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Accepting electronic payments is essential to modern business. Electronic payment methods may be costly and challenging but they will give you the competitive edge. For many small businesses, selling online provides some major benefits. Customers increasingly expect this type of facility and it can improve your cash flow significantly. It's easy to accept cheques or invoices for your online sales and to process payments in the traditional way. However, because buyers often use the Internet for a speedy service, most sales are paid for with credit and debit cards. To accept cards online, you will have to make special banking arrangements, but this doesn't mean you have to have a merchant service. This website will help you to understand the most appropriate method to take online orders for your size of business be it small, medium or large. Receiving Electronic payments incurs extra costs. When you pay for a good or service in a shop using a credit or debit card the retailer must pay a commission to the financial institution processing the card details; additionally there will be operating costs for the system used to process the cards. These systems are often costly, challenging to implement and sometimes technically difficult to understand. These hurdles represent a ‘barrier to entry’ , which, if overcome, can give you the competitive edge. There are several approaches to taking Electronic payments. All of these types of payment systems can be compared by trying the Electronic payments comparison tool. Some of them can co-exist with others and some are mutually exclusive. In this section we will discuss:
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