Shannon has been writing for Merchant Maverick about small business software and financing since 2015. She started writing professionally about business topics in 2005. Shannon has been featured in the Washington Post, Reader’s Digest, US News, MSN, Yahoo Finance, Business Insider, and other publications. She has a bachelor’s degree in English from San Diego State University and currently resides in San Diego, California.
Lauren and Ronn Grewber turned their sustainability passion project into a thriving short-term rental business in North Park, San Diego.
Grants represent a viable form of free funding for select, exceptionally talented women business owners. If you can present an especially impressive application, essay, business plan, and in some cases an in-person pitch, you might come away with some free cash to help bring your entrepreneurial dreams to fruition.
If you haven't yet considered implementing a QR code payment system at your business, you really should. QR code payments are quickly becoming the norm, and they are easy to get started with. Some POS systems have built-in QR payment acceptance, but you can also accept QR code payments without a POS. Keep reading to learn more about QR code payments and how to offer your customers a "Pay with QR code" option.
Shopping for a Clover POS system? With so many companies peddling the system, making a choice and comparing costs can be daunting. Let us set the record straight on what a good Clover POS price is and where you can get the best deals.
San Diego small business owner Banny Hom talks about getting to know his customers and running his automotive business during the pandemic.
Loans expert Shannon Vissers explains to GoBankingRates why Walmart has the best online store.
Finance Magnates talk with loans expert Shannon Vissers about Apple's Pay Later program.
Loans analyst Shannon Vissers tells AOL about the dangers and pitfalls of Buy Now Pay Later programs.
Credibly is an online lender that offers short-term financing in the form of business loans and merchant cash advances. Credibly’s qualifications are much lower but its origination fee is high. If you’re in a pinch and don’t have access to other financing options, Credibly might be the lender that works for your business.
Designed to be a smaller, more accessible version of the popular Clover Station POS system, the Clover Mini comes with a built-in receipt printer, a USB hub (to allow for interface with peripheral hardware), and a customer-facing camera. Read on for more details and a comprehensive review of the Clover Mini.
At first glance, Clover seems like an ideal POS solution. It’s flexible, feature-rich, and functional. However, it’s not a cheap product. But if you want a simple, attractive POS solution — and don’t mind taking a risk on customer service and payment processing — you could do a lot worse than Clover and its many different offerings.
Can you buy a used Clover POS? Absolutely! Should you? No! While you can certainly find a used Clover POS system for sale on eBay or Amazon, it’s never a good idea to buy one. Used Clover POS are not reprogrammable and new systems are always sold with a merchant services contract — which you should never enter lightly.
We feel that the total value provided by Stax’s platform — including credit card terminal sales, centralized invoicing, data analytics, inventory management, and other features — makes the service worthwhile, especially combined with the stability of a full-service merchant account.
If you run a high-risk business or have had a hard time getting approved for a merchant account, Instabill might be your saving grace.
In May 2019, Global Payments, another very large direct processor from Georgia, announced that it was acquiring TSYS for $21.5 billion. The combined organization will operate under the Global Payments brand name, and the TSYS name will eventually disappear. However, mergers of this size take a long time to complete, and as of May 2020, TSYS still has its own website, which lists the company as ‘TSYS – A Global Payments Company.’ We haven’t received any indication of how Global Payments plans to transition existing TSYS customers into its system, but we expect that you will probably be switched over to a Global Payments contract at some point. If you’re a merchant looking for a new provider, now is not the time to sign up with TSYS.
Payline Data offers interchange-plus pricing for all its merchants, with discounted rates for nonprofits and medical organizations. On top of that, every plan includes a gateway and virtual terminal, with no long-term contracts. What’s not to love?
Sam’s Club Merchant Services uses the appeal of the bulk-discount warehouse business to bring in merchants, but the reality is that processing payments through Sam’s Club is likely to be far more costly for small businesses.
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The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation.
Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.
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