Novera Payment Solutions

Did you get a GREAT deal on your credit card processing rates and receive a statement from your merchant processor with surprise added extra fees? 

Unfortunately, you are not alone.

It's common in the credit card processing industry for merchants to be lured into attractive credit card processing rate deals, only to find out later they have been misled. Reading the fine print could have prevented it, but really ... who reads the fine print?

Three terms in the merchant processing industry that you should make yourself familiar with as  a business owner are:  Qualified, Non-Qualified, and Mid-Qualified.

These are common in tiered credit card processing rates and are very easily manipulated by merchant processors to the disadvantage of the merchant.

Let's take a close look at each.

Qualified Credit Card Processing Rate

The qualified rate in tiered pricing structure merchant accounts is the lowest rate a business will pay. Obviously, this is the rate that is advertised by the processor because it is lowest, yet depending on your business type a low number of your transactions could actually be categorized into this fee bucket.

Here are a couple of additional things that they don't tell you:

1. Typically, only non-reward consumer credit cards and debit are included in this rate bucket. You know all the TV commercials advertising "reward" cards and "cash back" on purchases? If a consumer uses one of these cards during the purchase, you will not get the "qualified" rate on your fees.
2. Worse yet, some processors use bait and switch tactics where they advertise the Qualified rate lower than Mastercard and Visa's lowest credit card interchange rate. When this happens, they only route debit card transactions to this bucket. That means credit card transaction (non-reward or not) go to the higher rate Mid-Qualified and Non-Qualified automatically, regardless of the type of credit card used in the transaction.

Non-Qualified Credit Card Processing Rate

This is the most expensive rate bucket and can be the most common, hence the surprise added cost to your credit card processing fees. Typically, all transactions using high-end rewards program cards are routed here.

What else they don't tell you:

1. Business card purchases are typically routed here.  Are you a business-to-business company? If so, there's a good chance that most of your credit card transactions are being routed to the highest fee bucket, the non-qualified rate!
2. Do you hand key in transactions through a virtual terminal? If you do, and if the complete billing information isn't entered, your processor likely pushes that transaction to the non-qualified rate bucket and you are paying a higher fee.

Mid-Qualified Credit Card Processing Rate

This is the most nebulous credit card processing tier (or fee bucket). Typically any consumer credit card with a basic rewards program will find its way to the Mid-Qualified bucket. 

What else they don't tell you:

1. Do you swipe credit cards in your retail location? Typically, swiped reward credit cards, as well as consumer transactions that are manually keyed-in (both credit and debit) hit the mid-qualified rate bucket.
2. Additionally, the merchant processor can change what makes a transaction qualified without notice. That means a transaction that was qualified when you signed the contract for your credit card processing, may not be qualified 6-months down the road.

The Novera Approach

Novera Payment Solutions has developed a unique flat fee credit card pricing format that passes along all the direct transactional costs:

1. Interchange
2. The processor costs
3. A small “flat fixed fee” per month depending on the monthly merchant volume (usually between $19.95 and $99.95 per month).  This amount is essentially the gross margin on the account.

Since everyone knows we are in business to make a profit, we are not hesitant to let our merchant clients know what a reasonable profit margin will be instead of hiding it within inflated rate buckets.

In most cases, Novera Payment Solutions also offers the option of either “Next Day” or “Weekend Funding,” and always with “Gross Deposits.”  Unlike many processors who deduct their rates/fees daily from your deposits, fees for our services are not collected until the month after the month you have been processing.  This means you get your money faster and it’s easier to reconcile with your bank statements.

Are you ready to stop paying too much for your credit card processing?

Request a free quote from Novera Payment Solutions.  The question is not, can we save you money" ... rather how MUCH money can we save your business!

As you are browsing the internet for resources on how to accept credit cards for your business, you may stumble upon an ad that looks something like this:

Regardless of how many times you have seen an ad like this on Google, these “Free” credit card merchant accounts don’t exist.  When processors advertise “free merchant accounts,” they are usually referring to equipment or application fees.  All businesses have to pay interchange fees to card-issuing banks, assessments to the card brands and a markup of some sort to the processor.  Therefore, it can’t be entirely free.  Don’t waste your time looking for a completely free merchant account; instead use Novera Payment Solutions which offers a unique transparent pricing model unparalleled in the merchant services industry.

