ETD: 821 Credit Card Merchant Account; FTP how to: Customer
Service - The Good & Bad
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Mon Sep 27 22:31:30 GMT 2004
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0821 September 28, 2004
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem at gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
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CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] Credit Card Merchant Account
[3] FTP How To
[4] Customer Service - The Good & Bad
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
Our list members gurus came through with some great help on questions from
last issue - how to setup and FTP account and credit card merchant
accounts. And we have more waiting. Anybody else have some interesting ideas?
I had to share some customer service experiences - good (excellent) and
bad (horrible) with two retailers, both national chains. You have to read
both and mimic the good and avoid the bad like the plague! I remember an
old client in the mid-West who had a small chain of men's stores. With
technology he was able to improve his customer service and increase
business significantly, while at the same time decrease expenses. I'll
have to dig out some write ups on them.
Are you getting ready for the holidays? Only 88 days until
Christmas. What are you doing this year to increase business?
Tell us about your business which will remain for posterity at
our "Members: Who Are You?"
site. http://etailersdigest.com/resources/members/index.htm And we have a
form there for you to tell us about you. As I said when I first proposed
this idea, we have "known" each other for a long time, yet we often don't
know anything about each other. So, tell us who you are and what you do.
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, Ltd.
mailto:georgem at gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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[2] Credit Card Merchant Account
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Credit card companies are very wary of Internet businesses. They have
experienced a lot of fraud with them. An e-tailer never gets the credit
card in their hand and therefore is more exposed to fraudulent sales, so is
the bank. Regarding the steps;
a. What are the steps required to accept credit cards on a site? You have
to contract with a credit card company to have them broker the account. You
can call your bank for a recommendation. You will fill out financial
forms, as if you are borrowing money because that is how they (the credit
card companies) look at the transaction.
b. How does one find banks with merchant accounts? Call your own bank to
see who they recommend. I used the company that supplied my Point-of-sale
system. They have an exclusive with Heartland. You can also call BankOne.
You must shop around to compare the rates for each bank. You will have
additional transaction charges because you will not be swiping the credit
card. You will have to tell them what credit cards you intend to accept,
and what the average ticket price will be as well as total monthly volume.
c. How does one find software to accept credit cards? One source could be a
small Point-of-sale software package like Quicken's or Retail One.
These are POS packages that should have a provision for credit card
processing transactions via the Internet.
d. How do you establish a secure site, i.e., https? Sorry, can't help you
here, however I use Aplus.net as my Internet site registrar. They have been
very helpful in setting up my rudimentary web site for under $300. That
will get me along till I am ready for my full-blown site. Check out their
site and give them a call. They do this stuff for a living and are quick
about it too.
e. Are their tools that will allow you to do this easily? With the last
issue, it sounds like it could be a special report. So, if
our technical gurus would response we would be very appreciative.
Joe Dweck
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[3] FTP How To
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Since you've touched on a topic which is near and dear to my heart I
thought I would offer some observations which may be of value to the
readers of your fine newsletter - which I've enjoyed as a lurker until now.
The single topic of Anonymous FTP while seemingly relatively simple and
straightforward, can be quite involved. In reality, doing your own web
hosting is far easier than setting up your own anonymous FTP server. To
illustrate, this link provides the documentation for a popular Unix FTP
Program
http://proftpd.linux.co.uk/localsite/Userguide/linked/userguide.html . It
can be rather like setting out to create your own relational database for
your business's needs with a limited understanding of database schemas,
much less the discipline of software development.
I'm writing about managing technology because I believe it should be
considered in broad terms. At one end of the business IT spectrum are
companies of sufficient size to fund sizeable IT staffs whose focus is on
enterprise requirements of technology and communications. On the other end
are small business with limited IT budgets trying to get the most bang for
their buck. As a former CIO of an large enterprise and now an entrepreneur
in a small business, I thoroughly appreciate both perspectives.
We've operated an ecommerce venture for five years now and I've learned
valuable lessons regarding both running a web business and the technologies
of ecommerce.
