATM or during debit transactions. In point-of-sale software payment processing, a merchant or an employee uses 2FA when they sign into their point-of-sale software on a computer, a unique device, with a unique password.

Which Group Is Responsible?

Although many hacking groups supported by the Chinese government exist, Fox-IT has linked this event to a Beijing-based group called APT20. Security firms believe this group started in 2011. Since the Chinese government invests a lot of time and money into hiding their hacking groups, APT 2020 was able to keep a low profile during 2016 and 2017. Firms couldn’t track them until they slipped up in 2018. Fox-IT referred to the 2FA bypass as “Operation Wocao” after a member of APT20 used the Chinese curse word “wocao” in a final line of Windows command failure code when they realized that their actions had been detected and they couldn’t hack a system. The word aptly described both the frustration and shock felt by not only the hacker, but also Fox-IT techs who realized that the system and others had been hacked in such a rare fashion.

How Did They Do It?

Cloud-Based Business App For MerchantsThis specific group typically uses the most basic hacking tools combined with the software already present on their victims’ systems. Two-factor authentication is incredibly difficulty to bypass since it uses unique forms of identification. Fox-IT has stated that APT20 found a way, currently unknown, to compromise the 2FA for virtual private networks possibly via vulnerabilities in the the corporate and government enterprise application platform known as JBoss. Essentially, they found a way to bypass the credentials necessary to access their victim’s VPN accounts and the computer systems attached to those networks. APT20 then focused their efforts on locating and hacking additional linked systems that held the credentials necessary for them to find and retrieve additional private data. The attack was designed to help them find higher and higher levels of authentication to access higher and higher levels of information. For example, they targeted password managers/vaults and then used the passwords they found to continue their data search and retrieval. Once they were finished, they did everything possible to delete all footprints of their actions to prevent detection.

What About Payment Processing?

APT20’s rare bypass of 2FA shows that hackers might be able to access any system in a similar fashion, including networked computers owned by merchants using point-of-sale software and/or customer databases. A hacking group could potentially mine merchant systems for customer names, credit card numbers, expiration dates and secure CVV codes. If the system also has a customer database, hackers could also retrieve private details, such as customers home addresses and product likes and dislikes. Hackers might use this data to learn more about specific individuals, such as politicians or military leaders, or create false identities.

We recommend that all merchants focus on improving not only their computer and network safety, but also their employee-based vulnerabilities. It’s important to train employees to recognize the many techniques used by hackers and how their actions can help these bad government-funded actors gain access. Merchants can also protect their systems by blocking employees from checking private email or downloading software on these systems.

Our team at Host Merchant Services goes beyond securing our own payment processing systems against these types of attacks: Host Merchant Services Data Breach Security Program. Click that link to download a PDF explaining the value-added service HMS provides its merchants that goes above and beyond just simple PCI Compliance and helps ensure a merchant’s peace of mind.

Contactless Payments

Contactless Payments on the Rise [2023 Update]

When we cast our eye across the pond and towards the rest of the world, we start to notice some very different point-of-sale (PoS) consumer behavior. In somewhere around 25 of our closest international buddies, more than 50% of all face-to-face Visa transactions are done via contactless payment. If we look over to the Australians even, that number easily passes 90%.

It’s not as if this was never attempted in the United States. There was an attempt at a broad-scale issuance of contactless cards more than a decade ago, but it didn’t quite work out thanks to lukewarm consumer attitudes and the high costs to issue them. These, and others, were pretty clear signs that it was a bit too early for the U.S. to make its first foray into tap-to-pay. Inhibitors like these, though, are long gone now, so it seems 2020 is the time for a second go now that a real market opportunity has arisen.

The United States now finds itself ready to join ranks with other leading nations where contactless payments are, if not the dominant form of payment, at least a prominent way to go about business. There are many factors, such as open-loop contactless ticketing being finally introduced to major metro systems across the country such as New York’s MTA and the LA Metro, that can further push the opportunities for a contactless cards market in the U.S., along with the following aspects:

We as consumers love our cards:

We’ve had contactless mobile wallet options like Apple Pay and Google Pay for some years now, but the uptake may not quite have been what we’d all expected, which may indicate how much more we prefer to use our actual cards. According to research undertaken by 451, 60% of consumers who prefer to avoid using their mobile wallet do so because there’s either “no need” or they have a “preference for traditional payment methods.”