Understanding Credit Card Fees

Most processors still prefer to use tiered or a form of cost plus pricing in order to preserve the highest profit margins on merchant accounts.  Understanding these pricing forms is key in determining if your paying more than you should be for your merchant account.  Twice a year, the credit card brands review and adjust their transactional costs and pass them along to the processors.  In turn, the processors use this as an opportunity to raise the entire expense for the merchant.  Ultimately, this is what causes the merchant fee to creep upwards over time.  It’s not simple, it’s not transparent and it’s not fair pricing.  

The Novera Approach

Novera Payment Solutions has developed a unique flat fee credit card pricing format that passes along all the direct transactional costs:

1. Interchange
2. The processor costs
3. A small “flat fixed fee” per month depending on the monthly merchant volume (usually between $19.95 and $99.95 per month).  This amount is essentially the gross margin on the account.

Since everyone knows we are in business to make a profit, we are not hesitant to let our merchant clients know what a reasonable profit margin will be.

Over time, the savings can actually increase because unlike the “tiered” and/or other forms of cost plus pricing structures, our program only raises the one line item that is affected rather than increasing each tier when the credit card brands change their rates.  This is the only true transparent way of offering merchant processing. 

In most cases, Novera Payment Solutions also offers the option of either “Next Day” or “Weekend Funding,” and always with “Gross Deposits.”  Unlike many processors who deduct their rates/fees daily from your deposits, fees for our services are not collected until the month after the month you have been processing.  This means you get your money faster and it’s easier to reconcile with your bank statements.

LinkedIn is a great social network for meeting other business professionals.  It is also a great place for people to learn about your business.  With the ability to create company pages, you can now put your business in front of all the LinkedIn users.  Setting up a profile is pretty simple and with these steps, your page will be up and running in no time.

Step 1: Navigate Your Way to Companies

From your home screen, hover over “Interests” in the navigation and select “Companies” in the dropdown.  To the right of your screen you should see “Add a Company.”  Click that and you are ready to begin inputting your information.    

Step 2: Enter Name and Email

On the first screen, you will be prompted to enter your company name.  Type this name as you want it to appear on your LinkedIn Company page; this is how others will find your business.  You will also need to enter your email address at the company to prove that you are a current employee of the company. 

Step 3: Basic Information

On the next screen, you will be asked for some basic information about your business.  You can provide a link to your website, choose your industry, add a location and contact information and more.  This step is pretty self-explanatory. 

Step 4: Description

In this section, be sure to be detailed about your business without going overboard.  You want to use keywords that people will be looking for to find your business.  This is also the section where you can build creditability for your business.  You don’t need to talk about every individual product or service you offer in this section; there will be a place to add that later.  This should be a general summary of who you are as a business and what you do.

Step5: Pictures

You are also able to upload your logo which will appear similar to the way a profile picture would on Facebook.  You can also upload a cover photo to be displayed on your company profile page.  Once you have everything filled out and your pictures uploaded, click publish.  You can always come back and edit anything that you need to.     

Step 6: Products and Services

Here is where you can get into detail about the products and services your company offers.  Once you have saved your company profile, you should be on your company’s home screen.  In the navigation at the top, click on the Services link.  From that page you will be prompted to add a service or product.  If you do not see that option, go up to the edit button in the top right corner and in the dropdown you should see add product or service.  Now you can choose a category that your service or product fits into.  You have to name it, add a description and you can also upload a photo of it.  You can add features if you like and also add a link to a specific page on your website or a YouTube video about the product.     

Now your LinkedIn Company Profile is complete.  You can always add to it and update it as your business grows and changes.  Now it’s time to start promoting your page.  Be sure to let all your connections on your page know that you have a new company page and to go follow you.  Then be sure to post relevant content on a regular basis not only to your personal page, but also on your business page.  This will not only help you to be seen within LinkedIn, but having an active social media presence can help your business jump up in the search result rankings.

About Novera Payment Solutions

Novera Payment Solutions is a leader in the credit card payments industry. We are committed to helping businesses improve their bottom line by providing significant savings on credit card  merchant accounts through our innovative flat fee merchant account pricing model.

