Posts Tagged paypal business accounts
Ebay Drop Shipping Success - Pay Attention to Your Suppliers
Posted by Bob in Bulk Drop Shipping, Drop Shipping, Ebay, Wholesale, Wholesale Sources on June 25th, 2009
If you have a business on Ebay, you may be able to increase your profits and expand your business by using wholesale suppliers. Many wholesale suppliers will drop ship products for you, allowing you to focus on what you do best: getting people to bid on your Ebay auctions. Still, there are some important things to keep in mind if you’re going to successfully integrate wholesale suppliers into your Ebay Business:
First of all, you need to keep a close eye on what your fulfillment times look like. Don’t be afraid to send your customers emails asking them for feedback, or even filling out some sort of customer survey regarding the time it took to fulfill their order. If your orders are taking longer than you think they should take to get to your customers, chances are you’ll hear back pretty quickly. Because your feedback score, and the reputation of your Ebay business rely so solidly on shipping issues, this is key. Ebay and online customers often expect better service in terms of shipments, and if your shipments are regularly being delayed you’re going to have payment reversals and negative feedback that are going to severely hurt your business in the long run.
You also want to keep a close eye on stock. It helps, in this regard, to choose a drop ship wholesale supplier that allows you access to stock level information. When you’re selling items on Ebay, there is a time delay between the time you advertise the item and the time you receive payment for the item, and when you order it from your wholesale supplier. If your supplier runs out of the particular product you’re looking for in that time, you’re going to find yourself having to issue refunds and risk negative feedback. Remember, too, that Ebay sales are a contract. You’re not allowed to cancel an Ebay sale due to a product being unavailable. In fact, if you can’t provide a product to a customer, the buyer can petition Ebay to give you a seller nonperformance violation. When you get a certain number of these, Ebay will shut down your seller account.
You also need to be prepared to mediate returns. If a customer isn’t satisfied with the exchange or return process, you risk negative feedback that can hurt future sales. In some ways, you may wind up having to mediate the return process.
Accepting Credit Cards is a Must for all eCommerce Businesses
Posted by Andrea in Home Based Business, eBusiness on June 11th, 2009
Almost 75% of all Americans use some form of plastic to make purchases. Any b2b, or b2c ecommerce business almost certainly needs to accept credit cards in order to maintain their presence and flourish on the net, it is as simple as that.
When you first start your business you will find that most merchant account providers will be weary about providing you with an account. Merchant account providers consider risk when opening an account similar to the way a credit card company accesses the risk of opening an account. Merchant providers will be responsible for dealing with charge backs so they do not want to do business with a merchant they feel is a risk. Risky merchants are ones who have just opened their business or merchants who reside in fraud-rampant areas (the Islands, Africa, etc.). Adult service providers will also have a hard time getting merchant accounts because of the rate of charge backs that are common.
A new business owner can try getting a merchant account but starting with a provider such as PayPal may be easier. PayPal works in a similar way to other merchant account holders but is far more lenient with who they will offer merchant services to. For example a new business can open a merchant account with a credit card and a checking account with PayPal while other merchant service providers will check credit and business history before offering an account.
Sticking with PayPal for the long term might not be the best idea overall as many merchants have found PayPal to be flaky with dealing with fraud and other business issues but the company is a good way to get a business started with offering credit card payments.
After several months or a year most businesses will find getting a merchant account to be a fairly easy task and all they need to do is shop around for one that fits best for the business in question. Credit card processing services usually handle business in one of two ways. They either charge a fee based on a percentage of the sale or they charge a specified dollar amount. A business that deals with low cost products will want to look for a processing company that charges a percentage of the sale rather than one who charges a dollar amount. Businesses that have large ticket items (computers, televisions etc.) are better of with a company that has a specified transaction fee as a percentage cut would be more expensive than a previously agreed upon transaction charge.
Visa and MasterCard providers are the most popular with online business owners as most people use the above two to purchase their products. America Express and Discover are less commonly used and also garner higher processing rates so most small business owners will find it is not worth their while to deal with those companies. Finding a service provider is all about knowing your business, your products and your customers.
Recent Comments