Each time a customer asks an interesting e-commerce related question (or a question that we answer frequently) it is discussed here. You can view previous discussions or submit your own "Question of the Day".
Answer:
Yes, absolutely! You can add USD to your account whenever you want and there is no additional cost to set it up. This is true regardless of which currency you start with. So for example, if you had opened your account to only accept payments in USD you could later add CAD payments at any time.
It's also worth clarifying that we are specifically talking about multi-currency payment processing. Even if you only accept payments in one currency (like USD) you can still accept payments from customers located anywhere in the world. What we are talking about is multiple-currency processing, where we give you the ability to actually bill your customer in their domestic / native currency.
The process of adding the new currency is easy. There is only a single documents you need to initial and fax in to have the new currency added. Monthly fees will remain the same as before, there is no additional cost when adding an additional currency to your account.
July 27, 2011
Can I use my existing POS terminal with Merchant Accounts.ca processing services?
Answer:
Although this might seem like a simple and straight forward question, the answer depends on several factors.
POS terminal technology evolves just like online e-commerce technology. Recently in Canada both Visa and MasterCard have rolled out chip + PIN technology. All new credit cards issued in Canada have a microchip embedded within them. In order to process a chip and PIN based transaction the customer enters their card into the machine, the machine reads the chip, and the customer uses a PIN pad to enter their secret PIN number.
Since the introduction of chip and PIN technology, all point of sale machines sold must support the chip and PIN transactions. If your existing hardware does not have chip + PIN processing capability then no processor can support it.
There are also other factors that determine the compatibility of various POS terminals. Every processor has a number of machines that are certified on their network. We typically recommend Ingenico and Verifone hardware with our merchant account solutions. If you would like to reuse your existing hardware and it is Chip + PIN enabled, please contact us with the make and model of your current hardware. We will be happy to let you know if it can be reprogrammed to work with our POS merchant account solutions.
If new hardware is required you needn't be overly concerned because we provide all point of sale hardware to our clients at cost. We are not in the business of selling hardware, we are in the business of powering payments. That is why provide hardware at cost and focus on delivering a secure payments solution with a focus on customer service. Give us a call if you'd like to inquire about a POS payments solution for your business.
July 11, 2011
Which shopping carts can support real time transaction reporting import directly into Quickbooks?
Answer: Many shopping carts support real time update of Quickbooks after a transaction is processed, however relatively few seem to integrate into Quickbooks Canada.
Depending on your transaction volumes it may be easier or better to simply export your monthly (or weekly) transaction data using the merchant control panel in excel or csv (comma separated value) format. From here it's relatively easy to import into Quickbooks. The first time you do it you will have to build your import mappings into Quickbooks, but once you've done it the first time it will be very easy to import going forward. This advice isn't limited to Quickbooks though because the same process can be done for any popular bookkeeping or account software package
Contact support if you would like a walk through of how to export your transaction data from the control panel.
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My name is David Goodale, CEO at Merchant Accounts.ca. Pricing is often one of the most confusing topics in the merchant services industry. I strongly believe that flat (non-fluctuating) pricing and interchange plus pricing are the only good pricing models in the industry. If you have any questions about this article, pricing, or other questions in general about your merchant processing agreement don't hesitate to contact me. I'm always happy to help with an honest opinion, and enjoy chatting with folks from interesting businesses!