Contact Novera to learn more about how we work with businesses  to provide the most fair and transparent pricing structure available on the market today for credit card processing! Contact Novera to request a free quote on your merchant account. We are confident that our flat fee merchant account will provide significant savings over what you are currently paying for your credit card processing fees.

Introducing the QBPlugin from Novera Payment Solutions

Whether you a new QuickBooks® user, or a power user, you'll love the new QBPlugin from Novera Payment Solutions!

The Plugin for QuickBooks® is a payment software for Credit Cards,ACH (Automated Clearing House), EFT, (Electronic Funds Transfer)and Electronic Check Conversion using a powerful and secure Payment Gateway and Secure Vault Software. You can process through your QuickBooks® software and attach it to your Merchant Accounts.

Finally, you have the freedom to choose the best solutions available to cut your processing costs & accounting times and great merchant accounts.

Benefits & Features

• Process Credit Cards
• Process ACH transactions
• Process paper checks electronically
• Real-time transactions
• Never drive to the bank again
• Reduce accounting stress and time
• Batch processing for Credit Cards, ACH checks through QuickBooks
• Process payments directly from invoices or receipts
• Process multiple invoices
• Automatically applies payments
• Pulls & Posts data to & from QuickBooks®- no double entry.
• Applies address & info updates
• Receipt Printing for Face-to-Face or shipping slips
• Card Swipe – Card in Hand
• Up to 2 Gateways (MID's) 1 Credit Card and 1 ACH
• Works with Pro, Premier, Enterprise
• QuickBooks® Multi-user support
• ISO, SSL and PCI DSS Certified
• Secure PCI Credit Card Vault
• Full Tokenization Security
• Email and Phone Technical Support
• Website and Video Training

The Novera Advantage

The features and benefits of the powerful QBPlugin save your busineses an incredible amount of time and money in reduced labor. When you pair that with Novera's innovative flat fee merchant account pricing model, it's even better!

Novera Payment Solutions is a leader in the credit card payments industry. We are committed to helping businesses improve their bottom line by providing significant savings on credit card processing fees through our innovative flat fee merchant account pricing model.

Contact Novera to learn more about how we work with businesses  to provide the most fair and transparent pricing structure available on the market today for credit card processing and our QBPlugin for QuickBooks!

QuickBooks® pitches itself as "a better way to run your business", allowing you to do more in less time, work anywhere, anytime, including all the essentials from bookkeeping and billing to payments and payroll.

No matter what type of business you have, keeping track of all your financial information is very important.  Having a reliable accounting system that is easy to use is essential.  QuickBooks® was created for use by small business and provides many features to cover your accounting and payroll needs. 

6 Possible Advantages of Using QuickBooks® for your Business

1.  It's User Friendly.

QuickBooks® is probably one of the easiest accoutning programs out there to use.  Sample companies are available for you to practice using the program with, allowing you to navigate through all of the features without messing up any of your company's real data.  And of course, there are tips and help features to get you through any challenge that may come your way. 

2.  It's extrememly customizable.

A nice feature in QuickBooks® is the ability to customize it to fit your business.  You can upload your logo to use on letterhead, invoices and reports.  You can setup your own layout for documents to make them work the way you want them to.  You can remove unecessary fields and edit the Greeting, Salutation, and more.  There are also several different versions of QuickBooks for you to choose from depending on the type of business you have.

3. It's compatible with other popular software for business.

Since QuickBooks® is a widely used product, it is compatible with many other programs you may already use for your business.  QuickBooks® was designed to be compatible with Microsoft Excel and Acrobat Reader.  This allows you to import and export data for use in reports, presentations and more.  If you are currently using Excel for your accounting, you can easily switch to QuickBooks without losing any of your work or having to re-enter everything; simply format your Excel document and upload your current data into the QuickBooks® system from Excel to get started. 

4. It's inexpensive.

The price of QuickBooks® is very affordable compared to a lot of the other accounting programs on the market.  Prices start at about $250 for the basic boxed package and as low as $12.95 per month for the online version.  They even offer a 30-day free trial so you can try it out before purchasing. You don’t even have to go to the store for the box version because they offer the program as a download on their website. 

