Credit Card Processing | Shopping Cart Reviews

July 16, 2019

What Is Square And How Does It Work?

We at Merchant Maverick like Square. Itâs a great service that opens up the ability to process credit card payments to many small businesses, and weâve written a lot of articles about Square’s point of sale, payment processing, inventory, booking, and invoicing features. These articles can be prohibitively in-depth to the uninitiated, however, so you might want to read this quick overview of Square for a summary before digging into the details.

A Brief History Of Square

Square was founded in 2009 when Jack Dorsey (also of Twitter) tried to help his friend Jim McKelvey take a credit card payment of $2,000.00. Squareâs first product was a magnetic stripe credit card reader that could be inserted into a smartphoneâs headphone jack to take credit card sales.

Square became a public company in November of 2015, and its stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SQ. While Square does bring in a lot of money ($3.3 billion for the year 2018), it still has not made a profit. For the moment, the company seems to be more focused on growing by adding new services for its customers.

While Square’s main focus continues to be helping small businesses quickly and easily set up taking credit card payments, it has also expanded its services to point of sale, inventory, and employee management — giving small businesses the ability to run more like large ones (more on these services below). To this end, it has bought the food delivery business Caviar, the catering service Zesty, and the website building service Weebly. It also owns a consumer-centric digital wallet called the Cash App, where users can send money to each other and even buy from any store with the money in the app.

In the span of about ten years, Square has grown from a startup focusing on one aspect of helping small businesses grow to a large business providing a suite of services that help small businesses expand. With so many additional services, what exactly does Square do these days?

What Does Square Do?

At its heart, Square is still a credit card processing aggregator (also sometimes called a third party payment processor or a payment service provider (PSP)). We have a great article on the difference between a merchant account provider and an aggregator, but below is a quick explanation.

Square’s Credit Card Processing Services

Traditionally, if you want your business to take credit card sales, you would work with a provider to set up something called a merchant account. To get a merchant account, you typically undergo a long application process and provide a lot of financial information before you are approved. These providers want to make sure that, based on your businessâs existing history, you don’t present a huge financial risk.

Credit card processing aggregators take more of a see-as-we-go approach and assume financial risk for bad accounts. Aggregators merely need to verify the identity of the applicant before authorizing a new account, and generally don’t ask too much more information. They have more freedom on who they sign up and how they do business with those they sign up.

While this means aggregators can quickly set your business up to take credit card payments without needing an established history, they tend to be cautious afterwards. These types of payment processors have advanced systems in place to analyze each transaction for any red flags. Suspicious transactions can cause the processor to hold funds until it has more information. Worse, third-party processors often have a clause in the contract that says they can terminate your account if they see fit. Usually, this happens to businesses that have high numbers of chargebacks or fraudulent transactions.

Square is an aggregator, so essentially the above is its business model. You can sign up for Square within minutes and without providing detailed financial information. In addition, Square gives you a basic set of free hardware and software so you can start taking credit card payments almost right away. The free items include:

Square Point Of Sale Software: Square’s free POS software is incredibly advanced for being free, though it’s certainly not a full-fledged POS. Still, for most small businesses it is more than sufficient. Square also offers premium iPad POS systems for a monthly fee if you need more advanced features.
Credit Card Reader: You can get a basic magnetic strip reader for free, but if you want support for chip cards, you’ll have to upgrade to another reader, which will cost you.
Invoicing: For those businesses that bill a larger amount but less often (e.g. lawn care services), Square offers an electronic invoicing function. The invoices are free to send, but you will pay a transaction fee when your customer pays with their card.

Square’s Value-Added Services

As mentioned earlier, Square has been adding more services to its core credit card processing business. Some of these services are for free, but others are available for a small fee. These services include:

Employee Management: With this service, you can manage your employees from anywhere. You can add new employees to the system, track their hours, track their register/sales (at either single location or multiple locations), edit and close employee timecards, and give selected employees selected access to various parts of this software (e.g. so they can enter their own hours but not see your weekly sales numbers).
Payroll Services: This service imports data from the employee management software so that you can easily pay your employees and contractors. Square will handle tax filings and withholdings, and they can handle the payments to other employee benefits such as health insurance and 401(k). You can even offer direct deposit to your employees.
Inventory Management: Square offers basic inventory management in its Point of Sale app for free, but the premium iPad POS systems offer a more detailed system that can track and analyze your business’s inventory across multiple stores and multiple registers. You are notified when inventory is low, and items are automatically removed from inventory when they’re sold, whether at one of your physical locations or online.
Business Debit Card (Square Card): When you are paid by your customers through Square, the money goes to an account kept by Square. Rather than moving the money to your bank, you can use it immediately with the Square Card. The Square Card is a debit card sponsored by Mastercard, and you can request it from Square for free. Check out How Does Square’s Instant Deposit Work?Â for more information about how to access your funds.
Appointments: Square provides a booking calendar for professional service businesses (like hair salons). The calendar not only tracks and moves appointments, but it can also send appointment reminders to customers. The POS and booking system is free for a single user, but if you have multiple users you’ll need to pay a monthly fee.
Square Online Store: Pretty much every business needs an online presence, and Square can help you build a professional-looking website even if you’ve never done it before. Square provides tools that can help you track your inventory sold through your online store and helps you with shipping (printing labels, discounted rates). Best of all, when you sell out of state, it tracks all the different sales taxes that you might owe. There’s a basic free webstore, but if you need more advanced features, you’ll need to upgrade to one of the other plans.
Other Services: Square offers many more services designed to make a small business owner’s life easier. For instance, Square offers marketing software to help you build email and social media advertising campaigns. It has an installment payment service for certain businesses so that a customer can buy a big-ticket item and pay Square in installments while you get paid right away. Square can help you build a loyalty program where customers can redeem goods or services with points. You can get your own branded gift cards to sell to your customers. Square even provides online store owners with a product photography service so that the items sold through webstores are presented in their best light.

As can be seen above, Square is well on its way to offering an entire suite of software and services that not only help you take credit card sales, but also help you manage your entire business’s operations.

What Are The Advantages of Square?

Every successful business has a few things it does extremely well, and Square is no exception. Square basically provides you with a free, fast, and easy-to-get-out-of way to start taking credit card sales. To elaborate a bit, the following are some advantages for signing up with Square:

Fast Setup: You can sign up for Square within minutes and get a credit card reader shipped to you very quickly.
Easy Termination: If you sign up and find that you don’t like Square, you can stop working with Square any time you want. There are no penalties for leaving, so you can sign up without fear. (There may be loose ends to tie up, but you can still terminate the services at will.)
Easy To Use: Square is focused on small businesses that are just starting out. They provide a simple piece of hardware and intuitive software to help you run your business and help you grow.
Simple Fee Structure: Compared with other pricing models, Square has an easy-to-understand flat fee structure so you can better predict your profits.
Fast Payment: With Square, you can get paid almost right away after a customer makes a charge. You can instantly deposit these funds into your outside account or use the funds directly with the Square Card debit card. In contrast, traditional merchant account providers typically hold the funds for at least 24 hours before releasing it to you. For a small business with tight cash flow, Square’s fast payment can make a difference to the business’s survival.
No Minimums Or Monthly Fees: A small fee here and there might seem insignificant, but they can add up in the long run. Square’s credit card processing service (and a lot of their other services) have no minimum or monthly fees, so a small business doesn’t have to worry about paying for anything other than the transaction processing costs.

These are just some of the advantages for signing up with Square. Of course, no business is perfect, and neither is Square. Under some circumstances and for some types of businesses, Square is not the best option.

What Are The Disadvantages Of Square?

No business can be everything to everyone, so Square is not suitable for every type of business. One of the biggest complaints we see about Square is that Square sometimes withhold funds in a merchant’s account, with or without warning. Sometimes, you never get paid. If you fit into one of the categories below, you might want to think twice before signing up with Square:

Not Suitable For High-Risk Businesses: A “high risk” business is usually defined as a business that deals with guns and ammo, tobacco and vaporizers, pharmaceuticals, gambling and financial services, and similar — anything highly regulated or prone to chargebacks and disputes. If you deal in any of these, Square is likely not the right business partner for you. Specifically, in its Terms of Service, Square reserves the right to terminate service if you violate any export control regulations (for example, sell military-grade items to specific countries) and money laundering laws, sell weapons or devices designed to cause physical harm, or “use the Services except as otherwise allowed” under their agreements.
Not Suitable For Business With Many Chargebacks: If you have a business that causes a high rate of dispute or chargebacks (even if it’s not otherwise a high-risk business), then Square is probably not the right company for you. Going back to Square’s business model, it fronts you the money that you take from your customers so you can collect right away while it waits for the banks to settle the charges. So, if Square can’t eventually get the money from the banks, it might stop fronting you the money (put a hold on your account) or stop working with you altogether.
Not The Best Pricing For High-Volume businesses: Despite its transparent pricing, Square might not be the cheapest service provider for your particular business. If your business is mature, you have an established financial history and are doing a consistently high volume of card payments, and you know how your customers tend to pay for your goods or services, then you might want to shop around a little more to find the merchant account provider that can offer you interchange-plus pricing and volume discounts. (That said, Square does negotiate custom rates for high-volume businesses, but you should absolutely shop around all the same.)

We have an article that gives more details on why Square is not suitable for high risk and high chargeback businesses. If you have an established business and wish to shop around, here’s some information on where you might be able to get a better deal.

What Are Square’s Fees?

Business owners like having predictable operating expenditures every month. Because credit card fees usually have a percentage component and a flat fee component, the cost of allowing credit card sales tend to be less predictable. Compared to traditional credit card processors, however, Squareâs fees are easier to predict.

With Square, you usually only have to worry about just one fee, expressed in a percentage form. Right now, if you use Squareâs free credit card reader and free Point of Sale software, you pay 2.75% of the sale. Thatâs it. If your customers choose to pay online, your rate is 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.Â Having only to keep two numbers in mind makes it easier for you to figure out your markups so you can make a profit for your entire business.

Note, though, that if you use Squareâs premium hardware or software, the charges can get a little complex. Here’s an article giving a more detailed breakdown of Square’s fees.

How Do You Use Square?

When it comes down to it, it’s fairly easy to start using Square’s services. You can do it in four steps:

Sign Up For A Free Account. This only takes a few minutes, and we even have an article walking you through the process. You wonât have to provide a lot of financial information, and they wonât do a credit check on you at this stage (they will later, after youâre all set up).
Get Your Free Square Reader. Youâll have quite a few hardware choices–some of which you will need to pay for–but thereâs always one thatâs free for either iOS or Android.
Download The Free Square App. The app is called Square Point of Sale, and you will need this app to process payments through a mobile device.
Log In To The Free Square Dashboard And Explore. This is a fairly robust piece of software that manages all your credit card charges. You can customize reporting in a centralized hub, and do much, much more (some of which cost extra). Here’s a Merchant Maverick article on the details of the dashboard.

As mentioned above, Square wants to help you run your business. There are a lot of value-added services they offer, so once you’re all set taking credit card sales, you might wish set aside a little time to explore these additional services to see how they can help you run your business.

What Kinds of Businesses Is Square Best For?

Square isnât right for every business, but if your business is small or new, Square is very likely the best bet for you. With Square, youâll get lots of free software, hardware, and add-ons to get you up and running very quickly. You can use Square on the web, at a brick-and-mortar store, and even at mobile locations such as food festivals.

We’ve compared Square with PayPal and Clover Go and believe Square really does offer the best value for the price for a start-up business. As long as youâre not one of the âhigh riskâ businesses, you should have no problems getting payments from Square or with your account being abruptly suspended or terminated. Best of all, if you use Square and then after a while decide you donât like them, you can stop using them at any time.

Is Square right for you? This more in-depth article can help you decide.

The post What Is Square And How Does It Work? appeared first on Merchant Maverick.

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July 3, 2019

How To Register Your Business: The Complete Guide

Registering for things is one of those annoying but unavoidable parts of life, whether you’re registering for school, a fishing license, or a business permit. For businesses in particular, registration legitimizes your business as a legal entity in the eyes of your local, state, and federal government. Registration also offers certain protections for your business—for example, when you register your business’s name, other businesses in your state are prevented from using that same name. Whether you’re starting a T-shirt company, a coffee shop, or even an Amazon business, your business will be subject to certain registration requirements.

Read on to learn about the various ways to register your new business to ensure that you meet all of the legal requirements you need to open up shop.

1. Decide On A Business Structure

If you haven’t already decided on a legal structure for your business, now’s the time to do it. If you have a small, one-person operation or run your business with your spouse, you may choose to register as a sole proprietorship. Other popular business structure options include a limited liability company (LLC) or corporation (C-Corp). In all, the most common types of business structures include: Some other types of business structures include:

Sole Proprietorship
General Partnership
Limited Partnership
Limited Liability Partnership
Limited Liability Limited Partnership
C-corporation
S-Corporation
Limited Liability Company (LLC)
Nonprofit
Cooperative

Be sure to read up on the pros and cons of each business type before deciding on which structure works best for your business. Check out our guide to types of business structures to learn more.

It may help you to know that most small businesses are sole proprietorships. With a sole proprietorship, you may run your business under your own legal name, or under a different name or DBA (“doing business as”) if you wish to separate your personal and business identities.

2. Register Your Business Name

The way you register your business name will be slightly different, depending on the type of business structure you are using.

Sole Proprietors: If you are using a DBA (company name other than your legal name), you will likely need to register your business name with your state or county by filing a DBA, also sometimes called a fictitious business name registration. Registering your business name prevents anyone else from using the same business name, and is also required in most states. Usually, you should be able to file a DBA with your state or county clerk’s office. Before filing, you’ll also need to make sure no one else is using your chosen business name.
LLCs & Corporations: When you set up an LLC or corporation, you will register your business name with the state at the same time. Again, the rules and processes vary from state to state, so you will need to check with your state to find out how to register your LLC or corporation at a state level.

Optionally, you may also wish to register to trademark your business name, which protects the name of your business and its goods/services on a national level. Check with the US Patent and Trademark Office if you want to register a trademark for your business name or logo.

3. Register Your Business With The IRS

Next, it’s time to register your business with the IRS to get your Employer Identification Number. An EIN is like a social security number for your business that identifies your business to the IRS for tax purposes. If you do not have any employees, registering with the IRS is optional and you can use your social security number to file taxes instead. Aside from sole proprietorships and single-owner LLCs with no employees, most other businesses will need to register with the IRS and get an EIN.

4. Register For Business Licenses & Permits

The local business licenses and permits you need vary depending on your location. For example, in the city where I live, all businesses are required to file for a “Business Tax Certificate,” which registers you to pay local business taxes.

You may also need to apply for state-issued business permits, depending on your industry. Plumbers, dry cleaners, restaurants, and various other business types all have state-regulated permits they need to apply for. For example, if you plan to open your own catering business, you will need a state health permit.

