How to trade safely and seamlessly with Forex Trading
Richard Raw
What is Forex Trading?
ForEx stands for Foreign Exchange and essentially relates to the trading of one currency against another.
Most of us have been involved in this kind of exchange at one point or another, traditionally when you go abroad. You are likely to have exchanged your domestic currency (perhaps GBP) for the currency of the country you are visiting (for example, USD).
In this situation the aim is not to make money, but simply to have converted funds that you can spend easily whilst abroad. When you return home, you will exchange any unspent funds back to your domestic currency. Or, perhaps if you do not feel there is enough to change, you will leave it as it is, either for your next trip or to disappear into the back of that unspeakable drawer in the kitchen.
However, on much larger scales, there is an opportunity to make money via the trading of foreign exchange.
What is the Forex Market?
The Forex market is the only truly 24-hour trading market. With the week starting on a Sunday evening in the UK, when the Asian markets open for business on a Monday morning, trades can continue uninterrupted until Friday evening when New York closes trading.
Banks, including Central Banks, corporations, retail traders and brokers can get involved in the trading of foreign exchange; selling one currency against another currency on larger scales, with a view to make a profit. In such situations, they are speculating that one currency in a currency pair will increase in value against the other currency pair. Or, the compared currency will decrease in value in contrast to the traded currency.
Anyone can get involved
As well as being 24/7 (Mon-Fri) the forex market is open to anyone who wants to get involved with trading. You do not need to have any previous experience, and you do not need to be a Wolf of Wall Street type personality to be able to give it a go. However, it is important you minimise your risks by setting sensible limits on your trades when you are first starting out and gaining experience.
Once you have developed a basic understanding of forex terminology and how trades work, you will be able to start making trades via a trading platform. These trading platforms allow you to both buy and trade your desired currency pairs, whilst providing you with up to date values on all of the relevant currency pair rates.
Staying secure
As with any transactions you’re going to want to make sure that your payments are secure. ePay247 has a variety of platforms available to ensure your transactions are fast, encrypted, convenient and low-cost.
We offer payment gateway solutions, crypto currencies as well as Bank2Bank and eToken solutions. Find out more via our website, and get in touch if you would like some tailored advice for your own business or brokerage.
Have you taken your furniture business online?
Have you taken your furniture business online?
The growth of online furniture customers
The growth in furniture sales has increased drastically over the years, especially in regard to their online sales, enabling people to shop conveniently for their homes, from their homes. This enables people to visualise much more easily how products will look in their homes. With eCommerce sales accounting for 16.4% of all retail sales globally, expecting to surpass $6.5 trillion by 2023. With the lockdown keeping us all home, the e-commerce industry for furniture will grow.
What does this mean for furniture companies?
Furniture companies need to take advantage of this ever-growing opportunity since the new era of technology will continue to rise. Physical stores will continue to exist but utilising the ever-expanding eCommerce industry will increase the profits of the furniture industries. This can be achieved by promoting their products online, via their own web pages, social media and search engines. Particularly with the new generation increasingly shopping online, having grown up within a world of e-commerce, particularly with their hectic schedules preventing them from being able to take time out and visit stores. Therefore, for a furniture store to not offer a cashless, virtual alternative would be a disadvantage, giving valuable business to competitors who provide these services.
Also, social shopping is increasing even more, with social media becoming a part of the everyday life of the younger generation, those already living in their own homes to first-time buyers. Already, social media sites including Facebook and Instagram, have built-in tools to help you promote your business to the right audience. Already, with the current state of the pandemic, those who are working from home, furloughed and stuck in their own homes, are already using social media and online shopping to look for furniture.
So with the furniture industry having so much potential, why are banks reluctant to work with furniture companies?
The online furniture industry is considered high risk by banks due to the high chargebacks they face as a result of their unique characteristics. Which includes issues regarding damage during shipping, long delays of orders and many others.
So, what can furniture businesses do about this?
with ePay247 we can support you by providing you with a payment processing gateway which will help you expand your business and increase profits. We have work with many high-risk companies, personalising a plan to help you succeed. Our clients’ aims and success is our priority. So, contact us today to get support in taking your business online, with one of our many payment gateways.