5. It keeps your data organized.        

QuickBooks® can store a lot of information.  It tracks all of your checks, bills and invoices and can even keep track of your inventory and send you an alert when it’s time to re-order.  This feature will not only save you time, but will also increase accuracy and reduce errors.  You will always know where your business stands financially and you can even project forecasts. 

6. If you accept credit cards, you can integrate your merchant account.

Using Novera Payment Solutions' QBPlugin, you can easily integrate your merchant account with QuickBooks. This eliminates duplicate data entry, streamlines your process, and saves you money on credit card processing fees.

From billing and payroll to statements and reports, QuickBooks® has you covered.  Whether you are a small business or a larger enterprise, QuickBooks has designed a program just for you.  If you are looking to get rid of that old ledger or are just looking for a change in your accounting software, QuickBooks could be your solution.

About Novera Payment Solutions

Novera Payment Solutions is a leader in the credit card payments industry. We are committed to helping businesses improve their bottom line by providing significant savings on credit card processing fees through our innovative flat fee merchant account pricing model.

Contact Novera to learn more about how we work with businesses  to provide the most fair and transparent pricing structure available on the market today for credit card processing and our QBPlugin for QuickBooks!

Home Helpers has teamed up with Novera Payment Solutions, LLC (Novera) to offer cost saving credit and debit card payment services for Home Helpers franchisees. Novera was selected to guide franchise owners through the complicated world of credit & debit card acceptance. Novera delivers a unique combination of value, integrity and price transparency to Home Helpers franchisees that is unparalleled throughout the payment processing industry.

About Home Helpers

Since 1997, Home Helpers has been a leader in home care services.  Their dedicated caregivers provide one-on-one care to seniors, new & expectant mothers, working parents, and individuals right in the comfort of their home.  Home Helpers senior care services allow individuals to live independently in their home instead of an assisted living complex or nursing home.  They provide elder care from a few hours a week to 24/7, and tailor a flexible care plans to fit the needs of their clients. Learn more about Home Helpers at http://www.homehelpers.cc.

Home Helpers Franchisees Can Now Accept Credit Cards with Flat Fixed Fee

Novera Payment Solutions provides a simple flat fixed monthly fee structure for credit card processing. Many companies don’t fully understand credit card processing rates. The underlying cost to accept credit cards and debit cards is the same for all merchants,  and consists of Interchange fees and processor costs. Interchange fees make up the majority of the cost of a monthly bill, and is never negotiable. Variable inflated rates and other transaction-based fees account for most of the difference. This is where most processors make their profits. Under the arrangement with Novera, Home Helpers Franchise Owners can now receive a transparent, flat fixed monthly fee pricing model to save money of their credit card processing for the life of the account.

Grow Your Home Health Care Business with Savings & Added Efficiency

Novera Payment Solutions will also offer Home Helpers franchise owners the opportunity to access software tools designed to help franchises run more efficiently and cut costs. This includes virtual terminals, mobile payments devices, website payments portal, and a “QBplugin” that integrates with QuickBooks to ensure a seamless interface and posting tool.

Novera’s Director of Business Development, John Wisniewski, reports, "By utilizing Novera's flat fee pricing structure, Home Helpers franchisees will never pay more than they should for credit card processing services."

Novera Payment Solutions is excited about our partnership with Home Helpers to provide their franchise owners with solutions that help them grow and succeed!

In previous posts, we've discussed the fact that there are few things more frustrating to auto dealerships than losing precious recurring service business to the aftermarket. Fortunately, several strategies are available to help auto dealers to build service retention programs and to profit from them. Our recent post, "Keep Service Business at Your Autodealership", discussed using pre-paid maintenance plans, and well as service rewards and customer loyalty programs. Just as with pre-paid maintenance plans, customer loyalty card programs keep car owners coming back to your dealership through the life of the vehicle, allowing you to cultivate long term relationships with your customers and ultimately create repeat purchasers and referrers.

You can also use social media as a very powerful tool to draw service business back to your dealership!

There are many reasons you should be using Twitter to help market your auto dealership and build your brand, but did you know that Twitter also has a free SMS (text messaging) service? The best part is your customers do not have to have Twitter accounts. They can simply subscribe to receive your Twitter updates via text message, which are then received directly on their smart phones. What a great way to alert customers of service specials, remind them seasonal of service checkups, as well as promote other specials throughout the dealership.