Federal business licenses are also required for certain industries. For example, if you are opening your own bar, you will need a federal permit to sell alcohol.

5. Register With Your State’s Revenue Office

If you live in a state where you are required to charge sales tax, you will need to apply for a sales tax permit, also called a sales tax ID or license. This applies to almost all businesses that sell tangible goods—even if you only sell online. Typically, you apply for a sales tax permit through your state’s Department of Revenue. Your state may ask for your EIN during the tax registration process, so make sure you register with the IRS before applying for your local tax ID. You may also need to supply your business license and business bank account.

Certain types of businesses may not be subject to sales tax; make sure you know the rules and regulations in your state before you assume that you don’t need to charge sales tax.

Do I Need To Register My Small Business?

Not all businesses need to register at a state or federal level. If you have a sole proprietorship operating under your legal name and with no employees, you don’t need to register as a business entity with your state or register for an EIN. However, even freelancers will likely still need to file for a local business permit in their city or county and will be subject to local business taxes. Of course, all businesses will also need to pay federal and state business taxes come tax season.

Other Important Things You Need To Start A Business

Domain Name: While not legally required, a website is essential for most businesses, and the site’s domain name matters. In fact, the domain name matters so much that you should check domain availability before choosing your business’s name. Your domain name doesn’t have to be the same as your business’s registered name, but it should be chosen carefully and in accordance with your brand and services. You can register your domain name with any qualified registrar.
Business Bank Account: This isn’t really a type of registration but it’s an important part of establishing your business as its own entity. You should be able to open a business bank account once you have legally registered your business’s name, received your EIN, and received your local business license.
Merchant Account: A merchant account is another important business establishment step for most businesses. You will need to set up a merchant account with a bank or payments company before you can process any electronic payments for your business. Merchant accounts are kind of our thing, so I encourage you to read our in-depth article on the best credit card processing companies for small businesses.
Business Insurance: Business insurance provides essential protection for your business and should be set up early on in the process of starting your business. Learn about the different types of business insurance so you can figure out what kind(s) of insurance you might need for your business.

Final Thoughts

Almost all businesses are subject to some registration requirements, such as registering your business name with your state, registering for your federal tax ID, and registering with your state tax board. Realtors, bar-owners, mechanics, and other specialized businesses will require additional permits and licenses. Yes, business registration can be a pain, as it’s one more thing to add to your to-do list, but it’s pretty easy and straightforward in most cases.

Once you are all registered with the appropriate entities, you may need to start shopping around for business insurance, business financing, accounting software, and other startup necessities. Lucky for you, we have posts on all those topics and more in our Merchant Maverick Blog, so head on over for a wealth of free business startup information.

The post How To Register Your Business: The Complete Guide appeared first on Merchant Maverick.

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July 3, 2019

How To Accept Donations Online

If you have a nonprofit organization, providing a completely secure and convenient to accept donations online is probably a pretty high priority on your list. If you’re not sure what types of solutions are out there, you’re in the right place. Whether your charity needs a better online presence with an updated site, or you need to improve engagement with current and prospective donors, you certainly have a myriad of options! In this post, we’ll explore an overview of each approach, so you have a better idea of what deserves more of your attention.

In all of these options, take into consideration who your potential supporters are and how you interact with them. Think about what’s currently working for you, and what you need to develop for growth. For instance, do you need to create a site? Do you need an organized database of customer information? A better process for recurring donations? Let’s dig into the possibilities for taking online payments and much more.

Donation Management Software

In addition to payment processing, donation management software focuses on the CRM (customer relationship management) aspects of running a nonprofit organization. Data collection, tools for outreach, as well as nurturing existing donors are all components of good donation management software.

You’ll find a wide range of pricing when it comes to this type of software. We found companies offering their SaaS (subscription as a service) products as low as $10/month and as high as $15,000 + annually for mid to large organizations for managing complex donor relationships. Of course, which services come along with the core offering also varies significantly, but that means you have a lot of options, too.

Generally speaking, you’re going to pay more for the convenience of an all-in-one software platform than if you were just shopping around for a payment processor, both in terms of monthly costs and transaction rates. Some companies will allow you to choose from a handful of compatible payment processors, while others offer their own built-in processor.

When considering donation management software, consider what you may need for your size organization. In addition to online payment processing, here are a few services that may be included for nonprofit organizations:

Pledge Management
Grant Management
Donor Discovery
Campaign Management
Contribution Tracking
Gift Matching Management
CRM Tools
Alumni Management
Event Management
Auction Management
Recurring Giving
Volunteer Management

Donation management software can be a great tool for your charity to improve in specific areas listed above. However, if you are just looking for a way to process payments in-person and online, and need some tracking and reporting capabilities, payment service providers may be a cost-effective option for you. You’ll get lower rates in exchange for fewer extra frills, so to speak. As you’ll see in the section below, some payment service providers also offer CRM integrations. These options can be nice to have your payment processing and outreach tools working together from the same database, though you’ll pay for the two separately. Let’s take a look at some payment service providers for taking online donations and more.

Payment Service Providers

A payment service provider is first and foremost a credit card processor, but these types of companies typically have very robust offerings that support online charities and merchants as well. While the term payment service provider may not ring a bell to you quite yet, you’re likely familiar with some of the biggest in the business: Square, PayPal, and Stripe. What makes companies like these different from traditional merchant accounts is that they are actually third-party processors. While we could devote a whole post discussing the technical details of this type of arrangement, we’ll say this: Payment service providers may offer more choices in payment processing and fewer hoops to jump through to get started â but they aren’t for everyone. Be sure to follow the links and learn more about each specific option so you can make the best decision for your nonprofit business.

Square

Square (read our review) offers a variety of options for taking payments online. The simplest and fastest way to set up your online store is to pick one of the templates that Square offers and set up a free online shop. Your customization options are limited here, but you can add donation buttons in the Site Editor. Back in the editor, you can add whatever images you like as well as sections for fundraising tickets, merchandise, buttons to accept donations â or a combination including all of the above.

If you already have a site or you are building a custom site, you can also integrate your Square account with popular eCommerce software like WooCommerce, WordPress.com, or Weebly, just to name a few. The integration option requires minimal technical expertise while giving you more freedom to make a site that feels more like your own. However, Square offers yet one more option for customizing your checkout and donation process. You’ll find free developer-friendly tools so that you can customize online and in person with their API.

No matter what solution you choose, you can also send recurring invoices. You can schedule and set donation pledges for your donors, and track all activity right from your dashboard. Of course, you’ll also have a customer directory so you can collect phone numbers and email addresses, and save a card on file for those who opt-in. Square also offers a suite of add-on services like marketing CRM so you can quickly create an email campaign to follow up and engage your contacts for fundraising, donation goals, and more!

Square offers nonprofit organizations the same rates as everyone else, but Square’s rates are some of the most transparent in the business, with no additional fees for PCI compliance (payment security), no monthly fees for processing, and no contract or cancellation fees whatsoever. Setting up an account with Square is also very easy, and is often the best way to dig in to test all of the possibilities. Check out our article, How To Accept Online Payments With Square, for an in-depth look at the company’s ecommerce tools as well.

PayPal

From adding a button to the top of your website to more in-depth developer tools that integrate with your site, PayPal offers a plethora of support for the nonprofit business.Â Here are a few of the options you might want to check into when it comes to taking donations:

Donate Button: Accept credit cards, debit cards, and PayPal by adding a simple donate button to emails, web pages, and campaigns. Your donors can also select automatic monthly donations, too!
Express Checkout: If you choose to go with a different processor, you can also add a PayPal button to your site with Express Checkout, which simply adds a new option to pay during the checkout process.
PayPal Here: It’s worth it to mention that you also can process in-person payments at events with PayPal, too! PayPal Here is a card reader that allows you to process in-person payments of credit or debit cards.

If you’ve registered your nonprofit as a 501(c)(3) charity, you can also enjoy shaving a bit off of your transaction charges. PayPal’s nonprofit transaction rates are 2.2% + $0.30. For online solutions, PayPal has more than you may expect, so check out our full PayPal Review for pros, cons, and more.

Stripe

Stripe (read our review) is a great option for your nonprofit if you are looking for virtually unlimited end-to-end customization and have you have access to developer expertise. While Stripe may not have the dinner-table name recognition of Square or PayPal, it’s one of the most prominent payment service providers. Stripe is the behind-the-scenes processor for some of the biggest national and global brands, including Facebook, Adidas, Lyft, and Under Armour.

What makes Stripe different than Square and PayPal is that you won’t have the processor’s payment brand on your button â Stripe is essentially a “white label” option which leaves you to create your own messaging on buttons and customize the entire checkout experience.

While Stripe doesn’t specify the types of fee discounts for nonprofit organizations, their support page instructs any business with a nonprofit status to email support for more information. For more information on basic pricing as well as billing and customer engagement tools Stripe offers, visit The Complete Guide To Stripe Pricing And Costs.

SMS Text Messaging

Engaging donors and accepting payments through text messaging is a growing trend, one that we can’t neglect to discuss. You’ll find a variety of SMS messaging services out there that offer unique levels of support and different pricing structures to boot. So how does it work? SMS text donations essentially direct the customer to an online, secure payment form hosted by the credit card processor. Some credit card processors provide support for SMS; other SMS tools are focused on the customer engagement portion and they integrate with various processors and provide detailed donor tracking and reporting.

Most SMS companies we looked at do integrate with Stripe as a payment processor, but one company, called Pagato, also integrates with Braintree and Quickbooks Payments. For more information about taking donations with SMS payments, check out What Is An SMS Payment And How Does It Work?

Online Donations Through Facebook

Creating a presence on Facebook could be your primary way to reach out for donations online or just a reinforcement. The great thing about this platform is that its entirely free to set up a page, and Facebook doesn’t take a cut of your donations â you keep 100% of every donation. The other thing that may work in your favor is that many people are already on Facebook, and you can get your message (and your donate button) out to hundreds or thousands of people at a time. Reach people through social shares, live feeds, and of course, paid Facebook ads. Keep in mind that Facebook may throttle your page’s visibility to your followers, however; the ultimate goal of Facebook is that you purchase ads to boost visibility. Nothing is free, and that includes visibility to all of your followers on Facebook. That being said, Facebook has some nice tools for charities. Here’s what you can do:

Add a donate button on your page and posts
Create fundraisers
Set up donation matching
Add a donate button on live videos

To use Facebook’s online donate button, you’ll need to have a Facebook Business Page that’s categorized as a nonprofit. You don’t have any bureaucratic hoops to go through on Facebook’s end, but you’ll need to make sure you’ve got the nonprofit category selected to accept donations online for your organization. If you need to edit your page’s category to a nonprofit, all you do is head to the About section on the left side of your page and edit the category there. You can add up to three categories. Below is a screenshot from Facebook’s help section so you can see how simple it is to edit your category from your Facebook storefront.

If you are having a fundraising event at a physical location, you can also create an event through Facebook or link your Eventbrite page to Facebook, so your followers can click to buy a ticket.

Merchant Accounts

At the beginning of the post, we talked about payment service providers, which are third-party processors that act as one umbrella merchant account with merchants being sub-users. Merchant accounts, on the other hand, provide a more direct solution that has some benefits. While you’ll have to go through a rigorous application process to open an account, and it’s not necessarily instantaneous like Square, you can typically expect good one-on-one customer care and communication if any issues arise.

We definitely have our favorite merchant service providers here at Merchant Maverick, but is this solution right for your nonprofit? Consider your monthly donations. Merchant accounts are best for larger organizations that process close to $10k or more in donations a month. At this volume, you’ll likely start facing significant cost savings by switching from a third party processor to a merchant account. In fact, many merchant accounts will only open an account for you if you’re processing around that range.

One of our favorite merchant accounts for nonprofits is Dharma Merchant Services. You’ll be hard pressed to find a company with more stellar reviews and who really has a heart for the nonprofit mission. In fact, they offer nicely discounted rates for nonprofits! Merchant accounts like Dharma are also typically really good at offering even more ways to take payments like ACH and automatic recurring payment solutions. As far as integrating payments online, Dharma uses Authorize.net, which is quite possibly one of the most compatible solutions to integrate on a wide variety of platforms. You’ll also have a lot of options in Clover hardware for in-person payments. For more information about the services Dharma offers, visit our full Dharma Merchant Services Review.

Final Thoughts

By now hopefully your gears are turning, and you’re feeling inspired to explore your options. Of course, your solution largely depends on your core needs. Accepting payments online is an integral part of fundraising but ongoing engagement is also a vital part as well. Choosing an option like Square that gives you flexibility in more than just payment processing can help you launch your online presence quickly and continue to engage those who give. But if you’ve already got a site you love, the ease of adding a payment button with PayPal or a fully branded checkout experience with Stripe or Dharma is also a fantastic option. Do you have any questions about accepting online payments for your charity? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

The post How To Accept Donations Online appeared first on Merchant Maverick.

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July 3, 2019

The Merchantâs Guide To CVV2 And CVV Checks

If youâre a merchant and you blink, you might miss an essential detail in our ever-changing payment landscape. Thatâs because payment security, as well as general payment technology, continues to grow and evolve each year.

Merchants often say that payment security is one of the most difficult to understand (not to mention intimidating) topics. We aim to change that here at Merchant Maverick. So whether youâre looking for an easy-to-understand CVV definition or you want to understand more about how the CVV number affects the checkout process, stay with us. Weâll address all the notable points when it comes to this somewhat mysterious code on the back (and sometimes front) of nearly every credit and debit card.

Whatâs A CVV?

A CVV (or sometimes CVV2) is a three or four-digit number printed on every credit card youâll come across nowadays. This small code is not stored in the EMV chip or the magstripe, as the purpose is to ensure that anyone who makes a purchase has the card on their person. The goal in using the CVV code is to prevent unauthorized use of a credit card in any card-not-present transaction. That usually means online purchases, but it can also include manually entered transactions, too.Â

Before we go any deeper into this post, we need to address the elephant in the room â because if we donât things could get confusing. You may encounter more than one name for the CVV numbers because the payment brands didnât all agree on the same term (go figure). Depending on whom you talk to, you may hear any of the following terms, but these all refer to the same thing:

Card Verification Value (CVV or CVV2): Â Visa and Mastercard
Card Verification Code (CVC): This term refers to the CVV / CID code
Card Identification Number (CID): Discover and American Express

Visa, Mastercard, and Discover all put this numerical code at the back of their cards, near the signature space. American Express, however, chose to put its CID on the front of the card. Regardless of where you find it, the code does the same thing â it helps a merchant confirm that the owner of the card is in charge of the purchase.

