Novera Payment Solutions

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."

Patient Responsibility Calculation with a Payment Collection System from Novera Payment Solutions

It’s called the Revenue Maximizer

Specifically Designed for Healthcare Providers

The Revenue Maximizer payment gateway is a real-time patient responsibility calculation and payment processing system, estimating at the point-of-care what the patient owes. As a web-based system, the Revenue Maximizer uses your current computer hardware and Internet connection (with a small card reader that plugs into the computer’s USB port).

Patient Responsibility Calculator

At the heart of the Revenue Maximizer is the innovative Patient Responsibility Calculator.

The Patient Responsibility Calculator delivers the following features:

• Web-based, real-time health plan eligibility verification at the point-of-care
• Determines in minutes what the patient owes, rather than days
• Shows remaining deductibles, co-pays and coinsurance
• Calculates patient charges against contracted rates with national and regional payors
• Produces a patient-friendly estimate of the patient responsibility
• Integrates with Novera Payment Processing System to enable the collection of patient out-of-pocket costs

Benefits for Providers

• Improves cash flow and decreases receivables
• Allows upfront patient collections
• Facilitates payment of the growing patient liability
• Reduces patient bad debt
• Integrates with existing workflows
• Minimizes calls from patients and to payors, questioning payment outcomes, benefits and eligibility

Benefits for Patients

• Reduces confusion and uncertainty about balance owed
• Lets patient know out-of-pocket costs at time of service when payment options can be discussed
• Increases level of satisfaction with provider

Competitively Priced, Easy-to-Use
The Revenue Maximizer is competitively priced, and requires no application fees. It is as easy to use as email with minimal setup. And because it is Web-based, the Revenue Maximizer reduces the need for point-of-sale terminals and costly, dedicated phone lines.

Contact Novera Payment Solutions for a no obligation savings analysis of your current payment processing system.

Novera Payment Solutions is an Atlanta based Member Service Provider (MSP) of WorldPay: the third largest credit acquirer in the world. Novera is a registered ISO with Visa & Master
Card. Our Flat Fee Merchant Program combined delivers real value from what has traditionally been considered a tax on payment acceptance at the Point Of Care for Health Care Providers.

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.

A story in the NY Times on July 25^th reported that a gang of hackers stole and sold 160 million credit card numbers from more than a dozen companies.  The crime originated out of Russia and the Ukraine and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.

Criminals have become very sophisticated and you need to be vigilant that your credit card or your personal information is not being used for fraudulent activity.

In previous posts we discussed the importance of protecting cardholder data. As a business owner, you are also a consumer ... so what should  you do if YOUR credit card information is compromised?

Report the Loss or Theft Immediately

• Act fast to limit your liability for charges you did not make
• Most companies have a toll-free number and 24 hour service to report stolen cards
• Once reported, you cannot be held liable for any other unauthorized transfers/purchases after you report the issue
• Follow up with a letter or email
• Check your statement carefully
• Check to see if your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance covers the liability

What is your maximum liability?

If someone does use the stolen credit card before you report it, you may still have some liability.  Here are the thresholds of liability:

• If you report the card loss before any unauthorized charges are made, your liability is zero
• If you report within 2 business days after you learn about the loss, your liability is $50 maximum
• If you report the loss more than 2 business days but less than 60 calendar days, after your statement is sent to you, your liability is $500 maximum
• If you report more than 60 calendar days after your statement is sent to you, then you are liable for all money taken from your account and possible more (money in accounts linked to your debit account)

How to Protect Your Cards and Account Information

For Credit and ATM or Debit Cards

• Don’t disclose your account number over the phone unless you initiate the call.
• Guard your account information. Never leave it out in the open or write it on an envelope.
• Keep a record of your account numbers, expiration dates, and the telephone numbers of each card issuer so you can report a loss quickly.
• Draw a line through blank spaces on charge or debit slips above the total so the amount can’t be changed.
• Don't sign a blank charge or debit slip.
• Tear up copies and save your receipts to check against your monthly statements.
• Cut up old cards — cutting through the account number — before you throw them away.
• Open your monthly statements promptly and compare them to your receipts. Report mistakes or discrepancies as soon as possible.
• Carry only the cards you'll need

A final piece of advice – protect your PIN carefully if using ATMs or Debit Cards.  Don’t carry the PIN with you (or on your phone).

For more information on protecting yourself and your identity, visit http://consumer.ftc.gov.

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.

If your business accepts credit cards, chances are you may have experienced a chargeback at some point. In simple terms, a chargeback occurs when a customer disputes a transaction through his or her card issuing bank. The card issuer then reverses the transaction and the merchant is left to respond to the chargeback and prove the transaction was valid in order to get the funds back.

Chargebacks may be inititiated for a variety of reasons, including:

• the cardholder is dissatisfied with the product or service
• the cardholder fails to recognize the transaction
• the cardholder is charged more than once for the same item
• the cardholder is overcharged
• the cardholder did not receive the product or service 
• the customer made a purchase using a stolen card number
• and possibly the worst of all ...  "friendly fraud" ... the customer purchased the item with the intent to initiate a chargeback to receive the item free

While it may be impossible to prevent fraudulent chargebacks to your business, there are a number of steps you can take to minimize the others.

