The Moving Broker’s Guide to Setting Up Payment Processing

Millions of Americans are buying homes, entering the job market and moving all over the country every year. We’ve said it once, and we’ll say it again, Millennials are entering the market in a big way. They are moving to new states for career opportunities and they are buying homes. This is a great time to be a moving broker or moving company.

The moving industry has become an economy in itself. And to enter into that market, moving brokers have to setup payment processing.

If you’re one of those moving brokers that do business by connecting clients who wish to move with reliable moving companies, you know that convenience and customer satisfaction are two of the most important factors that could spell the difference between success and failure for your business. And why? Because research has shown that moving is MORE stressful than Divorce. [1]

One of the best ways to make sure you’re hitting the right marks is to set up an efficient payment processing platform where you, your moving partners and of course, your clients can transact easily.

Here are some tips to setup payment processing: (all of these tips should be followed AFTER you have registered your business and obtained the correct business licenses for your state!)

Find the right merchant partner. The first step to obtaining an efficient payment processing platform is to find the right merchant partner to help you get a personalized merchant account that’s specific to your needs.

Since you are considered a high risk business, having the right platform will allow you to easily accept and process credit card transactions, manage chargebacks and keep track of your finances without so much hassle.

Fulfill the requirements. To get started with your payment processing system, you need to fulfill some requirements. For one, you need to provide a valid, government-issued ID like your driver’s license.

You also need to procure 3 months of your most recent bank statements, a bank letter and 3 months of your most recent processing statements, if you have an existing processing platform. You should also have a fully operational website with a chargeback ration of under 2%.

Pass the underwriter’s review. Since payment processing is crucial not only for your business but also for your clients, you need to go through an underwriter review before getting approved for a merchant account.

An underwriter makes sure that all moving brokers and other companies under moving and transportation operate following the rules. Underwriters usually look for any bad practices that could hurt credit card processors and increase disputes.

They will go through your credit card processing history, credit score, websites and bank statements to look for anything that could put you at risk for financial problems.

If you want to increase your chances of approval, experts suggest that you take care of any outstanding debt or bills, save some money in the bank and let your partner with the best credit history to apply for the account.

Learn about chargebacks. As a moving broker, you are considered a high risk business since you usually have bigger transactions with clients.

Moving and transportation is also prone to fraud and scam because most transactions are done online or over the phone. For processors, any transaction that’s not done in person always has higher risks for fraud.

Chargebacks could hurt your business big time, which is why it’s very important to learn its in-betweens with the help of your merchant partner.

Payment Gateway

IF convenience and customer satisfaction are the keys to a successful moving brokerage or mobbing company, then a payment gateway is a no-brainer. Frankly, don’t even begin to accept customer payment until you have either setup an online payment gateway or decided with a clear conscience that you do not need one.

If, or should we say WHEN, you setup payment processing through your online gateway, be sure to look into a text based alert system as well. Send links with reminders to your customer to pay and to leave good reviews. Convenient, good for businesses and automated. That’s 3 birds with one stone.

At the end of the day, your business can benefit greatly from having an efficient payment processing platform. Aside from giving you more peace of mind knowing that your finances is handled properly, you also mitigate the risks involved in running your business to avoid unnecessary losses.

First Card Payments is your best bet for safe, fast and reliable merchant accounts for moving brokers.

 

Sources:

[1]: Express UK – Divorce? That’s not as stressful as moving home