Note that this code isnât transmitted when a credit card is swiped, dipped, or tapped during a card-present transaction. The CVV number is another layer of security that helps merchants prevent different types of fraud and reduce their liability. Keep reading to find out more reasons you should care â and where to go from here.

Why Do You Need A CVV Code?

As we mentioned above, if you take a payment over the phone or have an online shop, a CVV code provides an additional way to confirm that the cardholder is actually buying from you. But thatâs not the only reason you would need to have a CVV/CVV2 number during a transaction.

The major card brands began requiring merchants to submit this code in card-not-present transactions in 2018. Why did they do it? Because online fraud is increasing. LexisNexis noted in its 2018 True Cost Of Fraud report that the cost of fraud is also rising. In 2017, every dollar ($1) of fraud cost a merchant $2.77. In 2018, however, that number increased to an average of $2.94. And unfortunately, if you are in the digital space, the cost is even a bit higher.

Another big issue that a CVC code helps prevent for merchants is a chargeback. A chargeback is when a customer requests that the funds from a payment be reversed (usually because the charge wasn’t authorized). Chargebacks can happen for a variety of reasons, and while a CVV code canât protect you from all of them, it is evidence that the customer did authorize the sale because they would have had to have the card in hand to enter the code. In this way, a CVV code can protect you from âfriendly fraudâ â when a customer claims they didnât purchase from you at all, knowing full well they did!

Want to arm yourself with important insights about chargebacks? Check out The Complete Guide To Preventing And Winning Chargebacks.

CVV Checks For Merchants

To recap, only card-not-present transactions for which you donât physically swipe, dip, or tap require you to worry about a CVV code. That means that even if your customer is present, you will need to get the CVC if you manually enter the credit card data through your virtual terminal, POS system or mobile POS app.

If you take any payments online or you send and receive invoice payments, your customers will also plug the CVV code in during the checkout process. For more on card-not-present sales, check out What Is A Card-Not-Present Transaction?

Itâs important to note that merchants who process in-person payments with a card reader or terminal do not need to worry about CVV codes, nor should anyone give out their own code willy-nilly. The code is only useful to confirm a card when you donât process with the magnetic strip or EMV chip.

Letâs take a closer look at the two main scenarios when youâd need to worry about the added security of a CVV/CVV2 number.

Entering CVV Numbers For Manually Entered Transactions

If you already utilize a PCI compliant payment processing company, youâll notice that your payment form for manual entry already has a spot for a CVV code. As stated earlier, that’s because the payment companies now require it on all card-not-present purchases. All processors nowadays know the scenarios it is applicable to ask for the CVV code, and you or your customer will be automatically prompted to enter it if necessary. So remember, the CVV2 number is not needed at all if you swipe, dip or tap the card in your shop.

Hereâs a screenshot of a virtual terminal through Square with the CVV section highlighted. This is a merchant-facing screen for manual card entry. Again, CVV and CVV2 refer to the same number, but Square is just covering its bases by using both terms.Â

Itâs important to note that no merchant should ever store the CVV code on their servers or record them in any way. In fact, the Payment Card Industry-Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) regulations prohibit storing of this number at all. While collecting a CVC at the moment of purchase and not storing it is not a perfectly airtight security measure, itâs additional protection for merchants to authenticate online and over-the-phone purchases when you canât visually check identification.

CVC Code Entry For eCommerce

For those of you who have an eCommerce presence, a CVC code is also required by the major payment companies during processing. Of course, any online sale is considered a card-not-present transaction, and as such, you should be aware of the risks. Fraudsters often target small businesses looking for vulnerabilities, so itâs important to have a PCI compliant processor and payment gateway.

Heading	Fattmerchant	Payline	CDGcommerce	Shopify	Square
					Â
	Review Visit Site	ReviewVisit Site	Review Visit Site	ReviewVisit Site	Review Visit Site
Key Features	Advanced Billing & Invoicing	Versatile Service	Free Gateway Included	Advanced Shopping Cart	Basic Webstore, All-in-one
Shopping Cart Compatibility	Many	Many	Many	Shopify Only	Many
Gateway Compatibility	Many	Many	Many	Many	Square Only
Pricing Model	Subscription	Cost-Plus	Cost-Plus	Flat Rate	Flat Rate
Standard eCommerce Rates	0.00% + $0.10 markup	0.50 + $0.10 markup	0.30% + $0.10 markup	2.90% + $0.30	2.90% + $0.30
Entry-Level Monthly Fee	$99	$0	$10	$29	$0

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More Tools For Online Security

An excellent feature to look for if you take payment via your online shop is AVS (Address Verification System). As the name suggests, the processor authenticates your customers address during checkout. Whether this feature costs you extra or not depends on the processing company you choose. Many processors do include the feature automatically with their flat or tiered pricing plan. Even if you do pay a bit extra, however, keep in mind that AVS significantly reduces your risk of fraud. Transactions processed with AVS likely have downgraded risk factors and may even save you money, so keep that in mind as well. For more about AVS, check out What Is AVS For Credit Card Processing?

We also couldnât talk about online security without mentioning 3D Secure technology. With 3D Secure technology, the card brands step in to provide an extra authentication step during checkout. The actual process varies by card network and by issuing bank, but for business owners, once you’ve implemented this step, you don’t need to do anything else specific. Ask your payment processor if 3D security is a built-in feature or if not, how you can add it to your site. For more information, check out our post, What Are Verified by Visa and 3D Secure?

Payment Security Is Essential For Businesses Â

This post aimed to clear up any confusion regarding why and how a CVV (Or CVV2, or CVC or CID) number is vital for your small business. Hopefully weâve made the airtight case that the CVV code is an essential piece of information any time you process a card-not-present transaction, but otherwise, donât fret over it at all.

Because payment companies mandate all merchants to collect the CVV during online or manual card entry, youâll need to find a payment processing company thatâs up-to-date with the latest policies. Keep in mind that merchants canât store the CVV data to be PCI compliant, so never write it down. Even with card-on-file transactions, merchants shouldnât store the CVV code; if you do, you could be liable in a data breach.

In addition to CVV, we also introduced you to some other important tools that can help keep your payment landscape safer for you and your customers. If youâre shopping around for your online shop, look for a processor that specializes in online payments and gives you the right tools, including AVS checks or 3D Secure technology. Check out our Merchant Account Comparisons to find out more about features, fees, and support.

The post The Merchantâs Guide To CVV2 And CVV Checks appeared first on Merchant Maverick.

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July 3, 2019

Can Merchants Set Minimum Amounts On Card Transactions?

So, youâve opened your business, and youâre starting to rack up a lot of sales. Youâve even signed up for a merchant account so your customers can use their credit cards. Things seem to be going great â until you notice something a little unsettling.

You knew when you opened your merchant account that youâd have to pay for credit (and debit) card processing, but $0.15 or $0.20 per transaction (in addition to the percentage charge) didnât seem like it would be a big deal. Unfortunately, a lot of your customers come in and only buy a single item, maybe something for $3.00 or less. They donât carry any cash and want to use their credit card. However, your margins are so thin on low-priced items that the fixed per-transaction fee you pay for processing can wipe out your profit. In fact, you might even lose money on some sales if the customer uses a credit card.

Naturally, youâd like to avoid this situation altogether. You remember being in other stores that had a policy of only accepting âplasticâ if the total sale was at least a certain amount (say, $10.00, for example). Youâd like to implement a policy like this yourself, but youâre not sure if itâs legal.

In this article, weâll review the laws and agreements that govern setting a minimum amount on credit and debit card transactions. Weâll also discuss the pros and cons of doing so, even in situations where itâs perfectly legal. After all, you donât want to risk losing sales when customers either canât or donât want to buy enough items to meet your required minimum. Finally, weâll review the differences between setting a minimum purchase requirement on credit card and debit card transactions.

Can You Implement A Minimum Charge On Credit Card Purchases?

Hereâs the short answer: Yes, you can set a minimum charge on credit card purchases. However, there are several legal and contractual limitations on doing this, so keep reading! Youâll want to understand all the applicable restrictions on this practice before you try to implement it in your business.

Prior to 2010, setting a minimum credit card charge was governed entirely by the processing agreements set forth by the major credit card associations (i.e., Visa, Mastercard, etc.). Every major card brand prohibited the practice, because they wanted to make money off credit card usage and they simply didnât care if merchants lost money on small-ticket transactions.

However, in 2010, the Federal government weighed in on the issue. When the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was passed by Congress in the aftermath of the Great Recession of 2008, it took many steps to rein in the reckless behavior of the big banks that had contributed to the recession. Part of this legislation, the Durbin Amendment, contains the following provision:

(3) NO RESTRICTIONS ON SETTING TRANSACTION MINIMUMS OR MAXIMUMS.âA payment card network shall not, directly or through any agent, processor, or licensed member of the network, by contract, requirement, condition, penalty, or otherwise, inhibit the ability of any person to set a minimum or maximum dollar value for the acceptance by that person of any form of payment.

In other words, the Federal government has effectively overruled the previous contractual limitations imposed by the credit card associations. Merchants are now free to set a minimum purchase requirement if they want to. However, their ability to do so is not unlimited. A separate provision in the Durbin Amendment authorizes the Federal Reserve to define the highest allowable minimum purchase requirement that may be imposed, and they can change this limit from time to time if they see fit. As of this writing, the highest allowable minimum purchase requirement that merchants can set is $10.00. Youâre free to set a lower requirement if you want to, but you cannot set a limit above this amount.

While the credit card associations can no longer stop you from setting a minimum purchase requirement, they have modified their processing agreements to ensure that any minimum imposed is fair and equitable. Visa, Mastercard, and Discovery all have several stipulations on setting minimum charges in their processing agreements. The gist of these stipulations is that a minimum purchase requirement, if imposed, must treat all credit cards and all issuing banks equally. In other words, you canât require a minimum purchase for Visa, but not Mastercard. You also canât set a minimum purchase for one issuing bank, but not another. Having different minimum purchase amounts for different cards or issuing banks is also not allowed. American Express is a little different, as they donât mention minimum purchase requirements at all in their processing agreements. We recommend that you apply the same minimum purchase requirements for American Express cards as you do for any other card brand.

Can You Implement A Debit Card Minimum Purchase Amount?

Now that weâve established how you can set a minimum purchase requirement for credit cards, youâll probably want to know if the rules are the same for debit cards. Of course, theyâre not. That would be too easy, right?

With few exceptions, the general rule is that you cannot impose a minimum purchase requirement for debit card transactions. Why not? Well, the Durbin Amendment also placed some strict limits on the interchange fees (and PIN debit network fees) that banks could charge for processing debit transactions. However, the Amendment doesnât prohibit the credit card associations from imposing their own restrictions on minimum purchases the way it does for credit cards. Naturally, the card networks responded to this change in the law by immediately strengthening their prohibitions against minimum purchase requirements for debit cards. While this might seem unfair to merchants, realize that the new limits on debit card processing fees cut deeply into the card networksâ revenue. Being able to prevent merchants from imposing minimum purchase requirements has the effect of partially compensating the card networks for this loss of income.

How will these changes affect your business? As usual, there isnât a simple answer, and the impact on your processing costs will depend on what type of processing rate plan you have, among other factors. If your merchant account uses an interchange-plus or membership-based processing rate plan, the inability to set a minimum purchase requirement wonât be a problem. Thatâs because both of these types of plans pass interchange and PIN debit network fees directly onto you. Interchange fees and PIN debit network fees for debit card transactions are very low, thanks in part to the Durbin Amendment and also because these types of transactions cost very little to process and involve a very low degree of risk to the processor. In other words, you wonât need to set a minimum purchase requirement in the first place, because processing small-ticket sales wonât have an impact on your profitability.

What Happens If My Processor Treats Debit Cards As Credit?

Of course, things are never simple in the processing world. Merchants who are on a flat-rate or tiered pricing plan have several other factors to consider. Flat-rate pricing, such as that offered by Square (see our review), charges the same rate for both credit and debit cards, essentially treating debit card transactions as if they were credit card transactions. While this makes your costs much more predictable and easy to understand, it also means that youâre paying far more than necessary to process debit card transactions.

Tiered pricing, on the other hand, varies depending on your processor and how they structure their tiered rate plans. Some processors have separate (and usually much lower) tiers for debit card transactions, while others lump both debit and credit card transactions together and treat them identically.

Why is there a difference in how debit card transactions can be treated? The answer usually depends on how the transaction is verified at the point of sale. Briefly, debit card transactions can be verified using either the PIN debit method or the signature debit method. With PIN debit, the customer verifies their identity by inputting their 4-digit Personal Identification Number (PIN) when making a purchase. This routes the transaction to a PIN debit network rather than a credit card network. Because this type of transaction is considered to be more secure, PIN debit network fees are very low.

Signature debit transactions, on the other hand, require the customer to sign their receipt to verify their identity. With this verification method, the transaction will be routed to a credit card processing network and regular interchange fees will be assessed. Remember, published interchange fees for debit transactions are also very low. However, your merchant account provider may or may not pass those lower rates onto you. If you have a flat-rate pricing plan or a tiered plan that doesnât include a separate tier for debit transactions, youâll end up paying the same processing rates as you would for credit card transactions. For more details on how debit card transactions are processed, please see our article, The True Cost Of Debit Card Transactions.

If youâre paying the same processing rates for both debit and credit card transactions, can you still impose a minimum purchase requirement that applies to both types of transactions? You would certainly be justified in doing so since youâre paying an artificially high amount for accepting debit cards. The answer is that it will depend on your processing agreements with the major credit card associations and your contract with your merchant account provider. We recommend that you refer to those documents before setting a minimum purchase requirement. You might also consider imposing a minimum purchase requirement that only applies to credit card transactions, especially if youâre paying fair market rates for debit card transactions through your processor.

Final Thoughts

Now that weâve thoroughly discussed the legalities of minimum purchase requirements, letâs consider whether you should go ahead with doing so. Yes, youâll avoid losing money on small purchases. At the same time, you run the risk of losing sales when customers canât use their credit cards and donât have any cash on them. Like it or not, most consumers are oblivious to the fact that accepting credit and debit cards costs you money.

There are several options you should consider if small-ticket sales are costing you too much in processing fees. Your first option is to review your merchant account contract and confirm that youâre on an interchange-plus or membership-based pricing plan. These two types of plans give you the lowest per-transaction processing costs, and you shouldnât need to implement a minimum purchase requirement at all. If youâre on a flat-rate or tiered pricing plan, on the other hand, youâll want to check a few things. Does your plan have a lower rate for debit cards, or does it treat both debit and credit cards the same? If youâre on a flat-rate plan, does the lack of monthly and annual account fees compensate for the higher processing rates? Many small businesses sign up for a flat-rate service like Square due to the low up-front costs, but fail to realize that once they reach a certain processing volume (typically around $5,000 per month), it actually costs more to use Square (or any other flat-rate service) than a traditional merchant account.

