Tobacco rates are notorious for going up and down… but mostly up. It should be no surprise that tobacco rates are about to climb again, but this time are not well known. Above all, if you sell tobacco products, you need to be ready for this change, and make sure that your tobacco merchant account processor is ready as well.
“Mysuru-Kodagu Member of Parliament on Tuesday held discussions with the Tobacco Board head, Regional Manager and other officers, and ITC and other buyers of tobacco against the background of the fall in tobacco prices”. Because of this, tobacco prices are sure to go up, but it’s not clear how much they will go up. Is it wise to alert your customers? Sure. Just be sure to tell them that it’s not you, that it is the industry itself. When tobacco prices climb even a slight percentage, cigarette manufacturers use that to dramatically raise the prices of their cigarettes. People will still purchase them, regardless of price, because they are that addicted.
As you already know, many tobacco sales are taking place online. You need to make sure that your online tobacco merchant account processor is aware of the upcoming spike in prices. You also need to make sure that they are prepared to handle any incoming fraudulent charges that may come from this rise in pricing. Let’s say a customer is used to paying $3 for a pack of cigarettes, and all of a sudden he notices a charge for $4 instead. He may claim this as a fraudulent charge, if he did not notice the price change before purchase. Too many fraudulent charges can cause your merchant account provider to drop you. For this, you need a merchant account that is experienced in online tobacco sales, such as eMerchantBroker.com.