Ensuring safe payment processing with the rise of online pharmacies during COVID-19
Ensuring safe payment processing with the rise of online pharmacies during COVID-19
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way we do many of our usual day to day activities. Now, when we go to the shop, we have to remember our wallets, carrier bags and a face mask. Many of us carry hand sanitiser as standard and keeping 2 metres apart has become second nature.
For some employees, working from home has become the new normal, and it may well be the case that there is no need to return to the traditional 9-5 and daily commute. Some businesses have been forced to close their doors, hopefully temporarily, throughout the various lockdowns and tier restrictions, whilst others have been forced to diversify.
It would be easy to assume it’s only non-essential shops that have had to start thinking outside of the box when it comes to serving their customers; however, everyone is being pushed to look at things differently.
Pharmacies have been on the front line throughout the pandemic, keeping their doors open to ensure the general public still has access to all their prescription, and general, medical needs. However, as many patients have started to adapt to electronic prescription service, pharmacies have had to adapt too.
In an attempt to limit face to face interactions, patients have been able to request repeat prescriptions from their GP surgery via the phone or email, have their prescriptions sent automatically to a nominated pharmacy, and can either collect their medication in person or arrange to have it delivered. In situations where there is a charge associated with the prescription, or request for medication, the pharmacy must find a way to process these payments as quickly, securely and seamlessly as possible, which is where payment gateways come in.
What is a payment gateway?
All e-commerce transactions involve a number of steps, starting with product selection all the way to a completed payment and receipt. The payment gateway comes in at the point where a customer is making their payment.
Essentially, a gateway is there to perform the necessary checks to ensure that there are no issues with regards to the payment. These issues could be as simple as the wrong CVC code being entered or could be due to credit card fraud. The payment gateway is the part of the process where authorisation is sought by the paying bank.
How does a payment gateway help your business?
Having a robust and efficient payment gateway to help you manage and process online payments is essential for your business, whether you’re taking online payments or dealing with over the phone transactions.
Easy to implement, and with a fantastic technical support team on hand, payment gateways help reduce the number of fraudulent payments whilst also making the transaction easier for your customers. With many payment options including card, over the phone or pay by link, every base is likely to be covered.
You can find out more via our website, or get in touch for a detailed quote on how our services would best suit your business.
Why Are Payment Gateways Important for Your Business?
Why Are Payment Gateways Important for Your Business?
What is a Payment Gateway?
A payment gateway refers to an e-commerce service, which processes verify and either accepts or declines direct payments or credit card processing for merchants using secure internet connections.
It helps facilitate online transactions, as well as receiving approval from a bank. This is important in helping transfer information regarding transactions between payment portals and either processors or banks. Which essentially
means that it acts as a middleman between customers and merchants to process payments, as well as carry out checks for fraud.
How would it benefit my business?
- It can help lessen frequency and severity of credit
card fraud - They act as a go-between to ensure customer data
is encrypted and secured - It's very easy to implement into companies who have
existing websites - The majority of online retailers are currently using such payment gateways, therefore, to implement it into your online service, it would make shopping much easier for your customers
- Also, they allow customers to view your sites without the annoyance of new pop up pages. You, as the merchant, can control and customize their checkout pages!
Getting the Right Payment Gateway for Your Business
There are key features to look for when choosing the right payment gateway, some of which are;
- Security – To ensure your customers, especially new customers, safety and security when purchasing items from your website.
- Speed of payment – You want to make sure you are being paid promptly to avoid cash flow issues.
- Customer Support – It is important to ensure you offer customer service which is efficient with quick resolution times, to maintain and exceed your reputation, ensure recurring
Now that you know the advantages and the importance of implementing a payment gateway, it’s important to find a reliable source to support you through the process.
ePay247 can provide you with the best support throughout the process. With our amazing team of specialists, we can advise you and the perfect payment gateway for your individual business, to support you in increasing sales.