Another option to lower your processing costs is surcharging. This is the practice of passing your processing costs onto your customers by adding a surcharge to credit and debit card purchases. We recommend you exercise caution in considering this option. While surcharging is now legal in most (but not all) jurisdictions, it can result in lost sales unless youâre in an industry where the practice is common and accepted. For more details, please see our article, Your Complete Guide to Credit Card Surcharges.

If you do decide to implement a minimum purchase requirement, make sure that you set it as low as possible to reduce the frequency of lost sales and frustrated customers. Under no circumstances should you implement a minimum that exceeds $10.00 â customers can report you to the credit card associations, and youâll probably have your merchant account shut down. You might even end up on the Terminated Merchant File (TMF, or MATCH list), making it that much more difficult to find a new processor.

Implementing a minimum purchase requirement also means that youâll have to educate your employees to enforce it. Make sure they understand the difference between a credit card and a debit card. This isnât as obvious as it sounds, as most debit cards are sponsored by either Visa or Mastercard. Theyâll also need to understand the difference between PIN debit and signature debit, as you usually wonât be able to enforce a minimum purchase requirement on PIN debit transactions.

If youâve read this far and come to the conclusion that your best option is to switch to a different merchant account provider, we can help. Check out our Merchant Account Comparison Chart for a side-by-side comparison of the best providers in the industry.

Our Top-Rated Merchant Services Providers

heading	Payment Depot	National Processing	Fattmerchant	Dharma	Square
	Payment Depot	National Processing	Fattmerchant	Dharma Merchant Services	Square Payments

	Get Started Review	Get Started Review	Get Started Review	Get Started Review	Get Started Review
Availability	US-based businesses	US-based businesses	US-based businesses	US-based businesses	US, Canada, UK
Serves in-store, mobile, and eCommerce	â	â	â	â	â
No early termination fees	â	â	â	â	â
Compatible with most POS systems	â	â	â	â
Rate matching / negotiableÂ	â	â	â	â
High-quality sales and customer service	â	â	â	â
Pricing model	Interchange-plus	Interchange-plus	Interchange-plus	Interchange-plus	Flat rate
Monthly fee	$49	$10	$99	$20	$0
Standard retail rates	0% + $0.15 markup	0.20% + $0.10 markup	0% + $0.08 markup	0.15% + $0.07 markup	2.75% total
Good for higher volume (over $20K/month)	â	â	â	â
Good for mid volume ($10K-20K/month)	â		â	â
Good for lower volume (under $10K/month)	â	â			â
Good for selling occasionally					â
Instant account setup					â
	Get Started with Payment Depot	Get Started with National Processing	Get Started with Fattmerchant	Get Started with Dharma MS	Get Started with Square Payments

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The post Can Merchants Set Minimum Amounts On Card Transactions? appeared first on Merchant Maverick.

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April 19, 2019

The Best Business Loan And Financing Resources For Massachusetts Small Businesses

In 2018, Massachusetts was the fastest-growing state in the Northeast, with its population growing by over 5%. As its population grows, so does the stateâs economy. Once known for agriculture, trade, and fishing, this state has grown to become a global leader in finance, biotechnology, and other modern industries. Massachusetts has even been named by as the most innovative state by Bloomberg.

With a strong economy and new opportunities always on the horizon, thereâs no better time than now to launch or expand your own small business. Whether youâre the owner of an established business or youâve only flirted with the idea of entrepreneurship, the state of Massachusetts has small business financing and resources available to you.

If youâre ready to launch your business or take your existing business to the next level, keep reading! Instead of poring through hundreds of small business lenders and resources, weâve handpicked the best options for you. Whether youâre seeking low-interest loans, fast financing, or free business tools, this guide has you covered. Read on to find out more about the small business resources available to Bay Staters.

Online Business Lenders For Massachusetts Businesses

Running your own business keeps your schedule full. When you need extra capital for your business, it seems like there arenât enough hours in the day to head to your local lender. Fortunately, there is a solution that allows you to get the financing you need without spending hours at the bank. That solution is to work with an online business lender.

Through online lenders, you can apply for your loan, submit documentation, and even receive funds all without ever leaving your office. With online lending, you have more choices than ever and many online lenders also have less stringent requirements than traditional lenders. This means that you can access capital even if you have credit score challenges, havenât been in business for long, or donât meet typical revenue requirements.

On the one hand, having so many lenders to choose from is great because you can shop around your options. On the other hand, knowing where to even start can be a challenge. Instead of scouring the internet alone, check out what these online lenders have to offer.

SmartBiz

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Must be in business at least 2 years. Must have a personal credit score of 650 or above. Must have a business credit score of 150 or above. Borrower requirements (click to expand) Hide

You donât have to go to your local bank to get a low-interest, long-term loan. Small Business Administration loans not only have competitive interest rates but are also easier to qualify for than traditional business financing. While you can visit a lender in person to apply for an SBA loan, smart business owners know that SmartBiz is the way to go.

SmartBiz is an online marketplace that has helped small business owners receive more than $1 billion via SBA loan programs. Through SmartBiz, you may qualify for a loan is as little as 5 minutes and receive your funding in just 7 days. The application process is streamlined so you can get the funding you need as quickly and easily as possible.

There are two loan products to consider. The first option is SmartBizâs SBA Working Capital and Debt Refinancing Loans. These loans can be used to refinance business debt, expand your business, pay for a marketing campaign, hire employees, purchase equipment, or increase your inventory.

Through this program, you could receive $30,000 to $350,000. Interest rates are 8.25% to 9.25% with repayment terms up to 10 years.

To qualify for this loan, you must meet these requirements:

U.S. citizen or permanent resident
At least 2 years in business
Personal credit score of 640 or above
Sufficient cash flow for loan payments
No bankruptcies or foreclosures in the last 3 years
No defaults on government-backed loans
No outstanding tax liens

The second SBA loan program available through SmartBiz is the SBA 7(a) Commercial Real Estate Loan. With this loan, you can receive between $500,000 to $5 million to purchase commercial real estate or refinance your existing commercial mortgage. Interest rates are 7% to 8.25% with repayment terms up to 25 years.

The following are the requirements for receiving this loan:

U.S. citizen or permanent resident
Property must be at least 51% owner-occupied
Purchase price must be greater than $500,000
No new construction or investment properties
At least 3 years in business
Personal credit score of 675 or above
No bankruptcies or foreclosures in the last 3 years
No defaults on government-backed loans
No outstanding tax liens

If an SBA loan doesnât seem like the right option for you at this time, you can also apply for a bank term loan from one of SmartBizâs lending partners. You may qualify for $30,000 to $200,000 with repayment terms up to 5 years and fixed interest rates starting at 6.99%.

Lendio

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Time in business: 6 months Business revenue: $10,000 per month Personal credit score: 550 Borrower requirements (click to expand) Hide

No time to send out applications to multiple lenders? Give Lendio a try. With Lendio, you can get offers from multiple lenders through just one application. Lendio is a loan aggregator that has partnered with over 75 lenders, making it easier than ever to compare your financing options.

Through Lendio, you can apply for nearly any type of business financing, including:

SBA Loans: $50,000 to $5 million
Term Loans: $5,000 to $2 million
Short-Term Loans: $2,500 to $500,000
Lines Of Credit: $1,000 to $500,000
Equipment Financing: $5,000 to $5 million
Startup Loans: $500 to $750,000
Accounts Receivable Financing: Up to 80% of receivables
Commercial Mortgages: $250,000 to $5 million
Business Credit Cards: $1,000 to $500,000
Merchant Cash Advances: $5,000 to $200,000

Rates, terms, and requirements vary by product and lender. Time to funding also varies, but some products are available in as little as 24 hours. There is no obligation to accept an offer, and receiving your offers will not impact your credit.

Unsure of which business loan is best for you? Learn more about the different types of small business loans.

OnDeck

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Time in business: 12 months Business revenue: $100,000 per year Business industry: Must not be in aÂ restricted industry Personal credit score: 600 Borrower requirements (click to expand) Hide

OnDeck has provided $10 billion to businesses around the world, and you could be the next business to get the capital you need. Through OnDeck, you can apply for one of two financing options: term loans and lines of credit.

A term loan provides you with a lump sum of capital in amounts up to $500,000. Short-term loan options come with 3- to 12-month terms and are best for purchases that deliver an immediate return on investment, such inventory or a new marketing campaign. The long-term option gives you 15 to 36 months to repay your loan and is best for larger purchases such as expanding your business or buying equipment.

OnDeckâs short-term loans have simple interest rates starting at 9%. This is the total amount of interest you will pay and is a percentage of your borrowing amount. Long-term loans have a 9.99% annual interest rate. OnDeck also charges an origination fee of 0% to 4% of your loan amount for short- and long-term loans. Payments are made daily or weekly and are automatically deducted from your checking account.

To receive a small business loan from OnDeck, you must have:

Time in business of at least 1 year
At least $100,000 in annual revenue
Personal credit score of 600 or above

If you need a more flexible financing option, consider applying for an OnDeck line of credit. You can receive up to $100,000 to cover unexpected expenses, make up for gaps in income, or for any business purpose. Rates start at 13.99% and payments are automatically deducted from your checking account each week. A $20 monthly maintenance fee will also be applied, but the lender will waive the fee for 6 months if you draw at least $5,000 within 5 days of opening your account.

To qualify for this option, you must have:

Time in business of at least 1 year
At least $100,000 in annual revenue
Personal credit score of 600 or above

Fundbox

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No time in business requirements, but must have used a compatible accounting or invoicing software for at least 2 months, or a compatible business bank account for at least 3 months. Business revenue: $50,000 per year No specific personal credit score requirement Borrower requirements (click to expand) Hide

What do you do if your business is performing well, but you donât have an excellent credit score? There are options open to you, including a line of credit from Fundbox.

Fundbox bases its approval decision on the performance of your business, so you donât have to have perfect credit to qualify. Through Fundbox, you may be eligible to receive a revolving line of credit with limits up to $100,000. Youâll repay the lender over a period of 12 or 24 weeks. Fees start at just 4.66% of the draw amount.

If you donât use your line of credit, you wonât pay a dime. If you do make a draw, you can pay your balance off early and save since Fundbox waives all remaining fees. Payments are automatically deducted from your business checking account each week. As you pay down your balance, funds will become available for you to use whenever you need them.

To qualify for a Fundbox line of credit, you must have:

A U.S.-based business
At least $50,000 in annual revenue
A business checking account
At least 3 months of transactions in a business banking account OR at least 2 months of activity in supported accounting software

BlueVine

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For invoice factoring: Time in business: 3 months Business revenue: $100,000 per year Business type: Business-to-business Personal credit score: 530 For business lines of credit: Time in business: 6 months Business revenue: $120,000 per year Personal credit score: 600 Borrower requirements (click to expand) Hide

If youâre seeking a higher limit for a line of credit, you can receive up to $250,000 through BlueVine. Rates start at 4.8% for the most creditworthy borrowers. There are no fees if you donât use your line of credit. Repayments are made on a monthly or weekly schedule over 6 to 12 months.

To qualify for BlueVineâs line of credit, you must have:

Personal credit score of 600 or above
Time in business of at least 6 months
At least $100,000 in annual revenue

If unpaid invoices are causing your cash woes, BlueVine offers an invoice factoring service that could provide you with up to $5 million. You can receive up to 90% of the balance of your unpaid invoices up front. Then, once the customer pays the invoice, youâll receive the remaining balance, minus fees. Fees start at 0.25% per week.

To qualify for invoice factoring, you must be a B2B business that meets these requirements:

Personal credit score of 530 or above
Time in business of at least 3 months
At least $100,000 in annual revenue

Amex Business Loans

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Time in business: 24 months Business revenue: $50,000 per year Personal credit score: Good to excellent Other: Must accept Amex cards or have an Amex business credit card (depends on the type of financing you are applying for) Borrower requirements (click to expand) Hide

Worried that applying for financing will harm your credit score? If youâre an American Express cardholder, there may be an option available for you that has no impact to your credit score.

American Express Business Loans provide you with $3,500 to $50,000 in capital for your small business. You can repay your loan over 12, 24, or 36 months. These loans come with fixed APRs of 6.98% to 19.97%.

This offer is available only to select American Express Business cardholders. By logging into your Amex account, you can find out if youâve been preapproved. This preapproval will provide the maximum borrowing amount and your maximum rate. After providing some information about your business, you could receive your funds in as little as 3 business days if youâre approved.

Because American Express uses the information it has on file for you, thereâs no impact to your credit to apply. To qualify, you must meet these requirements:

Hold a Basic Card or Business Card
Be in good standing with American Express
U.S. citizen or permanent resident
Be at least 18 years old

Amex Merchant Financing

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Time in business: 24 months Business revenue: $50,000 per year, at least $12,000 per year from debit and credit card sales Personal credit score: Good to excellent Other: Must accept Amex cards Borrower requirements (click to expand) Hide

If you donât qualify for American Express Business Loans, you may be able to get the capital your business needs through Amex Merchant Financing. If your business accepts American Express cards, you could qualify for this funding option.

Amex Merchant Financing provides $5,000 to $2 million to qualified business owners. Repayments are made over 6, 12, or 24 months. Youâll pay one fixed fee of 1.75% to 20% to take advantage of Amex Merchant Financing. Repay early and you can receive a rebate of up to 25% of your fixed fee.

Daily payments are automatically deducted to pay off the lender. You can opt to have a fixed amount taken from your business bank account, or you can choose to get a percentage of your daily receivables withdrawn.

To qualify for Amex Merchant Financing, you must have:

A business that accepts American Express cards
At least $50,000 in annual revenue
At least $12,000 in annual debit and credit receivables
Time in business of at least 24 months

Upstart

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Time in business: N/A Personal credit score: Minimum 620 Business revenue: N/A Borrower requirements (click to expand) Hide

Many of the previous options listed require at least a few months in business, but what do you do if youâre looking for capital to launch your business? Time in business requirements could bar you from receiving small business financing. However, you could qualify for a personal loan to use for business expenses.

Because this isnât a business loan, time in business, annual revenue, and business credit history arenât considered. Instead, your personal credit score and annual income are used to qualify you for a loan through a lender such as Upstart.

Upstart offers qualified borrowers $1,000 to $50,000. These funds can be used to fund your startup costs or cover other business expenses. Upstartâs APRs range from 7.54% to 35.99% based on creditworthiness. Repayment terms are 36 to 60 months.

To qualify for an Upstart loan, you must:

Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident
Be at least 18 years old
Have a valid email account and a verifiable name, date of birth, and SSN
Have a source of income
Have a personal bank account
Have a personal credit score of at least 620

In addition to your credit score, Upstart will consider other factors of your personal credit profile. Additional qualifying requirements include:

No bankruptcies or public records
No delinquent account
Less than 6 inquiries over the last 6 months
Solid debt-to-income ratio

Banks, Credit Unions, & Nonprofit Lenders In Massachusetts

While online lenders make borrowing easier and more convenient than ever, you may still prefer to go the traditional route with a local bank, credit union, or nonprofit lender. If you havenât already established a relationship with a local institution, consider one of these lenders that serve small business owners in Massachusetts.

