Like any other enterprise, the success of a firearms dealership hinges on its ability to make its customers as comfortable as possible before, during and after a sale. This includes ensuring they have the freedom to make payments in any form they want.
If you wish to be able to accept credit and debit card payments from your clients, you will need to sign up for a merchant account. Unfortunately, mainstream processing companies regard the firearms industry as a high-risk sector, primarily due to its many federal and state regulations, which makes acquiring payment services next to impossible.
Thankfully, banks aren’t the only card on your table. Although relatively hard to come by, a high-risk merchant account will get your gun business the payment processing services it needs.
Benefits of a firearm merchant account
Cash and checks are steadily losing their ground to newer methods like credit and debit cards, as customers embrace better modes of making payments. The ability to process card transactions can, therefore, help you a great deal in achieving your goals.
- Better sales
Accepting multiple forms of payment, both in-store and online always translates to more sales. Customers that were only visiting to see what you have will be more inclined to make a purchase if they can pay with their credit cards.
- Improved productivity
A gun shop may not be considered a fast-paced business, but that doesn’t mean you can tolerate slow transactions. With a credit card payment system, your customers will be swiping and entering their PIN without handing over their card. Checkout lines will, therefore, run more efficiently, more so for gun dealers who also operate shooting ranges.
- Customer satisfaction
Customers, even firearm buyers, enjoy flexibility. By providing several options for payment, including cards, checks, gift cards, coupons and cash, you will be giving them full control over how they spend their money. Ensure your customers remain satisfied at all times by offering the freedom and flexibility they want.
- Financial protection
With the ability to process multiple forms of payment comes the additional risk of fraud and chargebacks. However, partnering with a high-risk specialist will offer your gun business protection from these critical issues. EMB, for example, will equip your firearm merchant account with Verifi and Ethoca, both which work behind the scenes to prevent chargebacks and fraud, without affecting your sales in any way.
- Online payments
Because of the challenges that brick-and-mortar gun shops have to deal with, including compliance with strict laws and frequent visits from regulatory boards, many new merchants are going online. A reliable merchant processing service will enable you to provide online invoicing, create payment reminders, receive payments securely and take your operation with you wherever you go.