Is it risky to take credit cards over the phone?

Sara LaidlawBusiness Solutions, Compliance, Merchant Services

That doesn’t sound safe.

When I ordered our new windows, the salesperson in our living room asked me to call the office and pay a deposit over the phone. I asked the woman where she was recording my credit card information. She said, “We write it down on the top of the work order.”  What? For all to see? “Well, the bookkeeper is the only one who knows how to run phone orders and she works three days per week.”

Oh hell no.

I refused and drove to the store to have them swipe my card.

As an accountant, I know the risks to both the business owner and customers when credit card information is not secure.  When customers call, do you type their credit card information directly into a merchant terminal, or do you scribble it onto a piece of paper to process it later? If they are writing it down, the risk of liability is massive!

There are safer and cheaper ways to take credit cards!

The last thing that a company wants to deal with is changing credit card companies. Merchant salespeople call my clients constantly! It is a huge irritant, I know. At the request of a client, I spent weeks researching options for credit card processing.  They wanted to save fees, of course, but I wanted MULTIPLE ways to take credit cards with stellar support.

I wanted integration with QuickBooks.

After the pure hell of dealing with various salespeople and demos, I found an amazing company called “SkyLine Payments.”

Skyline Payment Systems

Check out this list of services!

• Month to month contract
• Next Day funding
• Beats every other merchant service quote, so far!
• Reprogram current swipe machines so no change noticed at the counter
• Virtual terminal to take credit cards anytime online
• A customized URL link to an online Payment screen with company logo, colors, and custom fields. (A URL can be placed on invoices, in emails and added to your website)
• Accept A/R or Sales payments directly into QuickBooks Desktop and QBO
• Interfaces with QuickBooks Point-of-Sale
• Options for re-occurring payments
• Securely stores up to 10 credit cards per customer for future use
• Offers customer ACH payments
• You are assigned dedicated friendly USA Support

I have added many clients to SkyLine Payments and can attest that they are a wonderful company who values long time relationships.

Interested in learning more? Let me know here:  http://bit.ly/SkylineQuote

No one will call. I handle all leads personally by email and I deal with Skyline Payments for you. If you have clients writing down credit card information, please share this post!

Thanks!  Sara Laidlaw-Woodruff

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