Eastern Bank

Eastern Bank was founded in 1818 and has its headquarters in Boston. Today, there are over 120 locations throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire in cities including Boston, Burlington, Reading, and Lowell.

Eastern Bank offers multiple financial services for small business owners. The institution not only offers business checking and savings accounts, but entrepreneurs can also take advantage of the following services:

Eastern Express Business Loan: Up to $100,000
SBA 7(a) Loans: Up to $5 million
SBA 504 Loans: Up to $5 million
Cash Reserves: Up to $10,000 to protect against overdrafts
Business Term Loans
Lines Of Credit
Business Credit Cards

Eastern Bank also has commercial financing options, including industrial lines of credit, commercial real estate loans, and asset-based lending.

You can learn more by visiting your local Eastern Bank branch or applying for your chosen financial product online.

Metro Credit Union

If you want a more personalized experience, consider joining a local credit union, such as Metro Credit Union. This institution has locations throughout the state of Massachusetts to best serve more than 200,000 members. Metro Credit Union branches are located in cities including Boston, Lawrence, Framingham, and Salem.

As a member of Metro Credit Union, you may be eligible to receive small business financing through one of its lending programs including:

Commercial Real Estate Loans
Business Lines Of Credit
Business Term Loans
Unsecured & Secured Business Credit Cards

Metro Credit Union also provides merchant credit card services, payroll services, and additional services to small business owners in Massachusetts.

To apply for financing, you must be a Metro Credit Union member. To become a member, you must:

Live, work, or own a business in one of the following counties: Barnstable, Bristol, Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk, Worcester
Open a Metro Regular Savings account with a $5 deposit

Common Capital

Common Capital is a community loan fund and nonprofit organization that provides tools, resources, and financing to small businesses and community projects in order to strengthen communities.

Through Common Capital, small business owners can apply for fixed and variable rate loans and lines of credit. Funding of up to $300,000 is available and can be used for the following purposes:

Working Capital
Inventory & Supplies
Equipment
Startup Costs
Business Acquisitions Or Expansion
Debt Refinancing
Leasehold Improvements Or Real Estate

Repayment terms are up to 10 years. Payments can be structured to account for seasonal fluctuations in revenue.
To qualify, you must own a business in the counties of Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire, or Hampden. If you reside in Worcester County, you may be eligible to apply for the Fast Track Program, which provides up to $50,000 with a fast turnaround.

Loan applications are available online. You must provide historical financial statements and/or three years of future financial projections with your application. Startups must also include a business plan. The typical time to underwrite and close the loan is 4 to 6 weeks after the completed application package has been received.

Small Business Grants In Massachusetts

Grants are another source of financing you can use to start or grow your business. The good thing about grants is that these arenât loans, so you wonât incur debt. You wonât have to repay the grant or worry about interest or fees.

However, this free money isnât available to just anyone. Most of the time, you have to meet very specific requirements for small business grants, such as being in a particular industry or being a minority, woman, or veteran business owner. Even if you do qualify, most grants have many applicants.

While it isnât guaranteed that youâll receive a small business grant, thereâs no harm in applying if you meet all of the requirements. There are a variety of state and federal resources available to help you locate small business grants, but you can kick off your search with these options.

State Trade Expansion Program Grant

The State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) grant is offered through the Massachusetts Office of International Trade and Investment in partnership with the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center Network, the Small Business Administration, and the Massachusetts Export Center. This grant is designed to help offset the costs of international business development and associated marketing costs.

Through this program, eligible small businesses can receive reimbursements of up to $12,000 for expenses including:

Compliance testing products for entry into an export market
Design of export market-specific marketing media
Overseas trade show or conference expenses

To qualify for STEP funding, an online application must be submitted. Proof of payment for the project, service, or activity must also be submitted for consideration. Applicants are also required to match 25% to 40% of funding.

Office Of Safety Workplace Safety Training Grant

The Office of Safety Workplace Safety Training Grant is a reimbursement program for businesses located in Massachusetts. This grant is provided through the Department of Industrial Accidents. Qualifying businesses can receive up to $25,000 to pay for training and education promoting workplace safety.

Businesses of all sizes are eligible to apply provided they are operating within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and are covered under the stateâs Workersâ Compensation Law.

To qualify, you must submit a grant package. Your package must include the grant application, a description of your business, training goals, a budget narrative and summary, qualifications of training providers, and a Department of Revenue Certificate of Good Standing.

Workforce Training Fund

The Workforce Training Fund provides business grants to support the training needs of businesses throughout the state of Massachusetts. There are two grant programs available.

General Program

The General Program is open to businesses of all sizes. Businesses can receive a training grant up to $250,000 through this program. Training grants must be matched dollar-for-dollar by the grant recipient.

Express Program

This program is open to businesses with 100 or fewer employees. Grants of up to $30,000 per company and $3,000 per employee per course are available through this program. Companies will be reimbursed up to 50% of training costs.

Grants can be used to pay for training for current and new employees. An online application can be submitted along with a cover letter, Certificate of Good Standing from the Department of Revenue, and a description of training modules and courses.

Loans & Resources For Startups In Massachusetts

Finding the loans and resources you need for your startup business doesnât have to be challenging. If youâre a small business owner in the Bay State, consider putting the following resources to work for you.

SCORE

The SBAâs SCORE program provides free and low-cost services and resources to small business owners. Through SCORE, you can take advantage of free business counseling and mentoring online or at a SCORE location near you.

SCORE also offers local workshops on a variety of small business topics such as accounting, management, and marketing. These events allow you to educate yourself on these topics while networking with other local business owners.

SCORE also has additional tools and resources available on its website. This includes business guides, free templates, and blogs that offer helpful tips and tricks to business owners.

There are multiple SCORE branches located throughout the state of Massachusetts in cities including Boston, Springfield, Amherst, and Salem.

Massachusetts Small Business Development Center Network

Since 1980, the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center (MSBDC) has provided free and low-cost resources to startups and established businesses. Through MSBDC, you can receive free one-on-one business counseling.

MSBDC also hosts free and low-cost seminars and events throughout the state. You can learn more about business topics such as developing your business plan, cash flow analysis, and financing options.

MSBDC offices can be found throughout the state in cities including Springfield, Fall River, Boston, and Salem.

What To Consider When Choosing A Lender

Weâve given you a list of lenders to finance your small business. Maybe youâve even done your own research and have your own list. Now, itâs time to make a difficult decision: which lender should you work with? Itâs important to weigh out all of your options and not just stick with the first lender that gives you an approval. You want to make sure that you make the wisest financial decision for your business. Do this by asking yourself the following:

Why Does My Business Need Money?

What is the purpose of your business loan? Not only will you have to put this on your loan application, but knowing exactly how you plan to use your funds can help narrow down your lender options. Letâs say that you want a flexible line of credit for emergency expenses. If a lender specializes in SBA loans, short-term business loans, or other financing that provides a lump sum, move on to the next lender.

How Much Money Does My Business Need?

Again, this is something you will need to include on your application. But you can also use this information to sort through lenders. If you need financing of at least $100,000, lenders that have lower maximum borrowing limits can be crossed off your list.

Can My Business Afford The Loan?

Lenders will look at a variety of factors to determine if you can afford a loan or other financial product. If you canât, your application will be denied or you may be approved for a smaller amount. Donât rely solely on the lender to determine the affordability of your loan. Consider your incoming revenue, your current expenses, and any fluctuations in income. Then, shop around with lenders that not only offer the amount of financing you need but also have the lowest rates and best terms for your situation.

Do I Meet All Requirements?

Do you meet all the requirements of your chosen lender? If a lender requires an excellent credit score, borrowers with scores below this requirement will be declined.

Have bad credit thatâs preventing you from getting an affordable loan? If your need isnât urgent, take the time to boost your credit. Obtain your free credit score, review your report, and take a few easy steps to raise your credit score. This will help you receive higher borrowing amounts, lower rates, and better terms.

Make sure you meet all other requirements, including time in business, annual revenue, and business credit history.

Final Thoughts

Starting or growing your small business can be a challenge. However, with the right resources and a source of capital, youâll increase your chances for success. The state of Massachusetts offers multiple resources and financing options for your small business. You just need to take the time to evaluate the needs of your business and choose which resources offer the most benefits to you.

The post The Best Business Loan And Financing Resources For Massachusetts Small Businesses appeared first on Merchant Maverick.

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April 18, 2019

6 Square POS Features To Run Your Small Business Like a Pro

When a merchant signs up for a new Square account to start processing payments, many times the focus isnât on the other features; itâs on getting paid â and rightfully so. But after signing into your account for the first time, it may become evident to you that there is a lot more to Square than just payment processing.

For those of you who are new to Square or if you are shopping around and checking out your options to make a final decision â youâre in the right place. We are going to take a look at what is available in the free Square POS app. We’ve discussed both Square (read our review) and Square POS (read our review) in depth, so check out their respective reviews for a more comprehensive look. Don’t forget, when you sign up with Square Payments, you get access to the POS app, the online selling tools, invoicing, and a whole lot more.Â

But before we dig into all that, letâs quickly review Squareâs payment processing costs for the price savvy among us. Square has very upfront pricing, but keep in mind that your processing costs change with the Square hardware you use. With the free Square POS and your own smartphone or tablet, youâll pay a flat rate of 2.75% per swipe, dip, or tap. Check out How Much Does Square Charge? for a thorough explanation of any other fees you might incur with Square, including software.Â

While itâs true that Squareâs fee for payment processing may seem a bit higher on the face of things, keep a few things in mind: Square doesnât charge any additional monthly account fees, and you can expect the same flat rate for all of the cards you process, even American Express. You can also close your account any time with no cancellation fees whatsoever. However, one of the more notable reasons we like Square here at Merchant Maverick is that merchants get end-to-end, PCI compliant payment security included with every account, without paying a dime for it.

While Square may not be as packed with features as a traditional POS, there are still a wide range of features waiting if you take advantage of them. In addition to features within the app itself, Square’s back-end management tools (centralized in the web Dashboard) are powerful.Â

We have much to cover, so letâs discover the most noteworthy POS features you can start using to manage customer engagement, employees, inventory, and take charge of your business like the pro you are!

Customer Directory

If you have an existing customer list, you can migrate that over via CSV right into the directory and get started. Every time you complete a sale, your customer directory grows to include your customerâs name, purchase history, location, and credit card (save this only with their permission). If your customer enters their email for an e-receipt, that gets added to the directory, too!

The customer directory builds automatically with each sale, but you can also manually add customer information from the Square POS or the Square dashboard. (See Why We Like Squareâs Online Dashboard and Analytics App for a primer on the dashboard.) In the Customer Directory, you can add an email, birthday, make notes about their order history, or add their company, for instance.

As your customers continue to shop with you, Square builds reports on customer behavior patterns, too. You can find out things like visiting frequency and when they purchased something from you last. You can view some reports from the in-app reporting in the Square Point of Sale, but to access all of the reporting features, youâll need to get to the Square dashboard.

A lesser-known Square feature is the private feedback you can gather after a sale. Giving your customers this opportunity to share their opinions with you directly (and right from their receipt) helps keep the lines of communication open. When your customer leaves feedback, you can respond to them directly and offer to comp their item if you wish. In this way, you can hopefully also avoid negative public reviews â and keep your customers happier while youâre at it.

Inventory Management

Keeping up with inventory changes and accurately ordering the stock you need is probably one of the most critical business matters there is. Not only does good inventory management build loyalty and trust with your customers, but you can also avoid some unneeded expenses surrounding both excess and deficient stock. The great news is that basic inventory management comes along with your free Square POS software.

Have a large amount of inventory? You can easily import any existing stock with a CSV spreadsheet. You can also add items manually through your dashboard or Square POS. Either way, you can quickly update product names, prices, and quantities as needed. Setting up low stock alerts is easy â set alerts to send when inventory gets to the amount you decide. In the screenshot below, you can see that this shop has 20 prints in stock and the alert will be sent when there are three left.

Have different sizes or other variables of the same item? Square supports setting up different price points and variants, too. Square does not support partial quantities â but donât lose heart! If you sell in partial quantities, you can work around this issue by setting up a Variation, as seen in the screenshot below.

Whether youâre a micro shop or you move hundreds of items a day, you can set Square up for what makes sense for your business. However, if your business has several hundreds of items, youâre likely going to find the inventory navigation a bit unwieldy. Thatâs because you have to scroll to find the item manually; you canât just type the name in a search bar. Square does offer a more robust solution with Square for Retail (See our review), starting at $60/month/register/location.

To keep up with inventory and track customer spending, you can also assign your products to specific categories. Keep in mind that all of the initial work you do to distinguish your inventory through categories, variations, and accurate item descriptions pays you back with richer insights when it comes time to check out your reports. Square creates free basic reports such as Sales Summary, Sales Trends, and Category Sales, to name a few.

Itâs worth it to mention that if you are in a time crunch or you donât have an item already in your inventory, you can still ring it up easily in quick sale mode â simply punch in the amount, and youâre ready to take payment!

Loyalty

The proof is in the pudding â loyalty programs lead to more customer spending. This fact is proven time and again in retail spending statistics, but Square also reports that customers spend over 30% more after joining their loyalty program. Thatâs a nice chunk of change, but making the loyalty program work for your business is the key to profitability.

The Square Loyalty Program is not free â it starts at $45 and the prices scale with the number of loyalty visits. That means that you wonât be paying for what you donât use, but we still suggest checking your reports to track success. However, you really are in charge of the program and its success in your business. Thatâs because everything is highly customizable. From a classic digital punch card to earning points each visit, you control what â and how â your customers earn rewards with you.

According to Square, merchants get the best responses with their loyalty program by offering a meaningful reward, making the reward happen sooner rather than later (about 30 days from enrollment), and limiting the rules when it comes to earning rewards.

When you ask your customer to join your loyalty program, they enter with their phone number, which you can then promote via text messages. The other cool thing about the loyalty program is that the add-on software gives you even more data about your customerâs purchase history and buying behavior. All of this information makes it easier to personalize customer service or even plan your next promotion.

Employee Management

The optional employee management software can make a significant impact on your business if you have multiple locations or many employees. From customizing permissions to timekeeping, performance tracking, and advanced reports, there is a lot of potential here.

With your basic Square account, you can let employees take payments as Mobile Staff and allow or disallow issuing refunds. Beyond these two functions, you are limited unless you opt for Employee Management at $5 / month per employee, however.