The cost of issuing the cards has fallen:

The cost of issuing a contactless card has fallen in recent years, due in part international card issuers. It shouldn’t even cost a dollar for our financial institutions to issue a new contactless card, maybe not even 80 cents. This is compared to the $2 it would have cost just a few years ago.

Merchant acceptance is growing:

Thanks to the EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa) liability shift in the U.S. just over 4 years ago in October of 2015, the implementation of dual interface PoS terminals (i.e. terminals that offer both contact and contactless transactions) has come along a lot more rapidly. Now, of all Visa transactions in the U.S., more than 60% of them occur on a contactless-enabled machine. On top of this, more than 75% of the country’s top 100 merchants are currently offering contactless payments as an option at the checkout.

Tips to Grow Your Merchant Services Agent or ISO Business

In the competitive world of merchant services ISO, you need to leverage every aspect of your skillset, your schedule, and your merchant servicer to grow your business. Independent sales organization (ISO) agents have the potential to make a significant income – but only when they stay focused and disciplined. Follow these steps to grow your ISO business:

1. Find the Right Partner

Customized Merchant ServicesSign on to a processing partner where they provide outstanding training and support. You’ll need to not only learn their products inside and out, but you’ll also need marketing tools to get the word out. Your partner’s customer service has to be there for your merchants – otherwise, you know who will also be customer service. And, of course, they need to pay you what you deserve with expediency and transparency.

2. Know Your Product

Now that you have your merchant services partner with all of its training, take advantage of it! Learn your business so thoroughly that you can turn around and educate your current and potential merchants. Not only will your knowledge build your confidence, but it will increase your sales. Merchants want to work with credit card processing agents who can expose them to new trends and products, as well as explain to them the details of fees.

3. Stick to a Schedule

Plan your day hour by hour and stick to the same schedule every day. You can tweak your routine as you see fit, but try starting with cold calls in the mornings and appointments and meetings just before and just after lunch. Your schedule will liberate you to work within the parameters you set for yourself while keeping your mind clear and focused.

4. Decision Point

When visiting with merchants, your aim is to create a decision point, not make a sale. If a merchant eventually decides to make a switch in merchant service providers, they will choose you because you triggered the need for their business. Don’t underestimate the power of planting the seed. And remember this when you’re feeling like you’re not getting anywhere. You’ve already done the work. Keep following up and be patient.

5. Special Offers

Always have a special offer on hand when meeting with merchants. Create a limited time offer. $100 cash back works for small cash-strapped businesses. If they qualify, remind them you can provide a free terminal. And when you’re demonstrating how much you can save their business, always multiply the savings by 12 to show them their annual savings.

6. Social Media

Take advantage of social media, especially now when it’s free or very cheap to advertise. Connect to your entire network, including friends, family, and colleagues on LinkedIn and build upon your presence by posting articles, commenting on discussions, and joining groups. Facebook and Instagram advertising are still relatively inexpensive. In addition to building your business profiles on both sites, post frequently for free, and test out their paid advertising. Leverage your current personal and professional network on all social media sites to grow your online presence and attract new merchants to your business.

7. Retention & Referrals

Keeping a merchant is a lot easier than finding a new merchant. Follow up on all of your current merchants, and while you’re at it, ask them for referrals. Use your daily planner to schedule a meeting with your merchants. It’s a valuable aspect of your business.

Host Merchant Services & Merchant Services Agents

Host Merchant Services equips its merchant services agents and ISO’s with the tools necessary for success. We approve your deals quickly, never leaving your merchants waiting. Once your merchant is signed on, HMS further supports our agents with our top-rated customer service. We make PCI compliance a quick and easy process for both agent and merchant. 

HMS, with its account management portal provides unmatched transparency into residuals, allowing HMS to pay its ISO sales agents on-time and accurately. And with online reporting and marketing support, HMS helps agents track merchants and activity, as well as help agents build skills to further grow their business. HMS and its agents are in a position to offer a wide range of products and services to merchants, including the elite Bonsai Point of Sale, Clover, Vital, and much more. Host Merchant Services supports its agents and their merchants in every way possible. 

credit-card-processer

How Should I Choose a Credit Card Processor for My Restaurant?

Because restaurants operate on thin profit margins, restaurateurs must leverage every payment type to attract every type of customer while simultaneously leveraging the support of their credit card processor. Business owners don’t have time to waste on deciphering complex credit card processing fees during their monthly reconciliation. Nor do they have the luxury of refusing payment types in the digital age when customers are trying out every new payment trend available. Restaurants must weigh several factors in choosing a merchant service provider.