Here's how it works:

1. Create a Twitter account for your dealership. Once you have setup your account, you will have a Twitter handle.  For example, @NJCarDealer.
2. Market your text alert service with signage at the dealership, in your ads, and in your other promotional materials.
3. Your customers use their smart phones and send a text message to shortcode 40404 that reads FOLLOW NJCarDealer (replace NJCarDealer with your actual handle). Notice there is no mention of Twitter here ... your customer does not have to have a Twitter account. This service is called Fast Follow.
4. Once your customer subscribes by sending this text message, they will receive anything you post to your Twitter account as an actual live text message on their smart phone. 

Why is this so powerful?

Besides the fact that Twitter makes this available to you free of charge, consider some of these stats from Anchor Mobile and LogMyCalls:

1. 98% of text messages are read vs. 29% of Tweets vs. 12% of Facebook posts vs. 20% of emails.
2. 90% of text messages are read within three minutes of receipt.
3. SMS coupons are 10x more likely to be redeemed than mail or newspaper coupons
4. 70% of all people in the U.S. said they would like to receive offers on their mobile phones.
5. The average person looks at their phone 150 times each day.

You already know that ngoing interaction with satisfied customers through the life of the vehicle builds relationships and customer loyalty. Considering giving Twitter a try!

About Novera Payment Solutions

Learn more about Loyalty Cards and Service Rewards Programs for your dealership:

• Get started with Novera's Loyalty & Service Rewards Program for Auto Dealers and increase your customer service visits

• Use the Loyalty & Service Rewards Program to bring customers back to repurchase

• See dramatic savings on your credit card processing fees with Novera's flat fee, transparent processing rates for auto dealers

Novera Payment Solutions recently teamed with Visiting Angels to provide franchise owners with a cost effective solution for their credit card processing needs. This strategic partnership enables Visiting Angels franchise owners to take advantage of the most current credit card payment processing technologies while utilizing Noveras innovative pricing structures for payment processing services.

About Visiting Angels

Visiting Angels is a national, private duty network of home care agencies. They are the nation’s leading provider of non-medical senior home care services.Visiting Angels provide in-home care, elder care, respite care, senior personal care, elderly care and companion care services. With their senior home care services, elderly adults can continue to live independently in their own homes. The directors and franchisees of Visiting Angels hold the philosophy that they are in business to provide the best care possible to seniors as well as others who need in home care while giving total respect to the care giving staff. That's why Visiting Angels is "America's Choice In Homecare". For more information about Visiting Angels, visit their website at http://www.visitingangels.com.

Visiting Angels Franchise Owners Can Now Accept Credit Cards with an Easy to Understand Flat Fixed Fee

Novera Payment Solutions provides an easy to understand flat fixed monthly fee structure. Many merchants don’t fully understand their card processing rates. In truth, the underlying cost to accept credit cards and debit cards is the same for all merchants, large and small and is comprised of Interchange fees and processor costs. Interchange makes up the majority of the cost of a monthly bill, and is never negotiable. Variable inflated rates and additional transaction fees make up for most of the difference and are where most processors make substantial profits. Under the new relationship arrangement ,Visitng Angels franchises can now receive a transparent, flat fixed monthly fee pricing model that remains in effect for the life of the account.

Add Efficiency to Your Home Health Care Business

Additionally, Novera will provide Visiting Angels franchise owners the opportunity to access innovative tools designed to help businesses run more efficiently and cut costs i.e. virtual terminals, mobile payments devices, website payments portal, and a “QBplugin” to work with QuickBooks software that ensures a seamless interface and postng tool. It’s all part of Novera’s suite of services and unique commitment to price transparency unparalleled in the payment processing industry.

John Wisniewski, Novera’s Director of Business Development, said, "By utilizing a flat fee pricing structure, Visiting Angels franchise owners can rest assured that they will never pay more than they should for processing services. We’re excited about our partnership with Visitng Angels in their efforts to provide their franchise owners with solutions that help them grow and succeed."

This year, Small Business Saturday is November 30, 2013.

Small Business Saturday(tm) is an American shopping holiday held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving during one of the busiest shopping periods of the year. First observed on November 27, 2010, it is a counterpart to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which feature big box retail and e-commerce stores respectively. By contrast, Small Business Saturday encourages holiday shoppers to patronize brick and mortar businesses that are small and local.