For example, employee-specific reporting only comes with advanced Employee Management. In the screenshot below, you can see what types of insights are available under the Employee Sales reports that come along with Employee Management.

In addition to gaining better insights regarding your employeeâs performance, you also have much more control over employee permissions. Choose who has access to cash drawer reports, assign individual access codes, and choose other custom permission settings both at your Point of Sale and in your Dashboard.

Cash Drawer Management

From the Square Point of Sale app, you can enable cash drawer management to promote greater accountability across the board. Take note that you can only manage your cash drawer from an iPad or Android tablet â you canât track and manage with your smartphone. Basic information about your cash drawer session includes:

Cash amount
Cash sales
Cash refunds
Cash paid in and out
Expected cash amount in drawer

Cash Drawer Management lets you know exactly how much cash you start with and what to expect in the drawer at the end of the session. You can set up cash drawer reports to be auto-emailed at the end of the business day. Because the reporting is specific to the device connected to your cash drawer, youâll have to run a separate report for each device. You can view your drawer history at any time from your Square app, too. All you need to do is select the date and the drawer session to see details.

If you have Employee Management software, you can also control employee access to your in-app cash drawer reports. Grant your manager access while restricting other employees from accessing cash reports you may not want to make privy to everyone.

Offline Mode

For days when even the Internet canât seem to work correctly, being able to accept payments offline prevents losing customers and sales. Offline Mode is also a game changer for the many businesses who arenât bound to four walls. Whether you have set up shop in a more remote location or you are a mobile business traveling across the country, you can use your offline mode to swipe your card and securely accept payments. There are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to Offline Mode, however:

Offline Mode only works with a magstripe swipe card, and you must swipe it.
You have to connect to the Internet within 72 hours of the sale, or it expires.
Offline transactions automatically process when you get connected with the Internet again.
If payment doesnât go through after connection, you are responsible for the cost of goods or services.

The good news is that thereâs no additional charge for Offline Mode, just the standard rate of 2.75% per swipe. And there are a few things you can do to protect yourself from the issues listed above. When you take a sale in Offline Mode, be sure to check for the signature on the back of the card and have your customer sign so you can compare signatures. Checking your customerâs ID is also recommended, of course. Youâll also want to double check the cardâs expiration date. If you remember these simple best practices, you can still accept offline payments with a reasonable amount of assurance that your sale is good to go.

Is Square Right For You? Â

Square offers a wide range of features to support a growing small business. If you are adding employees and locations, Square is ready with advanced software that grows with you, including Employee Management and the highly customizable Loyalty Program. (Not to mention the less glamorous but just as important features like cash drawer permissions, inventory management, and offline support.)

Want to find out even more about Square? Check out our Square POS review for more insights on the Square Point of Sale or visit our full Square Review for more helpful insights. If youâre ready to try Square out and see for yourself, head over and set up your free Square account to start processing your first payments!

The post 6 Square POS Features To Run Your Small Business Like a Pro appeared first on Merchant Maverick.

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April 13, 2019

What Is Credit Card Tokenization?

While tokenization in the payment security space may be relatively new, evolving, and even somewhat complicated, the concept of substituting one bit of information for another to protect something is anything but new. Tokenizing protects sensitive or personal data by replacing it with a “token” — a code word, essentially, though that might be oversimplifying the matter. Because the token is a substitute for the actual data, it holds no value if intercepted by fraudsters. You would need a way to decode the token in order for it to have any value.Â

In this post, we are going to focus on credit card tokenization, but you should also know that tokenizing other types of highly sensitive data like social security numbers and personal records may become commonplace across markets â and very soon.

But back to the payment industry. As of late, the idea of tokenization is typically linked to digital wallets like Apple Pay and Android Pay, and for good reason. But there are many implementations of tokenization technology including:

Card-on-file subscription billing
One-click checkouts on eCommerce sites
In-app payments
All NFC mobile wallets (contactless payments)

Whether you are a brick-and-mortar shop wanting to implement contactless payment options for your customers, you have an online shop, you use an app to support your business, or you have regulars you know and love, you could start taking advantage of credit card tokenization.

And if youâve bought anything via those methods listed above (who hasnât?) in the last couple of years, the chances pretty good that your data was tokenized. So what is tokenization?

Tokenization Defined

When we define tokenization, itâs worth mentioning that while the main crux of the matter is consistent, no one-size-fits-all definition is universally accepted among the big payment security organizations like PCI and EMV. However, here is a simplified version, as given by the PCI Council, that gets to the heart of the matter:

Tokenization is a process by which the Primary Account Number (PAN) is replaced with a surrogate value called a token.

When we look at the PAN, which is the actual account number on your credit card, remember that other sensitive pieces of data connect to it â including your personal information and expiration date of the card. When we tokenize, we place all of that information farther from merchants, cashiers, and other players in the payment process. And because the data is no longer recognizable in its token form, we protect it across the payment process. A tokenâs life can be for just one interaction to get coffee, or a store could tokenize payment data for a specific customer for a limited amount of time.

Also, notice in the definition I shared in bold above, that there is no defined âhow,â because it depends on how you implement the tokenization process and what application your business needs. Here are a few examples to help shed some light on how sensitive data gets tokenized.

How The Account Number Gets Tokenized

There are two ways to tokenize data: partial or total. They each have their advantages but may not be right for all situations.

First up, let’s talk about partial tokenization. In some cases, the middle six digits of a customerâs credit card get replaced with a token. The first group of numbers doesnât get tokenized so that the processor knows what type of card they are dealing with (Visa and MasterCard have unique identifying numbers). Additionally, the last four digits of the PAN also remain intact for customer reference. This type of partialized tokenization is also backward compatible, meaning the token has the same amount of numbers as the real PAN. It âlooks like a real card and acts like a real cardâ when a merchant enters it into their own POS system. If a merchant wants to tokenize data and keep their legacy system, this is one way to do it.

The other way to tokenize the PAN is to completely randomize all of the numbers. All of this is done by a third-party, and may include vault storage to keep the payment card data. In either case, the same general thing happens in a sale; the tokenized number is de-tokenized and matched with the real card data. More on that below.

What Happens During A Tokenized Sale?

When it comes time to process a payment, whether that is through an eCommerce site, an app, or a mobile wallet, the payment processing steps are generally similar. Here is a simplified process for your perusal below.

The customer initiates payment for a product or service.
Next, the merchant sends the token to the acquirer.
Acquirer routes the token to Visaâs network.
Visa sends a token to the card issuer.
Issuer returns token and authorization.
Viola! A sale is complete.

Check out the screenshot below for a visual example of tokenization, courtesy of Visaâs Infographic, How Tokens Are Used.

As weâve discussed, tokenization relies on a completely random, traceless value as the surrogate. This process is unlike encryption which relies on a mathematical algorithm. Letâs take a look at how tokenization and encryption compare.

Tokenization vs. Encryption

Tokenization and encryption are similar in that the data is âhiddenâ from would-be interceptors, but the process of each is totally different. In tokenization, the customer data gets replaced with a token â a completely random number. In tokenization, typically a vault stores all of the actual data on a âtable.â After de-tokenization, this random string of digits (sometimes alphanumeric) are matched up with the real account. The main takeaway here is that the token gets passed to the merchant and eventually back to the table, without exposing the real payment card information to the merchant.

With encryption, the payment card information runs through an algorithm, a mathematical process, to transform the original data into something indecipherable until unlocked with the âkeyâ during processing. Since the process isnât randomized, the algorithm is somewhat vulnerable to hackers trying to crack the code.

In short, encryption is mathematically reversible, and tokenization is not. Additionally, encryption is not a complete, end-to-end security method, like tokenization. Payment processing costs can be a bit higher with encryption as it requires more computational power (e.g., rotation of âkeysâ) than tokenization throughout the payment processing cycle.

Considering The Pros & Cons

While tokenization can be cheaper to implement per transaction than encryption, and it isnât mathematically reversible, there are some issues to consider. Because vaulted tokenization requires central management, there is a lot of pressure to maintain a wholly secured vault (however, sometimes the issuer (e.g., Visa) hosts the vault, too).

Additionally, tokenization does significantly reduce PCI scope for merchants, meaning there is less pressure on the merchant for payment security overall. That means less work for you to do in order to remain PCI compliant. While encryption is a generally accepted security measure, it does not do anything to reduce your PCI scope or lessen the work you must do to stay PCI compliant.Â

However, tokenization is still a relatively young whippersnapper in the world of payment security. Encryption has been around for a while, and consumers regard it well. But tokenization has become more attractive to those who understand that the payment security industry must stay a step ahead.

Tokenizationâs Protective Role In Payment Processing

There are a few ways that tokenization protects information during payment processing. As mentioned before, customer data is made useless to a would-be interceptor because itâs no longer the actual information; it is a token that substitutes the actual data. The other way that tokenization protects data is that in the case of digital wallets, the credit card number isnât stored on the customerâs device, either. That means thieves canât retrieve credit card numbers from a phone, tablet, watch, or connected device when a customer and a merchant utilizes a digital wallet.

As the payment security industry evolves, weâll continue to move further away from sharing a physical card and any identifying information that comes with it. Tokenization successfully separates our sensitive data from the transaction by taking the physical card out of the equation entirely, and it does this by tokenizing parts or all of the credit card number.

Because tokenization also removes the merchant from the equation when it comes to transmitting highly sensitive data, it also significantly reduces a merchantâs risk to fraud â from both internal and external threats. That being said, there are some things to consider depending on how you implement tokenization.

How Can Merchants Adopt Tokenization?

There are several ways that you can adopt tokenization into payment processing for your physical, eCommerce shop, or your mobile app! The simplest way for the brick-and-mortar shop to tokenize payments is to get a contactless, NFC-capable reader. Mobile wallets already tokenize the data so as long as you can accept payments from these mobile wallets without having to do anything yourself. As far as tokenizing other transactions, you can ask your existing payment processor about tokenization options for your POS. If you are an eCommerce shop or you have an app, MasterCard and Visa both offer solutions, too.

Mastercard offers a free, optional service called Digital Secure Remote Payment (DSRP), and all you need to do is contact your acquirer to see if they support DSRP, and then integrate the mobile app with the digital wallet partner. You can also look into the Visa Developer Platform â a program offered by Visa where their team works with you to create your mobile payment application with Visa Token Service SDK. Â

Sometimes, there is more to the whole tokenization shift than patch-on solutions, however. If your business has a tremendous legacy system with other data to consider, a more complex, third-party solution may be necessary. While we wonât get into all the nitty gritty in this post, here are a few things to consider below.

Companies Specializing In Tokenization

If you inherently deal with sensitive information as a part of your business model and you need to create a custom solution, you will need to find a PCI compliant company with a trustworthy, highly secure tokenization method and vault. Here are some things to ask:

How are tokens randomized? How protected is the âkeyâ that de-tokenizes?
Is a reversible algorithm used? If so, how protected is that software?
And ultimately, how protected is the table holding the data and the vault protecting it?

While it becomes a bit more tricky to ensure that all of the right security measures are in place, tokenization can still reduce your risk as a merchant and help protect data from a breach. However, youâll need to ensure due diligence when it comes to new or legacy systems. The PCI Council says it best in the PCI DSS Tokenization Guidelines Document:

Tokenization solutions can vary greatly across different implementations, including differences in deployment models, tokenization and de-tokenization methods, technologies, and processes. Merchants considering the use of tokenization should perform a thorough evaluation and risk analysis to identify and document the unique characteristics of their particular implementation, including all interactions with payment card data and the particular tokenization systems and processes.

Do You Need Tokenization To Process Credit Cards?

Keep in mind that at this point, there are no hard and fast rules as to exactly how to implement tokenization, so if you are a merchant, the ball is in your court to make the best decision for your business needs. That being said, tokenization can significantly reduce the merchantâs liability when it comes to payment security. And keep in mind: You donât have to carry the burden of tokenization yourself. There are ways to utilize the expertise of other companies and hardware to get the job done. If your business is just looking to improve payment processing and you donât need or want to store sensitive payment card or personal data, using the solutions discussed in this post provide a much simpler way to navigate tokenization.

While itâs not mandatory — and is undoubtedly flexible in implementation –, tokenization remains one of the fastest growing ways to keep data more secure and shift the risk of fraud away from the merchant while protecting the transaction from end to end.

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April 9, 2019

What Is An SMS Payment And How Does It Work?

We all know and love our Short Messaging Service (SMS) — better known simply as the text message. But did you know that you can start taking SMS payments for your business? And that it is relatively easy to get started?

In the United States, we are just now warming up to the idea of sending and receiving payments by text, but businesses throughout the world have already adopted SMS payments for everything from mass transit tickets to lattes.

While Americans are less likely to pay by text for everyday purchases, text payments are still an undeniably growing trend. You may already be familiar with payments by text when it comes to charitable donations, but home service providers (e.g., AT&T) are starting to offer SMS payments for their customers as well.

Text payments offer potential growth for many other types of businesses, too. Pizza shops, salons, or any business that has âregularsâ could benefit from text payments. SMS payment services are probably not for everyone, however, so letâs take a look at how text-to-pay works and if itâs right for your business.

How Do SMS Payments Work?

When it comes to the nuts and bolts of how SMS payments work, itâs pretty simple, really. While there may be some variations with each company that offers text messaging payment services, generally you can expect the following elements when it comes time to pay:

A business sends a text to their customerâs phone number or the customer texts a shortcode number to the business to initiate the sale.
After communicating what product or service the customer wishes to purchase, the business sends the customer a link to a secure, mobile-friendly payment form.
The customer enters their payment information and can typically approve saving the card on file for recurring payments or a future purchase.
The customer may get a unique code to complete the purchase.

The customer may also get another verification text from the payment processing company to confirm their intent to buy. As stated above, the exact process may vary by company, but you can expect a similar procedure to complete the sale.

Mobile Carriers Vs. Payment Processors for Text Payments

Many people associate text message payments with charity donations (often the amount is added to their phone bill). What is lesser known is that phone carriers generally only allow organizations to accept donated amounts in $5 or $10 increments. By setting up these limits, phone carriers reduce their own risk from non-paying customers. While the phone carrier setup can work great for flash-giving campaigns and allow an organization to avoid paying some payment processing fees, it isnât a viable solution for businesses.

Enter companies like Relay, Pagato, and Sonar. These companies, and those like them, support SMS payments by integrating their messaging services with secure, PCI-compliant payment processing.

What Do You Need to Accept SMS Payments?

To get started accepting SMS payments, youâll need to choose the company with the services that fit your needs best. There are some differences between the ways companies like Relay, Pagato, and Sonar price their services. Letâs briefly take a look at each of these three examples.