1. Ensure you have written return policy that is customer friendly.
   If you operate online, publish this policy on your website. If you provide physical receipts, make sure your policy is on the receipt.
2. Make is easy to reach a human being at your business by telephone. If a cardholder has a question about about a charge appearing on their statement, they may call before contacting their card issuer to submit a chargeback. Most of the time the cardholder's concern can be addressed directly by the merchant, preventing the chargeback.
3. If you have automatic recurring charges or subscription based services, make sure the cancellation process is easy. As time passes, a cardholder can forget about something they previously subscribed to and may call their bank to ask what a charge is. The bank often automatically issues a chargeback in this case.
4. If the merchandise ordered by the cardholder is out of stock or delivery will be delayed, advise the cardholder in writing and offer the cardholder the option of purchasing a similar item or canceling the transaction. Do not substitute another item unless the customer agrees to accept it. 
5. Ship merchandise before depositing transaction. Don’t deposit transactions with your merchant bank until you have shipped the ordered merchandise. If customers see a transaction on their monthly credit card statement before they receive the merchandise, it could lead to a preventable chargeback.
6. Ensure that the business name appearing on cardholder's statements matches the name you are doing business as. If a cardholder purchases an item from MyWidgetWebsite.com and the charge on their statement appears as MWW, LLC (a name they don't recognize), they are more likely to initiate a chargeback.

Responding to chargebacks costs your business time and money. It pays to be proactive to prevent them from happening in the first place!

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.

Google Introduced Hummingbird to the World on its 15th Anniversary

Yes, Google has done it again.  On the 15^th anniversary date of the company, the world’s most used search engine announced a new ranking algorithm called “Hummingbird.”  It is designed to give users faster query results and it is focused on user actually wants versus individual search terms. 

According to Google, this is the most dramatic algorithm change since 2001 and is a complete replacement of the old algorithm.

So what does that mean for your business? 
It means that if you are not creating original, deep, subject-relevant content often for your website and your social media channels, you may be falling behind.  The Hummingbird algorithm no longer uses the old approach of looking at each individual keyword in a Google search. Instead it looks at the query as a whole to process the meaning behind it.

According to Google, Hummingbird considers over 200 signals when determining a rank for a website. Traditional SEO practices are not necessarily dead … they are just not as relevant with this algorithm.  Building a trustworthy social media sphere that has hundreds (if not thousands) of fans and followers who interact with your content allows Google’s Hummingbird algorithm to better see your site, trust it as a recognized authority, and rank it appropriately for terms related to your business.

Here is An Example
With the old Google algorithm, if you searched for a long tail term like “who is the best provider of internet merchant accounts”, Google would look at each individual word in the string and factor in its relevancy with content, links, and meta-tags on websites to the return the results.  As its being described, with Hummingbird, Google attempts to find the most relevant results to the entire question by looking at content on websites along with associated social channels and social signals to indicate which sites reflect the best answer to this question. 

The Hummingbird algorithm is also geared toward displaying more relevant results to mobile users. 63% of all adult cell phone owners use their phone regularly to go online (according to socialmediatoday.com).  If you don’t already have mobile website, it may be time to consider one!

This algorithm change may not affect some businesses.  If your company website was already ranking poorly, you probably will not see a change.  If your business website was ranking well and you do see a drop in your traffic as a result of the algorithm change, talk with your webmaster.  It may be time for your business to develop a better social media and content strategy for your online presence.

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.

According to the PCI Security Standards Council, more than 340 million computer records containing sensitive personal information have been involved in security breaches in the U.S. since 2005, and more than 80% of the attacks targeted small merchants.

Why do thieves target small merchants?

Because small businesses tend to have more lax security standards when it comes to protecting card holder data.

Back in June 2013, we wrote a blog about PCI Compliance for Auto Dealerships. That fact is, the information in that blog post applies to all merchants. READ IT HERE

If you are at fault for a security breach involving card holder data, the fallout and penalties can be severe for your business.

If you accept credit cards, here are 7 reasons why you should care about protecting card holder data:

1. At minimum, loss of consumer confidence. If your business is involved in a data breach, consumers may go somewhere else.
2. Lost sales. When the news hits that your business has had a data breach, sales can decline dramatically as a result of lost consumer trust.
3. Termination of your ability to accept credit cards. The ability to accept credit cards at your business can be revoked by your provider.
4. Fines and penalties. The payment brands may, at their discretion, fine an acquiring bank $5,000 to $100,000 per month for PCI compliance violations. The banks will most likely pass this fine on downstream until it eventually hits the business owner.
5. Legal costs, settlements and judgments. Needless to say, in the event of a data breach, your busineses may be subject to legal action.
6. Cost of reissuing new payment cards and subsequent costs of compliance. It is important to be familiar with your merchant account agreement, which should outline your financial exposure.
7. Going out of business. Simply by reviewing items one through six in this list, it's easy to see why this can be catastrophic for a small business.

As a merchant, you are at the center of credit card payment transactions so it is imperative that you use standard security procedures and technologies to thwart theft of cardholder data.

If you need help navigating the PCI Compliance maze for your business, Novera Payment Solutions can help.

We take the mystery out of the process and requirements, as well as help ensure that your business is fully compliant.