How to support your CBD business through payment processing
How to support your CBD business through payment processing
Trying to keep your business from collapsing during COVID-19 and maintaining its stability through Brexit is hard enough for any industry. However, the CBD industry is currently facing additional issues of processing their payments, with many payment providers choosing not to provide such high-risked businesses with their payment processing services. On the other hand, we’ve heard about some payment providers providing CBD businesses with payment processing services but then sometime later choosing to no longer provide these same businesses them with their payment processing services, as has recently happened with many CBD businesses who were using Worldpay.
But why is it so difficult for CBD businesses to find payment gateways?
The cannabis plant has had an interesting history, being the focus of much political and social debate. Though in the recent decade it has been increasingly used in the form of CBD due to its thriving health benefits. However, regardless of the products becoming more and more acceptable, gateway providers seem to refuse or increase rates for such ‘high-risked’ companies.
Already many CBD companies have invested lots of time, energy and hard work as they try to enter an already congested health marketplace. However, despite all their best efforts, these same CBD companies may find the uncompromising attitude of certain payment providers negatively affects the success of their business.
Along with the hard work dedicated to implement their way into an already congested health marketplace, come CBD companies may find the uncompromising attitude of certain payment providers to negatively affect the success of their business.
As a CBD business, how can you ensure the payment gateway you are choosing will stick by you and support you?
As a CBD merchant you need to find a payment provider who is both willing to take on merchants like yours from emerging markets, and at the same time, has the experience of working with, and recognising the potential of CBD businesses.
Also, it’s important to find a payment provider who will work with you to meet your business needs, by assessing the risks and rewards of working with you and your CBD business. Of course, you’ll need to formulate an effective strategy that will maximise your sales, increasing your profits and demonstrate that your CBD company is worth working with.
With ePay247, our approach is the focus they put on the success of your businesses. ePay247 work with you, providing effective, secure and fast payment processing that your business needs, enabling you to focus on increasing sales. With ePay247 we will ensure you are able to receive payments without any problems or delays. The dedicated team here at ePay247 are here to support all your business payment processing needs.
ePay247 will give your company the respect and trust it deserves, the same as any other company within any other industry. They will tailor each approach, technique and plan towards your business, ensuring your success.
So remove the uncertainly, problems and concerns from taking payments for your CBD and get ePay247 on side today as your payments processing provider.
How do I protect my business from fraud?
How do I protect my business from fraud?
As an eCommerce business, there isn’t an opportunity to get to know your customers face to face. Which presents a number of challenges in relation to fraud, since you cannot see customer’s credit cards, IDs or obtain signatures.
Companies across the world suffer from fraudulent payments due to their lack of protection around their eCommerce business. That’s why US merchants lost an estimate of $6.4 billion through fraudulent card payments in 2018 alone, with small businesses being affected the most, losing an estimated $155,000 per annum. This highlights the importance of protecting your company!
However, a simple method available for you to protect your businesses from fraud is to use a payment gateway to control the risks that arise whilst taking eCommerce payments. A payment gateway provides you with the latest technology and security to process payments quickly, securely and efficiently.
Though be careful, not all payment gateways provide you with such protection, including the big names such as PayPal!
Factors to be considered
High Risk Countries should be considered when shipping out orders overseas, by using phone calls to verify their identities prior to processing the transactions.
Address Verification Services (AVS) are effective in detecting fraud, by requesting billing addresses and zip codes when customers are purchasing their items. The AVS will check if these addresses match what their bank has on file. The gateways can request for user verification to the issuing banks.
Card Verification Value (CVV) is the 3-digit code on the back of every credit or debit card. This is an additional security measure allowing the cardholders to only use the card. IF the CVV does not match, the payment gateway will decline the transaction.
Also, implementing Flag Large Transactions would specify an amount which can be spent on your sites per large transactions, which is an essential step to avoid chargebacks. In addition to which you could limit the number of failed transactions through the payment gateway.
Payer Authentication (3-D Secure), which is also known as Verified by Visa, MasterCard or SecureCode, requests cardholders to input a PIN to confirm their identity.
What does this mean for you?