Relay (formerly Rhombus):

Relay charges $50/month for 250 âticketsâ which refers to completed conversations. With that, you also get 1000 free SMS texts. All plans include automated responses, unlimited contacts, customer segmentation, and other engagement tools. Donât forget about the actual credit card processing fees, however! Relay integrates with Stripe, and you pay 2.9% + $0.30 per successful transaction. You can accept every major card at the same rate with Stripe processing. (If you arenât familiar with Stripe, check out our Stripe Payments Review.)

Pagato:

Pagato integrates with Stripe, Braintree (read our review), and Quickbooks Payments (read our review). In addition to the payment processing fees of your merchant account, youâll pay 1% per transaction with a minimum of $0.20 per transaction. With Pagato, you can accept payments through SMS and social media channels like Instagram and Facebook, too. You wonât have additional setup, monthly, or hidden fees.

Sonar:

Sonar offers packages starting at $24.67/month and $0.025 per SMS message. You can send automated messages, track customer data, set up campaigns and even A/B test them as well. Sonar integrates with Stripe, and your payment processing fees are 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.

These are examples of some lesser-known companies, but the more prominent players like Square and PayPal allow you to send a text with a link to pay individual customers, too. The Square Cash App and PayPal donât have the muscle to do much beyond sending a link to pay, however. You canât A/B test marketing campaigns for an offer that you send out with Square or PayPal, for instance.

Keep in mind that most of the SMS messaging platforms mentioned above offer a free trial period and a demo to learn more about the exact features. So donât hesitate to ask a lot of questions to get the information you need. Itâs also a good idea to meet with your team and discuss the benefits of each platform, and of course, determine if your sales team has the bandwidth to have multiple open text conversations with customers. Text can be a powerful way to connect to your customers, but it is definitely not suited for every business model.

Which Types of Businesses Benefit Most From SMS Payments?

Without a doubt, there is value in using SMS messaging to build a marketing campaign and nurture those ongoing relationships with your customers. When you consider that the global average open rate on a text is more than 90%, it makes sense to start building your phone list and reaching out that way.

As far as what businesses benefit from adding SMS payments to the mix, consider this:

If your business model provides delivery, your revenue depends on recurring payments, or you target a ârepeatâ customer base, SMS payments can make a lot of business sense. However, you need to have the staff and time to support the nurturing of customers via text. Text conversations can be a bit longer than a phone call if there is a specific issue, so training your team on escalation procedures can help you both save time and money with SMS texts.

All this connection can be great, but not all customers are going to love texting or getting âsalesyâ texts from you. While SMS texting and payments can help your sales team if you use it the right way, some may find automated sales messages impersonal. Keep in mind who your customers are and what supports their journey with you when you set up your SMS services.

Another significant benefit to SMS payments is the secure and compliant payment processing services that you can integrate with, such as Stripe. Because you donât transmit the credit card data or store it on your servers, you can significantly reduce your liability when it comes to fraud risks. Not to mention that your customer has a fast and easy way to pay you, and all of it happens from their phone!

Are SMS Payments Right For You?

Being able to take payments by text offers potential â as long as the benefits outweigh the costs. Features vary by company, so do compare service packages before making a decision. One company may find a lot of value in the extra capabilities to target and segment lists, while another may be more focused on cutting down telephone orders. What services you choose mainly depends on your business model. Because text messaging offers a clear path to your customers’ hands, it may be worth finding the right balance to connect, engage, and encourage your customers to pay by text, too.

If you are discovering what else is out there in payment processing, be sure to check out our resources here at Merchant Maverick. Our Merchant Account Comparison ChartÂ is a great starting point for payment providers!Â

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April 2, 2019

How To Start And Fund A T-Shirt Business

In the world of fashion, trends come and go, but a few select pieces stand the test of time. One piece of clothing thatâs found in almost any wardrobe is the t-shirt. From comfy shirts made for the gym to shirts with trendy designs worn for a night out with friends, t-shirts are a staple for men, women, and children.

T-shirts are here to stay, so why not capitalize on this fashion staple? Whether you have a degree in fashion design or you just want to become an entrepreneur, starting your own t-shirt business could be the opportunity youâve been looking for.

In this guide, weâll take a look at what it takes to get your own t-shirt business off the ground. Weâll start with basics such as designing and printing your shirts. Weâll discuss the importance of registering your business. Then, weâll look at startup costs, as well as how you can get the capital you need to start your business and keep it operating. Finally, weâll look at ways you can advertise your business to bring in customers and revenue.

Ready to take the leap into entrepreneurship? Read on to find more.

Design Your Shirts

Before you begin selling t-shirts to the masses, you have to create designs that people want to buy. The first step is identifying your target market. Are you going to sell t-shirts to men, women, children, or a combination of the three? Are your t-shirts going to be more fashionable, or are they better suited for lounging around the house or hitting up the gym?

Once youâve identified your target market, itâs time to think about the designs youâll use. Letâs say that your t-shirts are aimed at the active man or woman. Your designs should incorporate fitness or motivational graphics. You can also determine other features of your shirts based on your target audience, such as the type of material used. If your shirts are designed for the fitness-minded consumer, for example, select a moisture-wicking fabric.

Your t-shirt designs donât have to be overcomplicated as long as they appeal to your target audience. The key, though, is to make sure your designs are completely original. Not only does ripping off other designs make you look like a copycat, but you could face some serious legal issues if you use the artwork or designs of others without permission.

Itâs also important to remember that sometimes a design may be a complete flop. Even the most well-known fashion designers in the world have released items that werenât a hit with their devoted fans. If one design isnât doing the job, try something else until you find what works best for your target audience.

Also, it doesnât matter whether or not you have any design experience. As long as you have some ideas, you can hire a designer to bring your visions to life.

Decide How To Print Your Shirts

Once you have your designs, itâs time to think about how youâre going to bring the design from your computer or tablet screen to the front of a t-shirt. In other words, you need to decide how to print your shirts.

First, you’ll need to determine the method youâll use to print your shirts. Screen printing is one option; it is a tried-and-true method that allows you to add long-lasting graphics to t-shirts. Screen printing is best for creating large batches of shirts since the initial setup is so time-consuming. Printing smaller batches is not cost-efficient with this method.

Another thing to note is that screen printing is best for very simple designs. Complex designs or multiple colors in one design can be problematic. If you have a more complicated design or pattern, consider direct-to-garment printing.

Direct-to-garment printing works similar to your color printer at home or at the office. The DTG printer prints directly on the t-shirt. With this method, you can use multiple colors and print complicated designs and patterns. Shirts printed with a DTG printer can be extremely detailed.

Setting up a DTG printer isnât difficult or time-consuming. However, the actual printing process does take some time, so this method is best for smaller batches of t-shirts.

Another option to consider for printing your t-shirts is using a heat transfer machine. These machines transfer designs from heat transfer paper to the t-shirt. Full-color images can be printed using the heat transfer method, and you can easily print shirts on-demand. However, the quality is often lower and the design far less durable than using the other printing methods.

Regardless of which method you choose, there are two ways you can go about printing your shirts. You can use a third-party printing service or you can purchase the equipment and do it yourself. Letâs review the benefits and drawbacks of each.

Hiring A Third-Party Printer

Many t-shirt businesses do not do the printing themselves. Instead, these businesses hire a third-party service to handle the printing for them. There are a few benefits to hiring a third party to print your shirts. The first is that you wonât have to make an upfront investment in expensive printing equipment. You also wonât have to learn how to use the equipment or spend time running it.

However, there are some drawbacks to using a third party. You’ll have to shop around to find a printing company that provides high-quality workmanship. You donât want your customers receiving t-shirts with graphics that fade or crack or that fall apart after the first wash. Many companies offer low-cost samples so you can check the quality before placing a larger order.

You also need to shop around and compare the pricing of different t-shirt printing companies. Some companies only fill bulk orders, which could put you at a disadvantage if you want smaller batches.

If you plan to only sell your designs online, you can work with an on-demand dropshipper. Once an order is placed on your website, the dropshipper will print and ship out the order to your customer. Before choosing a dropshipper, itâs necessary to place your own order to check out the quality of the shirts. You also need to evaluate pricing to make sure youâre getting the most bang for your buck. The major disadvantage to using a dropshipper is that if an order is wrong, slow to ship, or not printed correctly, the blame will fall on your shoulders, even if you donât have control over any of these issues.

Purchasing Your Own Equipment

The alternative is to purchase equipment and print your own t-shirts. The advantage of this is that you have total control over both the quality and the number of shirts that are printed.

The major drawback, of course, is that t-shirt printing equipment is very expensive. Expect to spend at least a few hundred dollars for a heat transfer machine. If you want a DTG printer, expect to pay tens of thousands of dollars. You will have to pay for ink and maintenance of your machine. In some instances, you may be able to lease equipment to save on upfront costs.

You also have to take the time to learn how to properly use the equipment or train someone else to take on the job.

Decide How To Sell Your Shirts

Now that youâre closer to getting your shirts designed and printed, itâs time to decide how you plan to sell your items. You can set up an online shop, open your own brick-and-mortar store, or bring your designs to local stores in your area. You may also maximize profits by combining these selling tactics.

One of the easiest sales methods is to open an online shop. Customers can browse your designs and make their purchases directly online. You can ship out the orders yourself, or you can work with a dropshipper to make t-shirts on-demand when an order is placed. This option has low startup and overhead costs.

You can also open your own brick-and-mortar store. While youâll be able to reach customers in your local area, this option has muchÂ higher startup and operating costs. Expenses may include rent for your commercial property, utilities, fees for business licenses and permits, and equipment. Youâll also have to purchase inventory to keep in stock. If you go this route, make sure to consider your local area. For example, if you live in a remote area, you may not have a large customer base. However, if you live in a thriving city or popular tourist destination, opening your own brick-and-mortar store may be a profitable venture.

The third option is to print out smaller batches of your t-shirts and network with local boutique and business owners in your area. With this method, you wonât have to pay for your own commercial space, but you will have to give the business owner a cut of your profits.

To determine what is right for your business, keep a few things in mind. Is this going to be your full-time job, or are you just trying to make a little extra money on the side? If you donât plan on devoting yourself full time to your t-shirt business, stick to an online shop or sell your t-shirts through other businesses and boutiques.

Calculate Startup Costs

Once you have an idea of the direction you want your t-shirt business to take, you can start thinking about startup costs. The route youâve chosen with your business will determine how much your startup costs will be.

If you plan to open a brick-and-mortar business, youâll have expenses including a rent or lease payment, equipment and furnishings, utilities, a point-of-sale system, and inventory. Unless you plan to do all of the work yourself, you also have to hire employees. If your business will be based solely online, your costs will be much lower — think shipping costs, plus the price of a website, software, and ecommerce platform subscription fees.

Startup costs vary significantly based on the goals of your business. You can start big with a brick-and-mortar shop and may pay tens (or even hundreds) of thousands of dollars to launch your business. Start a smaller online shop, and you can get started for as little as a few hundred dollars to launch your website and register your business.

Register Your Business

Youâve started laying the groundwork for your t-shirt business, and now itâs time to make everything legal. The first step is to determineÂ what type of business structure you will form. The business structure you select will determine how much you pay in taxes, as well as whether or not you will be personally liable for the debts and obligations of the business.

Sole Proprietorship

Sole proprietorships have one owner. These are the fastest and most inexpensive business entities to form and do not require registering with the state. The drawback is that sole proprietorships are not separate legal entities, so you will be personally responsible for the liabilities of the business. It may also be difficult to obtain a loan or raise capital as a sole proprietor.

Partnership

A partnership has two or more owners. A general partnership is the simplest form and does not require registration. General partners will be held liable for the debts, obligations, and liabilities of the business.

You may also consider starting a limited partnership, which has a general partner and limited partners. Limited partners are not responsible for the liabilities of the business.

Finally, you may choose a limited liability partnership, where all partners are limited partners and are not responsible for the liabilities of the business.

Corporation

A corporation is the most complex business structure. As a corporation, you will pay taxes at the corporate rate. Shareholders also pay taxes on dividends, resulting in double taxation. Corporations have ongoing requirements, such as electing a board of directors and holding annual meetings.

While a corporation is more expensive and complicated to form, this is the best structure if you see a large expansion in your future. As a corporation, you can sell stock to shareholders to raise large amounts of capital.

Limited Liability Company

A limited liability company, or LLC, combines benefits of different business entities. Like a corporation, business owners in an LLC are not personally liable for the debts and obligations of the business. However, LLCs do not have to pay corporate tax rates or face double taxation. LLCs also do not have ongoing requirements like corporations.

The type of business structure you select ultimately depends on the needs of your business and your future plans for growth. If you want to build a clothing brand thatâs known around the world, choose a corporation or LLC structure. If you just want a smaller online shop that helps pay your bills, a sole proprietorship may be the way to go.

Once youâve determined your business structure, you may be required to register with your state. Sole proprietorships and partnerships may file for a DBA (“doing business as”) under a fictitious name known as a trade name.

Depending on the type of t-shirt business you plan to operate, you may be required to obtain business licenses and/or permits from state and local agencies. Fees and requirements vary by state. You can contact local agencies including your City Clerk, Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, and state Department of Revenue to learn more about the business licenses and permits required for your business.

Finally, you also need to register for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the Internal Revenue Service. This is required if you plan to hire employees now or in the future. Many business lenders may also require an EIN when you apply for funding. If youâre a sole proprietor, you may opt to use your Social Security Number in lieu of an EIN.

Seek Business Funding

âIt takes money to make money,â as the old saying goes. As the owner of a t-shirt business, the amount of money you need to start and operate your business will vary according to your business model. If you have a small online shop, for example, your funding needs wonât be as great as if you’re operating a brick-and-mortar store.

Even if you have startup costs covered, there may come a time when you need additional capital for emergencies or operating expenses. If you canât fund these costs out-of-pocket, itâs time to apply for small business funding. Whether you turn to someone you know or apply with an online lender, there are several financing options available for your business.

Friends & Family

Know a friend, family member, or colleague looking to invest in a new business? Pitch them your business idea. Prepare your presentation carefully to let them know why your idea is a winner. In general, you have two options for getting funded by someone you know. The first is to take out a loan. Your friend or family member provides you with a set sum of money that is repaid over a period of time — along with interest. This is known as debt financing.

The next option is a strategy known as equity financing. With equity financing, an investor provides you with the capital you need to cover startup costs or operational expenses. In exchange, the investor receives ownership in your business. While you may not be required to immediately pay back the investorâs capital, they will be able to take a portion of the profits over time. They may also have some level of control when it comes to important business decisions.

No matter which route you take, always make sure everything is in writing and signed by all parties. Then, uphold your end of the bargain. Nothing can make a good relationship go south faster than a business deal gone wrong.

Small Business Loans

With a small business loan, you can receive a lump sum of money that you repay over time. In addition to repaying your principal loan balance, youâll also pay the lender interest and/or fees. Youâll make regular payments to the lender, which may be daily, weekly, monthly, or on another schedule.

