Why can’t a home business just accept cash or checks? Why do they need a home business merchant account? How much do I need to sell before a merchant account is worth having for my home business? Do these question sound familiar to you? Many home business owners ask these questions time and time again.
A common misconception in the business world is that a company requires a steady stream of income for a merchant account to be worthwhile. The truth of the matter, however, is that any business can use a home business merchant account to improve their operations.
If you properly study some common merchant services, you will find that there are many options available for any business. These unique accounts include a seasonal merchant service for the “summer” operations or temporary accounts for the Expo junkies and many others. There are even accounts for lower quantity transactions from a home business.
So why should you be interested in having an merchant account for your home business? It depends on your business, but if you are interested in selling your products online, and it is a majority of your business sales these merchant accounts make it a simple and effective process, and almost become necessary.
If you only sell your merchandise on location, consider this: when you only accept cash you limit the buying power of your customers to the amount of cash in their pockets. Without even saying a word, many businesses turn away hundreds of customers when they don’t accept credit or debit cards.
Why are people turned away by cash these days? A good question. Most businesses these days offer a direct deposit into their employees’ bank account, to keep overall costs down. With fewer and fewer Americans not ever seeing physical check in hand, many people stop grabbing cash and just use electronic funding with a debit card for all transactions. One statistic shows that upwards 90% of Americans carry $10 or less at any given time.
By accepting credit cards a small business or home business can increase their sales. The latest stats say that a small business who doesn’t accept credit or debit cards are losing up to 70% of their potential sales, and it could be higher for others. And this stat isn’t just for online or home business, this is for any local retail and “offline” business as well.
No one can afford to lose 70% of their sales. Given today’s economic difficulties it is vitally important that a company accept credit and debit cards. Take the time to find the home business merchant account that is suited to your business and start increasing your transactions today. Even if your business is pretty good, you can always make it better.
Hinda Lyman writes professionally about home business merchant account and online credit card processing.