Great Customer Service

Restaurant paying bill with cardThe owners and employees of restaurants are in the business of customer service. Their priority is creating the best dining experience possible for their clientele. They can’t be bogged down with complicated point of sale technology that slows the process and frustrates the end user. If they do experience technical challenges, they need support pronto in a 24-hour business cycle.

Knowledgeable Point of Sale Support

Restaurants have unique business needs regarding their credit card processor. In addition to round-the-clock support, a business needs restaurant merchant services that offer solutions that fit various business models. Depending on the restaurant, point of sale solutions may need to accommodate both a traditional style of service, as well as catering service and beyond, including mobile flexibility to allow a restaurant to meet the customers in multiple locations under a variety of circumstances.

Point of Sale Options

A restaurant needs a payment processor that can synchronize current processing systems with their solutions or provide a whole new solution to fit the restaurant’s circumstances. Keeping both security and convenience in mind, restaurants need a merchant service provider that can help the business to accommodate as many customers as possible in a secure fashion while also making transactions easy for restaurant owners and staff.

Low Rates & Transparent Pricing

And while customer service, ease of use, and processing simplification are ideal goals for a restaurant, none of it matters if the cost eats into the restaurant’s profits. Restaurants need a merchant service provider that offers interchange plus pricing, the pricing model merchants can rely on to offer the lowest cost interchange fees on the market. With a low markup over the wholesale cost, the interchange plus pricing model provides flexibility in equipment and payment options while keeping costs as low as possible.

Host Merchant Services: What Your Restaurant Needs in a Payment Processor

HMS provides customer support for restaurant credit card processing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. We know we need to work as much as you do to properly support an industry that can operate nearly 24 hours a day. That’s why we have operators standing by to answer your call any time of day.

HMS also explains how payment processing works. Providing a comprehensive package including credit card processing and financial transaction services to restaurants, we will custom design a flexible credit card processing solution to fit the needs of your restaurant.

And when we do demonstrate your payment processing scenario selections, HMS also offers your restaurant several point of sale options, including Clover, Vital, Bonsai, SwipeSimple, and more to fit your specific operation. If your restaurant is already equipped with hardware, HMS provides an easy point of sale integration. 

Whether you need an entirely new point of sale system or a solution for your current system, HMS offers a suite of services to suit your restaurant’s needs. From wireless equipment, payment by check, recurring billing, to online payment gateways, HMS has everything a restaurant needs for serving customers in both traditional sit-down establishments and catering services. 

With our low rate guarantee, HMS provides a Free Rate Analysis to show where you can save on your restaurant payment processing. If HMS can’t save your restaurant money, we will give you a $50 Gift Card. The best pricing model on the payment processing market, Interchange Plus Pricing will help your restaurant’s bottom line. 

Host Merchant Services will even provide your restaurant free equipment via our free equipment program to qualified merchants along with receipt paper at wholesale prices. We are your restaurant’s credit card processing solution.

Frequently Asked Questions

Five Things to Consider When Switching Merchant Services Providers

Because of the complexity of credit card processing, it’s hard to know when or if to switch merchant services providers. With the added confusion of automatically renewed contracts, equipment leases, and hidden fees, a business may feel it needs to outsource the research on their already outsourced credit card processor. Here are five things to consider when switching merchant services providers:

1. Contracts

Before making the switch to a new credit card processor, check with your current provider on the status of your contract. You may have transitioned to a month-to-month contract, in which case it’s easy to switch. If you’re still under contract, or worse, your merchant account provider automatically renewed your contract, it still may be worth the potentially hefty cost to break the contract and switch in the long run, depending on the fees you’re currently paying.

2. Equipment

Leasing equipment is one of the least cost-effective aspects of merchant services. If you’re currently leasing equipment, it would be in your business’s best interest to find a new credit card processor that will either sell the equipment to you at cost or – in an ideal world – give you equipment for signing on to their services.

3. Rates & Fees

Interchange fees are confusing, and because of their complexity, many merchant service providers can sneak extra charges into your monthly bill. If your business is using any payment model besides the interchange plus payment model, it is almost guaranteed you are paying more than you need to. The best merchant services at least offer the interchange plus model for pricing. This alone is a reason to make the switch.

4. Payment Methods & Security

Your merchant service provider should be able to provide the latest security and technology enhancements available. To protect your business from the liability of a fraudulent charge, your credit card terminal needs to be EMV-compliant at the least. Beyond security, depending on your business and clientele, you may even want to offer NFC-based payments such as Apple and Android Pay.

