Friday, January 28, 2011

Becoming A Merchant

A friend of mine is in the process of starting her own small business, and I've been helping her out a little and listening to some of her stories about the issues that she's been having. Obviously there's a lot that goes into something like this, but there are also things that pop up that most people probably wouldn't anticipate until they actually get into it.

Right now she's working on setting up a merchant account for her business so that she can process payments from her customers. Her business is web-based, but she's realized that not everyone has a PayPal account or is comfortable paying for things the same way, even online. So she found a company that works with home-based businesses and can help her handle this end of things. She's planning on going with an ACH merchant account because it gives her customers as many options as possible. (It even lets her process direct debits and convert paper checks.)

I'm not really an expert on financial stuff when it comes to small businesses, so I'm glad that my friend has found a company that can handle all of this so that she can focus on building a successful company. (Of course, the fact that they offer 24/7 customer service doesn't hurt either.) Hopefully when she's rich and famous she'll remember the help that I gave her in the early days.

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