A Few Of The Best Practices In Restaurant Point Of Sale Systems

Sept. 4, 2009 - PRLog -- A few of the best practices in restaurant point of sale systems - boosting sales and eliminating chargebacks

Increasing Profits

In our economy today, every cent counts and adding them to your bottom line is possible despite the economic doom and gloom reports. The steps here will increase your profits, by boosting your sales, reducing debit card fees and expenses, and most of all block theft.

For businesses in the food service industry, running a restaurant point of sale system, this can greatly help you!

Taking Checks

Checks may not may not seem appealing to younger customers, but their still widely used especially among older customers. If you haven’t been accepting checks, start soon. There are POS equipments that can scan checks as quickly as debit cards, measure them against a nationwide database of bad check writers, transfers the money to your account electronically, and guarantee you receive your funds within a few days. In addition, it is less expensive than for credit cards and could add 10%-15% of your sales—possibly more if seniors make up the majority of your customers.

Accepting All Cards

Of course, you're already accepting cards like Visa and MasterCard. How about cards like Discover and American Express? The latter, in particular, generally accompanies larger transactions. You might have hesitated because of the high fees, but do reconsider—the difference might be a paltry one percent or so, and because American Express transactions are often larger than those of other cards, you’ll make it up in gross profit. Furthermore, your customers may keep coming back because they'll know that your business accepts all forms of credit cards.

Do Your Research

Many vendors think their fees are 1.69 percent plus an additional $.19 because that’s their qualified rate on a tiered pricing program. But often fewer than 20 of 100 transactions receives low qualified rate and all the rest downgrade and cost one, two, or even three percent. By researching for alternate programs that offer different interchange rates could possibly help you more than you think.

Understandable Statements

You or your bookkeeper shouldn’t have to scratch your heads over a complex credit card statement that just doesn’t fit. A few companies have made extraordinary efforts to simplify these reports. You should be able to come into terms with your statement and rates without exceeding 15 minutes.

Getting Your Reports Online

The post office is slow, don't wait any longer for them to deliver you a letter of disputing a charge. Using the help of online reporting, you'll exactly know what's up within 24 hours, allowing you to aggressively defend against chargebacks. With this kind of quick response, it can increase your success rates and reduce your losses.

So no more scratching of the head for you and your bookkeeper over complex credit card statements.

Using Card Validation Value and Address Verification System. They are highly effective fraud screens proven to reduce losses, and by using them correctly, you obtain the lowest possible discount rate.

In addition, avoid by being PCI compliant. Hackers can cause you huge fines, and drive them out of business. Find time to read Visa’s report on noncompliant systems, so you'd always be alert.

Reduce Chargebacks

If you run an online business, either by internet orders or by phone, it's always a great idea to implement the “Verified by Visa” or “MasterCard Secure Code” plug-in on your web site. This can help eliminate cardholder nonauthorization chargebacks. Liability for these chargebacks will be shifted away back to the issuing card bank, and you qualify for the lowest discount rate available. Just by following this simple step, you could possibly eliminate up to 80% of all chargebacks and increase your profits.

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The author of this article writes for POS-For-Restaurants.com, with over 20  years experience in restaurant point of sale systems, helping restaurant owners nationwide increase their efficiency and bottom-line profits..

Visit http://www.pos-for-restaurants.com for more information on how our national network of restaurant point of sale professionals can help your business achieve greater success in these difficult economic times.

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