Reducing Processing Costs and Improving Payment Workflows for Wholesalers

Wholesalers often collect payments through many different sales channels. For example, in-store, online, phone orders, deposits, and recurring payments. Having many payment acceptance channels can lead to disparate systems, difficult reconciliation processes, and additional costs from multiple providers. 

That said, there are payment solutions in the marketplace that can manage all of these payment acceptance channels, reducing the number of providers and thus cost, as well as creating alignment in your processing enabling easier and less time-consuming reconciliation. Below we have outlined some details about the two important components to payment acceptance, payment gateways and physical payment terminals. 

Payment Gateway

Payment Gateways allow wholesalers to prioritize payment security and accept payments securely and quickly wherever they take place. Accept everything from debit and credit cards, electronic checks, to digital wallets. Manage all payment activity easily and securely from anywhere with any browser-connected device. There are also options to accept payments or integrate with your websites, accounting and CRM systems.

Payment Gateway solutions contributes to efficient payment processing by enabling:

• Phone Orders: wholesalers can easily manage and process orders received via phone calls through a virtual terminal. Virtual terminals are cloud based meaning you can process payments from anywhere and simply need an internet connection.
• Secure Storage: payment gateways enable wholesalers to securely save customer information and credit card details for future billing while maintaining PCI compliance. Many wholesalers are storing credit cards on paper, excel documents and other non-PCI compliant locations. A virtual terminal not only enables mobile processing, but the gateway provides the latest in security standards for card storage.
• Deposits/Pre-Authorizations: the ability to process deposits and pre-authorizations efficiently allows wholesalers to secure orders with confidence and initiate transactions smoothly.
• Recurring Payments: wholesalers can set up recurring payment schedules for appropriate customers, providing convenience for both you (the merchant) and your customer.
• Email Invoicing: there are also solutions for email invoicing with embedded payment links. These solutions simplify the accounts receivable process for both the wholesaler and customer.

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From our experience, wholesalers internal processes and security benefit greatly from utilizing the correct payment gateway solution for their business.

Terminal On-Site Sales
If card-present physical terminals are needed, there are some considerations to take into account such as: 

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• Do you want wireless or wired devices?
• Do you need cellular or ethernet connectivity in addition to wifi?
• Do you need printed, emailed, or texted receipts?
• Do you need swipe or EMV processing capabilities?
• Does your payment terminal need to integrate with a POS or inventory management system?

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Making sure you have the right hardware onsite is important for successful payment processing. Counter vs mobile, internet connectivity, and additional features like SIM chips and offline processing should all be considered when making a decision on payments hardware.

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Our team has experience helping businesses deploy payment gateway solutions and payment terminals that utilize the same processor (or integrate) creating alignment in your reporting and deposits for easiest reconciliation. Many businesses need help understanding what processor provides the best solutions, rates, integrations, etc. That is our expertise and we would be proud to assist in your due diligence if appropriate. 

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