E-Commerce 101

A crash course for entrepreneur wannabes and anyone interested in understanding credit card processing and merchant accounts

Historical Overview - A long time ago people found a need to trade, one person had something another wanted so they "traded" fur pelts for horses, guns for food etc. Then someone came up with a great idea called currency. Currency represented value and allowed you to buy things without carrying the fur pelts around with you. Then around the turn of the century the mail order and telephone order businesses came along. You can't send currency over the telephone and it's not a good idea to mail it so we use checks. The problem with checks is that they sometimes bounce and merchants don't particularly like them, especially if they don't know you. You may have to wait a while before you goods are shipped if you use a check. Now today we have credit cards and their first cousin ATM cards. With a Visa, MasterCard or other credit card a merchant can get nearly instant approval and your goods can be sent out immediately or services performed. A customer can place an order at your web site, 24 hours a day, seven days a week using his or her credit card and you can then process that order during your normal operating hours. The merchant and the customer are both happy. Credit cards are truly the currency of e-commerce and trying to do business on the Internet without the ability to accept credit cards is a bit like trying to fly a kite without wind. You're going to wear yourself out for nothing.

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