5. Customer Service

The person who sold your business your current merchant services contract is not the same person answering the customer service line. If your merchant services provider is not supporting you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, you may need to look elsewhere. Your business can’t afford to wait on a callback. You need assistance when you need assistance. Not to mention, the customer service representatives should actually be helpful when you call. Try a test run with your current merchant service provider to see how their customer service will help you when you really need it.

Host Merchant Services

Delivering personalized service and clarity, Host Merchant Services takes the time to explain your payment processing. We want you to understand your monthly statement, and we will ensure that your statement matches our promises during our sales presentation. If you do have questions, you can reach a live representative any time, any day. HMS offers wonderful customer service, as well as great rates.

What is a Payment Gateway?

A Payment Gateway is the interface between consumers and the merchant acquiring bank that processes a payment during a consumer transaction, whether the transaction be online or in a brick and mortar store. In addition to the point of sale (POS) terminals, physical stores also need a payment gateway to complete a transaction made in person with a credit or debit card or by phone with a credit or debit card. And payment gateways are the “checkout” in online transactions where consumers enter their credit card information. 

Payment gateways vary in options available to both merchants and consumers. Sometimes merchants employ more than one payment gateway to ensure consumers have every payment option available in this fast-paced, digital world. Not all payment gateways offer payment options for international consumers. Security is a priority for merchants, making tokenization increasingly popular to ensure safe and secure transactions.

Tokenization

Tokenization is a payment method in which credit or debit card data includes a unique identification code known as a “token” used in digital transactions. Increasing the security of e-commerce payment processing, tokens allow consumers to bypass providing card data. Specifically, tokenization converts the card number into a code, or token, which is then used instead of the card number during the transaction. Keeping the real data secure, the token is unique and can only be used within the platform – or website, or the device – or smartphone that generated the code. Irreversible and useless to hackers, tokenization further increases security for consumers. Visa and Mastercard, as well as Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, and any banking application can generate tokens for consumers’ transactions.

Types of Payment Gateways for Online Payments

e-commerce merchant optionsThere are three types of payment gateways for e-commerce online payments: redirects, checkout on-site with payment off-site, and on-site payments. Redirects take the consumer off of the merchant’s site and send them to a whole new site to complete a transaction. While this may be disorienting for a consumer, this method is also very easy to setup. 

The checkout on-site with payment off-site option allows consumers to make the payment on the merchant’s site while the payment gateway actually completes the transaction behind the scenes. As with the redirect option, merchants have little to no control over the user experience for their customers, but also, as with the redirect option, merchants have access to a robust system without requiring extensive technical knowledge.

The on-site payment option is well suited for large-scale businesses, in which the merchant handles both the front end and behind the scenes portion of the transaction, placing both control over the consumer’s experience and potential liability for fraud on the merchant’s shoulders.

Host Merchant Services

Supporting a variety of Payment Gateways, Host Merchant Services can fulfill your processing needs. Customized to your business needs, your processing solution lies in one of our offerings: from Transaction Express, Vital, Authorize.net, NMI, Paytrace, USAePay and many more.  Solutions include all basic features such as tokenization, Quickbooks sync, ACH, level II & III data processing, and multiple MIDs, along with a number of other supported gateways. No matter the technical requirements, HMS has a fit for your business.

AmEx Offering Incentives to Boost Card Acceptance

To keep up with Visa and Mastercard, American Express is offering sign-on bonuses to companies to offset start-up costs. Ranging from $10,000 to nearly $500,000, American Express sign-on bonuses are part of an effort to close the gap of the 1.3 million more U.S. locations accepting Visa and Mastercard in 2018 than those accepting American Express, which is accepted in 10.3 million locations, according to the Nilson Report. 

With few, sometimes no conditions, American Express salespeople not only offer these large payments, but they’re also offering discounted swipe fees to companies that agree to accept AmEx. While Visa and Mastercard may pay businesses to offset technology upgrades, sign-on bonuses with credit card companies were heretofore unheard of.

High-End Customers

Known for its high-end clients, American Express had always stayed competitive by charging higher interchange fees. Businesses agreed to these fees as the price of doing business with AmEx customers known for spending more, but Visa and Mastercard’s reward cards lured the high-end crowd from AmEx, leaving the company with fewer big spenders using the card in addition to fewer merchants accepting the card.