Small Business Saturday(tm) was conceived by American Express in 2010 and was promoted heartily via social media and by the US media. In its first year the movement garnered 1 million LIKES on Facebook and over 30 thousand tweets using the hashtag #smallbusinesssaturday.

In 2013, the movement continues. American Express is now offering their credit card merchants free personalized marketing campaign materials, as well as non-personalized materials to promote Small Business Saturday(tm).

1. Shop Small logos
2. Printable Signage
3. Social Media and Email Templates
4. Welcome Mat & Shopping Bags

LIKE the Small Business Saturday Facebook page here, or follow the movement on Twitter @ShopSmall.

As a small business owner, you are automatically part of the movement. The Shop Small Movement and Small Business Saturday help bring communities together to show support for  the small business owner, and help give you exposure throughout the year.

For detailed information about the program, visit the American Express website.

About Novera Payment Solutions

Novera Payment Solutions is well known as a leader in the credit card payments industry and is committed to helping businesses improve their bottom line by providing significant savings on credit card processing fees through our innovative flat fee merchant account pricing model.

Novera Payment Solutions Advantange

• Novera Payment Solutions's consultative approach allows us to thoroughly educate our clients, equipping them to better understand this complicated industry.

• We take the mystery out of the credit card processing business.

• We work with all types of businesses across the country.

Contact Novera to learn more about how we work with businesses  to provide the most fair and transparent pricing structure available on the market today for credit card processing.

AutoTask, a provider of mission-critical software to run your entire IT business, recently came out with a study identifying 6 trends transforming IT business management practices, including automation, measurment, shift in services, efficiency & utilization, growth, and profitability. A quick look into the data sheds light on why IT providers might use AutoTask to improve their businesses overall.

AUTOMATION

1. 84% of service providers are using tools for backup, disaster and a recovery.
2. 83% are utilizing remote monitoring management tools to increase efficiency.
3. 82% are using email services and protection.

MEASUREMENT

1. 90% of service providers using a business management tool say more than half of their employees are using the tool on a regular basis.
2. 85% of IT service providers rank customer satisfaction as the top priority for tracking the health of their business, yet only 10% measure this.

SHIFT IN SERVICES

1. Managed services was ranked as the top growth area in 2012 by 53% of service providers. In 2013, 63% ranked it at the top!

EFFICIENCY & UTILIZATION

1. 66% of service providers are losing up to 20 hours per month due to data entry into multiple systems.
2. 61% are losing up to 20 hours per month due to their inability to accurately capture billable time.
3. 58% of service providers target 80% or more of their technicians time billable ... yet only 23% achieve it.

GROWTH

1. 44% of IT service providers say more than half of their buiness currently comes from small business
2. 48% of service providers say midmarket will represent their biggest growth in 2013.

PROFITABILITY

1. More than 60% of service providers using a business management platform are forecasting revenue growth of 15% or higher for 2013.

Automate Your Business

This data from this study reveals the importance of business automation. If you deliver technology solutions, chances are there aren’t enough hours in the day to keep track of everything and focus on the work that really matters – building your business, your client base and your bottom line - without automating and streamlining processes.

AutoTask & Novera Payment Solutions Streamline Your Customer Payments

AutoTask and Novera Payment Solutions have formed a strategic relationship to help IT service providers grow their business. Subscribers to the Autotask product suite now have the ability to receive credit and debit card payments via an easy to understand flat fixed fee or flat rate pricing program which integrates with QuickBooks via a plugin. This helps automate your payment solution by eliminating duplicate data entry into multiple systems. It also improves the bottom line flat fixed fee pricing on credit card transactions.

Savings, Savings, & More Savings

Novera Payment Solutions provides Autotask clients with a way to process payments which can result in saving money and time. Let Novera help your business run more efficiently.

SIGNIFICANT ANNUAL SAVINGS WITH OUR INNOVATIVE FLAT FEE PRICING

IMPROVE CASH FLOW AND TURN RECEIVABLES INTO IMMEDIATE PAYMENT

STREAMLINE THE CREDIT CARD ACCEPTANCE PROCESS WITH A DISCOUNTED WEB BASED TERMINAL AND QUICKBOOKS PLUG IN