During the initial stages of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld gave a fairly incoherent response to a question, going through a list of “known unknowns” and “unknown knowns” that sent many a pundit away scratching their heads. It wasn’t much of a military answer, because Rumsfeld was really more of a businessman, and what he was saying actually made sense to a lot of people in business.
Keeping Up with the Joneses, Inc.
The demand of plastic-bearing consumers has driven more and more merchants into the arms of credit card processing service providers. Much of the business still takes place at a cash register, but a significant percentage of retail business has been shunted through the Internet. Keeping up with The Joneses, Inc. means investing in capacity for conducting credit card transactions. Scratching the surface may not be enough, research-wise, as the proverbial devil will only be found in the details.
Validate and Verify
Without trying to belabor the point, you know that there are things that you don’t know, things that you think you know that are wrong, and things that will later become true that you currently know nothing about. Rumsfeld’s official Pentagon axiom holds especially true when it comes to knowing what you need to know about merchant express credit card processing services. It also means a good bit of extra accounting to keep those digital books squared.
Point-of-sale purchases generally require signatures for validation – or at least they should. Telephone orders include a variety of identifying mechanisms, from security codes to address and ZIP code verifications. Merchants should be aware of the fact that their due diligence in this matter could mean the difference between getting paid or not getting paid in the event of a dispute. Other rules must be followed, including some that may regulate any “minimums” on transactions. Business really isn’t much different from school in that regard – you’ve got to do your homework.