Matching Visa and Mastercard in Merchants

Credit Card Processing E-commerce SolutionsWith more than three million new merchant locations agreeing to American Express acceptance since 2017, the company expects to meet Visa and Mastercard numbers by the end of the year. More than merchant numbers, American Express stock shares also have some catching up to do with Visa and Mastercard. While AmEx shares rose 32% in the past five years, Visa and Mastercard boast a 190% and 230% increase, respectively.

Market Value

Compared to Visa and Mastercard’s market value ending in positive territory during the last eight years resulting in $386 and $279 billion in market value respectively, American Express’s market value experienced double digit losses during the last decade’s annual performances resulting in one third its counterparts’ value at $98 billion.

How AmEx Did It

Through its OptBlue program, American Express added most of its new merchants through third-party payment processors. Plus, internal sales people gave sign-on bonuses to more than 130 businesses since last year. Because AmEx both issues its cards, as well as operates the network on which the cards run, the company benefits from merchant acceptance on both sides of its business. With a 2016 pledge to reach Visa and Mastercard merchant numbers by 2019, American Express hopes to achieve higher billings and a larger scale of business.

Host Merchant Services: The Power of Knowledge

If your business wants to explore accepting AmEx cards, Host Merchant Services can help you make a decision regarding AmEx or any other aspect of merchant service. We’ll explain everything so you can make an informed decision! We go out of our way to educate our customers so that they fully understand pricing for AmEx, as well as our pricing model in general. Having this knowledge is important to ensure you aren’t overpaying, not just with us but with any processor! After we explain everything, the pricing will be so transparent that you’ll even know exactly what we make as a profit. How’s that for transparency?! 

Stripe Funding Round Values Company at $35 Billion

Digital payment processing startup Stripe Inc said in a press release it raised $250 million in its latest funding round, bringing its pre-money value to $35 billion, which is more than a 50% increase to its valuation at the beginning of the year. 

After raising $100 million from Tiger Global Management in a Series E round in January, Stripe had a $22.5 billion valuation. With investors like Andreeson Horowitz, General Catalyst, and Sequoia Capital, Stripe’s valuation puts it on the same level as Airbnb Inc, which announced it was going public in 2020.

Stripe Looking to Expand Global Reach

E-commerce Merchant Services Provider

Stripe provides software that allows companies to send and receive online payments. Processing billions of dollars a year for businesses, including Airbnb, Wayfair, Twilio, a cloud tech company, and The RealReal, a luxury online reseller, among millions of other businesses around the globe, Stripe is a high tech credit card processing company.

Stripe will use its newly raised funds to broaden its product offerings. With five out of six new e-commerce merchants joining online from parts of the world beyond North America and Western Europe, Stripe will also expand its footprint overseas. Recently launching in eight additional countries, Stripe plans to expand to a total of 40 countries or 70% of the global economy in 2020. 

The New Stripe Corporate Card

Piggybacking on the company’s launch earlier in September of Stripe Capital, Stripe also introduced a corporate credit card for e-commerce companies, which Stripe claims will cut the application time while also featuring digital tools. 

Providing companies the ability to set spending limits, as well as block specific spending categories, the Stripe Corporate Card also allows cardholders to report expenses in real time, eliminating the manual process of expense reporting. With no fees, the card gives businesses 2% cashback on the two top spending categories every month. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Stripe Capital?

Stripe’s lending product Stripe Capital allows small businesses to skip the lengthy application process to borrow money, freeing startups and small businesses to access capital when banks have decreased their lending to small businesses almost by half in the past ten years. 

With less than eight percent of commerce taking place online, merchant services like Stripe can only grow. With quarterly e-commerce retail sales doubling since the start of 2014 according to the Commerce Department, it is still only 11% of the total retail sales in the quarter with nowhere to go but up. 

While also handling in-store payments for customers, Stripe allows businesses to add the Stripe widget to their website, instantly creating a payment button for online customers. Worth 30% more than its online payment counterpart, Square, Stripe is evolving at a rapid pace, not only in the payment processing world but also in its expansion into business lending and corporate credit cards. With big clients like Wayfair, Stripe hopes to tap into the projected 12% annual growth for e-commerce. 

What is Stripe?

Stripe is a financial technology company that provides software and APIs for businesses to accept online payments. It was founded in 2010 by Patrick and John Collison and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

How much money did Stripe raise in its latest funding round?

Stripe raised $250 million in its latest funding round, which values the company at $35 billion. The round was led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, and other investors.

