We at our sole discretion:

Do you read the fine print? Most of us don’t.

In today’s economy internet sellers need to take advantage of tools and services that can enhance their business. One of the most important of these services is the ability to accept payment for our goods or the services we offer for sale. In the early days of ecommerce, payment by cash, check or Money Orders was the norm for most online businesses. Some had their own merchant accounts, but these were in the minority. Along came services like BillPoint, PayPal, Revolution Money Exchange and Google Checkout.

The growth in the online payment systems market grew dramatically as more and more online businesses sprouted. Sites such as Amazon, eBay and Google played a huge role in creating the growth of these online payment services. Eventually all three of these ecommerce giants created their own payment systems, seeing the income potential in ecommerce.

Not Necessarily A Business Owners Friend

With the creation of online payment services, small to medium sized business owners were anxious to take advantage of the ability to accept credit/debit card and electronic funds transfers as forms of payment, and did this in huge numbers. Now, in a trouble economy, many of these businesses are finding out that they may have blindly agreed to terms that can potentially put their business at huge risks.

Researching the payment systems I am most familiar with, Amazon, Google Checkout and PayPal, I find one huge universal similarity. We as business owners are at THEIR mercy! They are not in business to make friends with us, these services are in business to make money and limit their exposure at OUR expense. We are allowed to use these serices to enable purchases to be made at their sole discretion. At any time they can shut us down, withhold our monies, and deduct funds from our credit/bank accounts for any reason at any time.

For small to medium sized businesses this can effectively cause immediate and devastating consequences. The inability to pay for products or services, postage and other related business expenses because accounts have been frozen WITHOUT prior notice can cause an immediate collapse. Imagine, waking up and finding an email in your inbox telling you your account is frozen and you have NO recourse. We have all heard the horror stories. This is not isolated.

5 seemingly simple words

We at our sole discretion

Remember it is important to read the fine print. We may still need to use these services, but we need to know the consequences associated with depending on them!

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