1. I feel that as a business owner you're likely to run a much more
successful business if you focus on the core competencies of managing the
business and marketing your products, than being a jack-of-all-trades
computer tech.
2. Select technology support based on demonstrated technical expertise,
excellence, and ownership by the individuals you deal with. Size and what
they did a year or two ago is often meaningless. I can't tell you how many
times we've had to change providers because performance degraded. The last
thing you need to is to have to worry constantly about whether your
customers will have access to your commerce site, your shopping cart will
work at the peak of the season, or your email will arrive with
regularity. Given the magnitude of disruption these things cause, cost
(within reason) is truly secondary.
3. As a small business manager, learn about technology - read white papers
- ask yourself how you can leverage technology to make your business more
efficient and profitable. For example, what's the ROI on networked color
printers if you need short run brochures? What will installing your own
PBX with VoIP do for your business image and long distance overhead? How
much time could be saved if you upgraded your backend order processing
systems etc? And last but not least, do your homework and don't sign on
the dotted line until you or someone you trust fully understands the impact
of any IT decision including both upside potential and downside risks.
A referral I would like offer you is a link to our web services provider
who we've been with for a year now. I now no longer need to worry about
whether our web services provider is doing their job because they've earned
my trust and confidence, not to mention they cut the SPAM and email viruses
we receive by 90% at no extra charge.
DTL Networx http://www.DTL.net Contact: Morgan Davis 206-666-4867 9-5
PST (Voice Mail)
Another personal referral is a company with whom I've done business for
almost 20 years. They market off lease laptops, desktops and printers at
terrific prices because they get them directly from the manufacturers and
large leasing companies. Many still have a remaining manufacturers
warranty. These can be a real boon for cash strapped small businesses.
They are Mega Comm Technologies http://www.sdiego.com/ Contact: Bill
Morgan 858-268-0525 9-5 PST
My only disclaimer is that I have no business interest in these companies
nor do I receive any form of compensation for referral. They're good folks
to do business with and I appreciate the referrals I receive in the
newsletter because they add value to the discussions.
Best regards,
Bill Kohr
(619) 670-7107 Ext 2
http://www.CraftsmanStudio.com
To do good work, one must first have good tools.
- Chinese proverb
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[4] Customer Service - The Good & Bad
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I have to relate two recent experiences with customer - one excellent and
one horrible.
My wife's favorite store is Chico's and I have reported why in the past -
simply put, excellent customer service. They contact her to alert her to
advance sales notices and call her when something comes into the store that
they know she likes. This week, a jacket my wife bought had a loose
thread, so she called the store. Without even questioning, they sent her
out a new one and said to return the other at her convenience. They even
included a belt that she said she lost, which was a replacement at no
cost! Now, Phyllis does spend a lot at the store, but I do believe their
service is great no matter what you spend (or so I've been told). Now if
they only had a "Chico's for Men."
Last week I shopped Best Buy once again, with the same horrible service I
constantly get at their Secaucus, NJ store. It was so bad, that I
abandoned the shopping cart at the door and told the security person of my
experience who proceeded to ignore me.
Seems I went to buy a tape recorder, batteries and tapes - a very simple
purchase. I was bounced from one department to another four times. When
the last department sent me back to the first, I knew that THEIR STAFF
NEEDS HELP! They have no idea what is in their store, how to deal with
customers and have no concern whether they keep the business or not.
And that is not the first time. On another occasion I wanted to buy a flat
screen TV, and couldn't get answers. I finally went to another store and
purchased. The first sale was around $100; the second was $4,000.
--
I sent them an e-mail message per above and got back the most ridiculous
reply I ever saw. Something to the effect that they thank me and really
appreciate my expressing a concern with the service. They don't say what
they will do, and they end it with "thank you for shopping at Best
Buy!" They don't have a clue.
Any other stories - good, bad or even ugly?
George
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Links to follow
==================================================================
GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.gapent.com/
Sarbanes-Oxley 2002 http://www.sarbanes-oxley2002.com
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ETD Archives: http://topica.com/lists/etailer/read
Prior to 29 Dec
1999 http://etailersdigest.com/archives/index.htm
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