What will Stripe use the money from its latest funding round for?

Stripe plans to use the money from its latest funding round to expand its product suite, grow its international presence, and hire more employees. The company also plans to invest in new technologies, such as blockchain and cryptocurrency.

What is the significance of Stripe’s latest funding round?

Stripe’s latest funding round is a significant milestone for the company. It is the largest funding round ever raised by a privately held fintech company, and it values Stripe at a higher price than many publicly traded companies. The round also demonstrates strong investor confidence in Stripe’s business model and growth potential.

What are the implications of Stripe’s latest funding round for the payments industry?

Stripe’s latest funding round is a sign of the growing importance of online payments. The company’s success is a testament to the demand for simple, reliable, and affordable payment solutions. Stripe’s growth is also likely to accelerate the adoption of online payments by businesses of all sizes.

What are the next steps for Stripe?

Stripe is well-positioned for continued growth in the years to come. The company has a strong product suite, a large and growing customer base, and a deep pool of talent. Stripe is also well-funded, with over $1 billion in cash on hand. This gives the company the resources it needs to expand its product suite, grow its international presence, and hire more employees. Stripe is also likely to continue to invest in new technologies, such as blockchain and cryptocurrency.

ISO Merchant Services Agent Program

How to Choose the Best Merchant Services Agent Program

The world of merchant services is extremely exciting, yet it can be competitive. There are countless opportunities to make money in this industry, but throughout it all, you want to ensure that you are providing the best possible experience for your clients. Because of this, joining the best merchant services agent program is absolutely critical to finding success in this space.

 

In this article, you will find some of the key characteristics that you should search for when selecting a merchant services agent program. By keeping these characteristics in mind, you will increase the chances that you select the best possible merchant services ISO program.

Factors to Consider When Selecting the Best Merchant Services Agent Program

To select the best merchant services agent program, you will first want to find a program that offers stellar customer service. The worst-case scenario is hearing complaints from your clients and not being able to get in touch with your merchant services ISO program. Even if the problem at hand isn’t necessarily your fault, you will suffer the consequences if you can’t get a representative from your merchant services agent program on the phone. Before making your choice, therefore, you must ensure that your merchant services agent program has a dedicated staff that can quickly and accurately answer any questions that you may have. While it may not seem like a large issue now, ignoring this factor can put your client relationships at risk.

Next, search for a program that offers boarding options from large payment processing platforms. Having access to many of the largest payment processing platforms—like First Data and TSYS—provides you with some valuable peace of mind. It significantly minimizes the chances of your clients encountering any technological or integration issues. Instead of worrying about whether their point of sale or billing software will integrate with the platforms within your program, your client can spend more time focusing on growing their businesses. It’s a win-win for both you and your clients.

Offer Great Cash Discount ProgramsA terrific merchant services agent program also offers great cash discount opportunities. Cash discount programs allow merchants to offset their entire payment processing bill. In other words, they let merchants collect the entirety of their revenue while taking advantage of great payment processing tools. These programs work by automatically adding the cost of the transaction to that transaction, allowing merchants to skip payment processing fees. While you will want to read the fine print on these types of programs, they are a valuable added benefit that you can reference when pitching potential clients. 

Finally, your merchant services agent program should be able to take on high-risk accounts. While the definition of “high-risk” may somewhat vary, high-risk accounts can include things like medical marijuana, travel agencies, non-US gaming, tobacco, and pharmacy accounts. Even though you may not be working on these accounts at the moment, having this optionality is extremely valuable as you search for additional clients. Instead of needing to find another merchant services agent program to accommodate these “high-risk” businesses, you can seamlessly work with these merchants to grow your business. This puts less stress on you as you are scaling your business.

Seizing the Opportunity

This is not an exclusive list, but we encourage you to look for the factors above when selecting your merchant services ISO program. When completing your research, we also recommend that you search for and read reviews. Doing so can help you confirm that a particular merchant services agent program provides real value for its agents.

Finally, while we may be biased, we believe that our merchant services agent program is second to none. At Host Merchant Services, we are proud of our terrific customer service and are confident that you will be happy with our white-glove service. We are proud to offer an extensive number of boarding partners. Some of our partners include TSYS and First Data, which are two of the largest payment processing platforms in the world. Finally, we offer cash discount programs and multiple high-risk bank partnerships, providing you with additional benefits and features that you can pitch to your clients.

To learn more about our independent sales agent program, click here. If you have any questions about our program, don’t hesitate to reach out.