Top 3 Goals All High Risk Merchants Should Know

Credit card processing is a confusing world. It is. Until you get hold of the details it is unwise to dip your foot in the murky waters. Established high risk merchants know that it's more than just getting a reliable payment gateway or the ability to accept debit cards. It is also about being able to provide security to your customers as well as getting the lowest rates on the best processing service. An efficient shopping cart is also a must.

The good thing about high risk merchant credit card processing is that it continues to evolve.

New merchant account providers surface to bring more competitive rates. New technical knowledge enhances open source software for free online shopping cart construction. More and more ways to accept payment online are being devised.

GOALS, GOALS, GOALS

But the core of building your own merchant account can be outlined in simple terms. The first goal is to make sure your customers are satisfied. The second goal is to profit more from low overhead costs and efficient payment processing. The third goal is to keep the business thriving with as few chargebacks as possible.

Goal 1: Customer Satisfaction

Goal 2: Profit

Goal 3: Survival

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Top 3 Goals All High Risk Merchants Should Know

High Risk Merchants' Guide on Building E-Commerce Websites

Building an e-commerce website -- what does it entail? Again, don't let me go into that harangue of telling you guys that this task is something only 21-year old eggheads in stiff white collars can do. You would either need a little of their help or search online for a reliable company that offers a package of services for high risk merchant account owners. And if you got lucky on the latter, you still would need to create a checklist on which elements you need to prioritize for your website. I'm talking about the bare bones. After you have decided on those, it's time to figure out whether to add some fancy stuff on your website or keep things simple.

So what elements should you consider added on your e-commerce website? If you've published a book before (not e-book, but if you want to go into that detail, see my article Homemade Remedy for Download Theft), most likely you'd already be familiar with the steps you need to take from the time you've conceived the story to the moment it's out in the bookstore shelves. Yes, you would need an endorsement from celebrities, too! Remember Harvey Mackay's "Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive"? Well yeah, that one's a classic.

Web copy, layout and other visuals, e-commerce elements, marketing elements, and customer service tools, are some of the basic stuff you need to incorporate in your e-commerce website. Each one of these elements comes with its own set of structure that would also require a bit of search engine friendliness or better yet, full-blown SEO campaign.

The Web Copy

Image and Flash Files

Shopping Cart

Customer Service Add-Ons

Homemade Remedy for Download Theft

It's not for the geeks.

Many online sellers aren't bothered so much by copyright infringement as they are of losing money by theft of their online products. Most popular among these is the e-book. Guess we already know why those who are selling e-books are considered high risk merchants: the sole fact that the e-book they are selling can be easily downloaded for free (without being dubbed "freeware" or "shareware") makes them vulnerable to frauds and chargebacks in the long run.

Now, some first time e-book sellers are not savvy when it comes to protecting their products online. Of course it would be extremely helpful (and imperative) to learn how to do it before launching the e-book for paid download. It would be worth taking a look at my past article "What Every High Risk Merchant Should Know About Intellectual Property Rights" to find out more about what you can and cannot do on a legal basis when it comes to online product theft.

IT'S IN THE PACKAGING, SILLY!

Normally, a high risk merchant would find a way to counter hackers from getting access to the download page. But this takes a certain degree of skill.

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Homemade Remedy for Download Theft

(Highriskexperts.com tips by Gerri Bryce)

E-Commerce Success: When High Risk Merchants Go the Brick and Click Way

Too lazy to shop out?

I have always believed in the empowerment of human potential. Sounds deep huh! Well, a decade and a half ago, when the Internet has started to boom and online shopping carts or high risk merchant accounts were unheard of, everyone foresaw that it's the end of the human urge to leave the house, travel, and experience the world using the tactile senses. Virtual reality became a challenge. The Internet morphed into a breeding ground for experimentation in which people would be immersed into a world that was so convenient they would do nothing more than click the mouse (or anything similar to pushing a button) and have the stuff that they want. In fact, today the pioneers of VR have created games in which you would only use your brainwaves (connected to electrodes) to move objects on the screen. Not bad.

When e-commerce sites are a must

E-commerce faces the same situation today. People would normally go to the malls, window-shop, pick their goodies, fall in line at the counter, cash out from the wallet or swipe the credit card, then leave with the big ol' shopping bag in hand. Obviously, everyone still does it. But brick and mortar stores are becoming less and less attractive without an integrated e-commerce website. Whether you are an ordinary businessman selling toiletries and cosmetics or a high risk merchant selling adult products, it usually pays to put up your own website and let it expand your customers' buying experience.

Convenience, convenience, convenience

In-store pick up: Save costs, make money

The Psychology of Online Buying

So you got your merchant account. Then you got your credit card processor, a spiffy shopping cart, and a choice of your international bank. Being a high risk merchant is not easy -- NOT if you only know the bare bones of establishing the account but not maintaining it. Too vague? The logic here is simple: You can have all the infrastructure set up, but if you can't keep up with the rising waves of competition in the e-commerce industry, then you're going to sink.

Keeping yourself afloat means keeping your "online sales" on the sizzle. The last decade has seen a surge on Internet-based purchasing from various parts of the world. As a merchant, you may have taken the risk to actually set up a website and eventually sign up for a low risk or high risk merchant account. This is a big step, but it is only going to result in something really fruitful if you know the techniques in increasing your web business sales.

More...