Small business loans can be used for any business purpose, including funding an expansion, purchasing equipment for your business, or for use as working capital.

Recommended Option: LoanBuilder

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Time in business: 9 months Business revenue: $42,000 per year Personal credit score: 550 Borrower requirements (click to expand) Hide

You can fully customize your small business loan when you work with LoanBuilder. The LoanBuilder Configurator allows you to adjust your repayment terms and borrowing amount to create the right loan for your business.

Through LoanBuilder, you may be eligible to borrow up to $500,000. All loans come with one single fixed fee of 2.9% to 18.72% of the borrowing amount. Your fee is determined by the performance of your business and your credit history. Loans are repaid weekly over terms of 13 to 52 weeks.

To qualify for a LoanBuilder loan, you must meet the following requirements:

Time in business of at least 9 months
At least $42,000 in annual revenue
Personal credit score of 550 or above

Vendor Financing

As you build your t-shirt business, youâll establish relationships with vendors and suppliers. In an ideal world, youâd always have money in your bank account to cover the costs of your inventory and supplies. However, this isnât always the case. An emergency expense that depleted your account, a seasonal uptick in sales, or some other challenge may leave you struggling to pay your vendors upfront.

Many vendors do not offer their own credit programs, but there are lenders that offer vendor financing. With vendor financing, your vendors will be paid the full amount for their products or services while youâre able to pay off the expense over time. This prevents you from having to pay the full cost out-of-pocket for the inventory, supplies, and services you need to keep your business running smoothly.

Recommended Option: Behalf

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Behalf provides vendor financing of up to $50,000 to qualified borrowers. You can repay your loan on a weekly or monthly schedule for up to 6 months.

Behalf charges a monthly fee for its service. Fees start at 1% and are based on the creditworthiness of the borrower. There are no additional fees to receive financing through Behalf.

There are no minimum credit scores, annual revenues, or time in business requirements, although a soft inquiry will be performed when you apply. You must have a U.S.-based business and a U.S. business bank account to qualify. Funds from Behalf canât be used to fund existing debt, such as credit card bills or payroll.

Lines Of Credit

A line of credit is a flexible financing option that allows you to access capital on demand. Instead of receiving one lump sum, a lender sets a credit limit. You can initiate multiple draws up to and including this credit limit. Once a draw is initiated, the lender will transfer the funds to your business bank account. Then, you will repay the money over time, along with any fees and/or interest charged by the lender.

Since a line of credit is a revolving form of credit, funds will be replenished as you pay off your balance. This allows you to have continuous access to capital when itâs needed. A line of credit can be used for any business purpose, including funding emergency expenses, purchasing inventory, or using as working capital.

Recommended Option: Lendio

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Lendio is a loan aggregator that gives you access to over 75 small business lenders with just one application. One of the financing options available through Lendio is a business line of credit.

Through Lendio, you may qualify for a line of credit from $1,000 to $500,000. Rates range from 8% to 24%. You could receive funds in as little as one week after you submit your application.

To qualify for a line of credit, you must meet these requirements:

Time in business of at least 6 months
At least $50,000 in annual revenue
Personal credit score of 560 or above

If a line of credit isnât what youâre looking for, Lendio offers additional financing options, including:

Short-Term Loans
Equipment Financing
Business Credit Cards
Commercial Mortgages
Merchant Cash Advances
Startup Loans

Merchant Financing

If you need working capital and you use a service like PayPal to receive your payments, you may qualify for merchant financing.

Merchant financing is a short-term loan option for ecommerce businesses. Typically, qualifying is based on the performance of your business. The lender will provide you with a loan that is repaid over time with interest and/or fees.

Funds can be used for nearly any business purpose, from covering an emergency expense to buying more inventory or using as working capital.

Recommended Option: PayPal Working Capital

	Review Compare

Time in business: 3 months Business revenue: Minimum $15,000 per year if you have a PayPal Business account, or $20,000 per year if you have a PayPal Premier account Personal credit score: N/A Borrower requirements (click to expand) Hide

If you accept payments through PayPal, you may qualify for the PayPal Working Capital program. Through this program, you can receive up to 35% of your annual PayPal sales as a loan. Your first loan can be up to $125,000.

PayPal Working Capital charges one set fee based on your sales history, the repayment percentage of your choice, and the loan amount. On days when no sales are made, no payments will be deducted. However, you must pay at least 5% to 10% of your total loan amount every 90 days.

To qualify for PayPal Working Capital, you must meet these requirements:

Have a PayPal Business or Premier account for at least 3 months
At least $20,000 in annual PayPal sales for Premier accounts or at least $15,000 in annual PayPal sales for Business accounts
No more than $20 million in annual PayPal sales

Business Credit Cards

Business credit cards work exactly like personal credit cards. The lender provides you with a set credit limit. You can use your card anywhere credit cards are accepted up to and including the credit limit.

The lender charges interest and fees on your balance until it is paid off. You do not have to pay off your balance in order to continue using the card provided you havenât met your credit limit. A business credit card is a revolving form of credit, so as you pay down your balance, funds become available to use again.

Business credit cards give you on-demand access to capital whenever you need it. You can use business credit cards to pay for an emergency, purchase inventory, or buy equipment. You can also use your credit card to pay for recurring expenses, such as utility bills or software subscription fees.

Recommended Option: American Express SimplyCash Plus

SimplyCash Plus Business Credit Card from American Express Compare	Annual Fee: $0 Purchase APR: 14.49% – 21.49%, Variable
Required credit: Good, excellent Bonus offer: None Purchase intro APR: 0% for the first 9 months Balance transfer intro APR: N/A Foreign transaction fee: 2.7% Rewards: 5% cash back at U.S. office supply stores and on wireless telephone purchases, up to $50,000 per year 3% cash back on a category of your choosing (airfare, hotel rooms, car rentals, gas stations, restaurants, advertising purchases, shipping, or computer hardware, software, and cloud computing), up to $50,000 per year 1% cash back on all other purchases Notable perks & benefits: Expanded buying powerÂ â buy above your credit limit with no penalty fees More card details (click to expand) Hide

The American Express SimplyCash Plus card puts a new spin on credit cards. This is because this card allows you to spend over your credit limit without any fees. You can also receive cash back on all purchases â even if youâre over your limit.

The amount you can spend over your credit limit is based on your usage of the card, payment history, credit profile, and other factors. If you go over your limit, you simply need to pay the amount over the credit limit each month as part of your minimum payment. There are no fees for exceeding your credit limit.

With the SimplyCash Plus card, you can receive up to 5% cash back on your purchases. Wireless phone services and office supply store purchases yield 5% cash back on the first $50,000 spent each calendar year. You can also choose one category to receive 3% cash back on, such as advertising, shipping, hardware, or software purchases for the first $50,000 spent each calendar year. All other purchases receive 1% cash back.

There is no annual fee associated with this card. Youâll also receive a 0% introductory rate for the first 9 months. After that, variable APRs range from 14.49% to 24.19% and are based on creditworthiness.

To qualify for the American Express SimplyCash Plus card, you must have excellent credit.

Recommended Option: Spark Classic For Business

Spark Classic From Capital One Compare	Annual Fee: $0 Purchase APR: 25.24%, Variable
Required credit: Fair Bonus offer: None Purchase intro APR: N/A Balance transfer intro APR: N/A Foreign transaction fee: None Rewards: Unlimited 1% cash back on all purchases Notable perks & benefits: Free employee cards Fraud coverage and alerts Capital One and Visa business benefits More card details (click to expand) Hide

Donât have perfect credit? Consider applying for Capital One’s Spark Classic for Business credit card. This rewards card gives you unlimited 1% cash back on all of your business purchases. There is no annual fee, and the card has a variable APR of 25.24%.

Additional benefits of Spark Classic for Business include free employee cards, fraud coverage, and extended warranty protection. This card also allows you to build your business credit so you can qualify for additional financing options in the future.

Applicants must have a fair credit score to qualify for the Spark Classic for Business card.

Choose Business Software

Youâre one step closer to launching your business. Now, itâs time to choose the software you need to run your business effectively and efficiently. Some of the business software programs you may need for your t-shirt business include:

Bookkeeping Software

Bookkeeping software allows you to keep an eye on the financials of your business. With this software, you can easily track your business expenses, accounts receivable, and payroll. Many bookkeeping programs also allow you to track other aspects of your business, such as inventory.

With bookkeeping software, youâll always know where your business stands financially. Youâll be able to run and print reports as needed, which may be required when you apply for business financing. Having all transactions reported in bookkeeping software can also help you prevent headaches when tax time rolls around.

No accounting experience? No problem! Check outÂ The Beginner’s Guide to Accounting.

Payment Processing Software

If you plan to accept credit cards or other methods of payment, you will need payment processing software. Your payment processor will act as the communicator between your bank and the bank of your customers, allowing you to process credit cards, debit cards, and other forms of payment.

Point-Of-Sale System

If you want a more sophisticated way to manage your sales, youâll need a point-of-sale (POS) system. A POS system not only includes credit card processing, but it also offers additional features including barcode scanning, inventory tracking, printing receipts, and reports and analytics.

Mobile POS systemsÂ allow you to use your app or smartphone to accept payments and keep your business running efficiently. There are also more advanced systems that include hardware such as monitors, keyboards, printers, cash drawers, and scanners.

Advertise Your Business

Youâre almost to the finish line and ready to open your doors â¦ or your online business. Before you launch, though, itâs time to think about advertising. After all, if no one knows about your t-shirt business, how are you going to make any sales? Donât wait until after you launch to spread the word about your business — start right now with these advertising tactics.

Social Media

From middle schoolers to your own grandparents, it seems like everyone is on social media these days. Use this to your advantage to let potential customers know about your t-shirt business.

The great thing about social media is that setting up your profiles is absolutely free. You can also get started in just minutes. Set up pages for your business on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and/or Pinterest. Include critical information about your business on each profile including your contact information, website and/or online shop link, and photos of your t-shirts. Later, you can use your profile to share news about your business and new products, advertise sales, or host giveaways.

You can also look into advertising on social media. You can purchase ads for any budget and customize your target audience to get your name out to potential customers.

Another option to consider is talking to social media influencers. Social media influencers recommend products to thousands of followers, helping companies drum up new business. If an influencer wears your shirt and links to your website, you could see an influx of customers.

Some businesses will send a free sample of their products to social media influencers. While this does mean some out-of-pocket costs for you, the exposure you could receive could be well worth the small expense.

Want to learn how to take your social media marketing to the next level? Learn more in our Guide to Social Media Marketing.

Build Your Website

In addition to your social media profiles, you also need a website to build your web presence. Website builders make it easier than ever for you to create your own professional website. You can also easily build an online shop with todayâs modern ecommerce platforms.

When you build your website, make sure that it is designed to appeal to your target audience. Donât forget to include information on your website such as contact info, details on your products, and clear photos of what your business offers. As you build up your website, you can include additional information and features such as online chat options, FAQs, news and updates, and reviews and testimonials.

Word Of Mouth

Never underestimate the power of word-of-mouth advertising. The trick to this one is simple: provide high-quality products and exceptional customer service. If someone buys one of your t-shirts and is pleased with the quality, theyâll be proud to wear it and tell others about your business. If the shirt was poorly made or customer service was lacking, theyâll also tell others.

Word of mouth advertising is an easy and free way to get the word out about your new business. And donât be afraid to toot your own horn. If someone gave a great review, share it on social media and your website. Donât be afraid to ask customers to give their feedback, but donât be pushy. Also, learn to accept criticism. Not all of your reviews and feedback will be glowing. Instead of taking offense, learn from it. Where is your business lacking? How can you make sure that each customer that purchases your t-shirts is fully satisfied? Never stop trying to improve your business, and always provide the best products and customer service to keep your customers coming back for more.

Final Thoughts

Owning and operating your own t-shirt business can be fun, exciting, and lucrative, but donât be fooled â¦ a lot of hard work is necessary to make your business a success. Donât rush the process. Instead, take the time to plan out your business, create unique designs, and provide high-quality products and service that will draw customers to your business.

Want to learn more about starting your own business? Download our small business guides for the information and tips you need to launch your business venture.

The post How To Start And Fund A T-Shirt Business appeared first on Merchant Maverick.

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A Brief History Of Square

What Does Square Do?

What Are The Advantages of Square?

What Are The Disadvantages Of Square?

What Are Square’s Fees?

How Do You Use Square?

What Kinds of Businesses Is Square Best For?

1. Decide On A Business Structure

2. Register Your Business Name

3. Register Your Business With The IRS

4. Register For Business Licenses & Permits

5. Register With Your State’s Revenue Office

Do I Need To Register My Small Business?

Other Important Things You Need To Start A Business

Final Thoughts

Donation Management Software

Payment Service Providers

Square

PayPal

Stripe

SMS Text Messaging

Online Donations Through Facebook

Merchant Accounts

Final Thoughts

Whatâs A CVV?

Why Do You Need A CVV Code?

CVV Checks For Merchants

Entering CVV Numbers For Manually Entered Transactions

CVC Code Entry For eCommerce

More Tools For Online Security

Payment Security Is Essential For Businesses Â

Can You Implement A Minimum Charge On Credit Card Purchases?

Can You Implement A Debit Card Minimum Purchase Amount?

What Happens If My Processor Treats Debit Cards As Credit?

Final Thoughts

Online Business Lenders For Massachusetts Businesses

SmartBiz

Lendio

OnDeck

Fundbox

BlueVine

Amex Business Loans

Amex Merchant Financing

Upstart

Banks, Credit Unions, & Nonprofit Lenders In Massachusetts

Eastern Bank

Metro Credit Union

Common Capital

Small Business Grants In Massachusetts

State Trade Expansion Program Grant

Office Of Safety Workplace Safety Training Grant

Workforce Training Fund

Loans & Resources For Startups In Massachusetts

SCORE

Massachusetts Small Business Development Center Network

What To Consider When Choosing A Lender

Final Thoughts

Customer Directory

Inventory Management

Loyalty

Employee Management

Cash Drawer Management

Offline Mode

Is Square Right For You? Â

Tokenization Defined

What Happens During A Tokenized Sale?

Tokenization vs. Encryption

Considering The Pros & Cons

Tokenizationâs Protective Role In Payment Processing

How Can Merchants Adopt Tokenization?

Companies Specializing In Tokenization

Do You Need Tokenization To Process Credit Cards?

How Do SMS Payments Work?

What Do You Need to Accept SMS Payments?

Which Types of Businesses Benefit Most From SMS Payments?

Are SMS Payments Right For You?

Design Your Shirts

Decide How To Print Your Shirts

Decide How To Sell Your Shirts

Calculate Startup Costs

Whatâs A CVV?

Tokenizationâs Protective Role In Payment Processing