A Quick Peek at Your Web Page

Bait, Hook, and Everything in Between

Look out, SMS! High Risk Merchants' Guide to New Trends in Mobile E-Commerce

What does mobility mean to you?

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of Short Message Service (SMS). I hate punching on the small RAZR alphanumeric keyboard and I hate doing it a fifty-five times a day. But I have friends that do it effortlessly, and my hats are off to them. I don't mind sending text messages to my folks and colleagues as long as I'm in the mood for a little bit of sacrifice. I don't think it's atypical of me at all. It's just that I'd rather make a quick call than take forever to send a TM to the president of the socks-shoes company.

SMS: The New E-Commerce Cult?

But how convenient can a single text message be! It's cheap, it's fast, and it certainly is hip. In most underdeveloped countries, text messaging is simply an excellent way to communicate without having to spend sevenfold for a local call. And there are so many ways to pull off a TM these days. You can use Yahoo SMS, register at Chikka (hey if you haven't heard of it, come out of the cave, will ya?), or use Verizon's onsite TM service. What I like about it is that 90% of the time the TM reaches your recipient pronto. Two billion subscribers sending out their voices to people they know without having to spend for more than a dime per TM.

Now, veering off a little from the track, we can spot the E-COMMERCE sign on the turnpike. Or better yet, the M-COMMERCE. What exactly does the road sign mean? Most mobile operators have done their share of advertising to consumers with the help of mobile phones. I wouldn't say it's as hardcore as traditional media like TV, radio, newspaper, and the Internet, but I'd say that because it's a powerful and snowballing communication medium these days, it has a huge potential for marketing. Online merchants can take advantage of creating a bridge between mobile phones and the Internet to increase their sales. And a great percentage of the market remains untapped.

How Mobile Phones Can Help High Risk Merchants

Although I sympathize with mobile operators undergoing through hurdles in order to profit from mobile advertising, I would like to focus on the emerging trends that affect e-commerce in general. For one, high risk merchants can easily jump into the possibilities that one day, any kind of service or product can be advertised on the mobile phone. Whether it's through the service provider self-generated ads or WAP, that will be the question.

Another thing is that online consumers who may or may not be able to log in to the Internet using their mobile phones can easily pay their bills and purchases if this mobile phone billing phenomenon takes off. Now that's some real mojo high risk merchants should look forward to happening. Why? Because once that happens, it will be as prevalent as credit card processing online (with or without the help of merchant accounts). As long as the payment process is secure for customers, they will be able to shop on virtual stores through their mobile phones, pay through the online shopping cart through their mobile phones, and manage their credit and other banking activities through their mobile phones. They can do that wherever they are in the world. Nothing could be easier.

First Things First!

If these trends develop, the future of mobile buying, selling, and banking looks rosy. In fact, that might even convince me that SMS is not so bad (in other words, way, way excellent). I have been communicating with people I know through SMS anyways. In the future, you and I will find it so essential that we may not be able to take a morning shower without first checking if Wells Fargo had really transferred some five thousand dollars onto our checking account. Or not.

How Much Do You Know About Online Shopping Today?

Doing It The buySAFE Way
In the last online meet-up that I had attended to I had been informed by my colleagues that, well, e-commerce is drastically taking the next big step when it comes to security and purchasing power for online shoppers. See, our concern here is not merely focused on low risk or high risk merchants, but for online customers who are the bread and butter of this business. The question is always, how do customers find merchants that they can trust and what else can the new breed of e-commerce vendors can offer them?

BuySAFE: The New Authority in Merchant Security?

The next big step that I'm talking about has something to do with security in which buySAFE plays a big role. What is buySAFE? It's essentially an emerging authority when it comes to making sure the online stores you are buying your goods from are legit, reliable, and safe. I'm sure all of us would rather buy in the safest places we could if we can help it. Checking out to see if a store has buySAFE seal is a good guarantee that a merchant isn't a mere scammer or a poser. Online merchants have to undergo rigorous buySAFE Certification Process to ensure that they are doing legit and trustworthy business. The test doesn't go from there, as buySAFE also monitors merchants' performance on a regular per transaction basis.

I wouldn't have to emphasize how much relief it would cause online shoppers to go through their favorite virtual shops knowing these shops are doing good business, as long as they have passed the buySAFE test. Low risk and high risk merchants, on the other hand, would be egged to strive in raising the quality of their service, products, and general business status to attract as many customers as they can.

buySAFE has reportedly teamed up with open source (online shopping cart) software application providers and a few more security programs to raise e-commerce standards. Nothing could be more beneficial. These open source shopping carts include osCommerce and CubeCart. All online merchants have to do is download the module that buySAFE provides for free and guarantee customers of safe transaction through buySAFE's bond.

Google: Peddling in 12 Tongues

Now who says doing web business overseas is a boon only to offshore merchants? From online shopping security we hop to Google's new translation marketing gimmick that goes like this: You as an American online shopper (for example) who's spending a week's vacation in Rio de Janeiro forgot to buy your snorkeling gear but couldn't quite figure out what store in Rio you could pick out your favorite snorkeling gear brand at. All you need to do is type your search in English and click "Portuguese" so Google will translate the search results for you. Good enough? Not yet. The program comes only in 12 languages and is still in the beta stage. But watch out! As I've mentioned earlier, doing business offshore isn't just something high risk merchants banking outside of the U.S. can take advantage of. It's also something online buyers from any part of the world can now participate in, thanks to Google's shrewd online marketing programmers' cutting edge ideas. Bravo!