Whilst the digital economy is rapidly evolving, it’s important to ensure how each payment gateway can protect your business from fraudulent transactions. To have a company that can employ techniques which will continuously ensure your company is receiving maximum protection, which is vital to the success and stability of your company.
epay247 addresses this by providing you with the options of five different payment gateways to choose from! This enables you to ensure that online payments that are made via your website are always protected.
- eGateway – A regular payment gateway that accepts most cards and is able to accept payments globally through various ways including MOTO.
- eToken – A simple, safe and secure payment community for a wide range of industries. A gateway that issues digital utility tokens that are seamlessly integrated into a merchants website.
- eBank2Bank – The open banking payment gateway that initiates payments between banks. An alternative to using debit or credit cards.
- eCrypto – Your safe and easy way to accept crypto currency on your website.
- eSMS – Receive payments face to face or by telephone with a safe and secure payment gateway via SMS.
Contact ePay247 to discuss in further detail which would be the best option for your business or check out their website for more information.
What does this mean for your clients?
To have a payment gateway, such as ePay247, will provide you with security for not only your business, but your clients as well. Implementing security such as AVS, CVV will protect your clients from losing money. Which further promotes your company as a secure and reliable site to shop from. This is particularly important since most shopper are turning to online retail and especially during this time of COVID-19. Therefore, it’s important to prepare and equip your businesses now to support both yourselves and your clients.
Why Are Payment Gateways Important for Your Business?
Why Are Payment Gateways Important for Your Business?
What is a Payment Gateway?
A payment gateway refers to an e-commerce service, which processes, verifies and either accepts or declines direct payments or credit card processing for merchants using secure internet connections.
It helps facilitate online transactions, as well as receiving approval from a bank. This is important in helping transfer information regarding transactions between payment portals and either processors or banks.
Which essentially means that it acts as a middleman between customers and merchants to process payments, as well as carry out a check for fraud.
How would it benefit my business?
1. It can help lessen frequency and severity of credit card fraud.
2. They acts as a go-between to ensure customer data is encrypted and secured.
3. Its very easy to implement into companies who have existing websites.
4. The majority of online retailers are currently using such payment gateways, therefore, to implement it into your online service, it would make shopping much easier for your customers.
5. Also, they allow customers to view your sites without the annoyance of new pop up pages. You, as the merchant, can control and customize their checkout pages!
Getting the Right Payment Gateway for Your Business
There are key features to look for when choosing the right payment gateway, some of which are;
• Security – to ensure your customers, especially new customers, safety and security when purchasing items from your website.
• Speed of payment – You want to make sure you are being paid promptly to avoid cashflow issues.
• Customer Support – It is important to0 ensure you offer customer service which is efficient with quick resolution times, to maintain and exceed your reputation, ensure recurring customers and purchases.
• Integration – Choose a gateway which is easy to implement, saving you time and money.
• International payments and support – If your services are offered worldwide, it is important to ensure your gateway accepts payments from your specified countries.
Now that you know the advantages and the importance of implementing a payment gateway, it’s important to find a reliable source to support you through the process.
EPAY247 can provide you with the best support throughout the process. With our amazing team of specialists, we can advise you and the perfect payment gateway for your individual business, to support you in increasing sales.
How businesses can avoid the pitfalls of selling crypto currency online
How businesses can avoid the pitfalls of selling crypto currency online
Customers Tell Me That The Bank Is Blocking Their Purchase Of Crypto Currency From My Website!
“Why is it, that even though crypto currency is becoming increasingly popular – the banks still won’t allow customers to actually buy any crypto currency? Yet despite this, some of my global competitors are able to sell crypto currency to their customers with (seemingly) no problems?”
That’s just unbelievable, why are the banks to risk-averse? After all, crypto currency has been around for years and it’s slowly becoming more and more popular across the world. This said, the banks can be very awkward when determining whether their customers are effectively “allowed” to purchase any form of crypto currency. Often banks just apply a “blanket ban” and cite excuses like “crypto currency infers a high risk of stolen information and identity theft” or “crypto currency isn’t widely accepted” or even “crypto currency isn’t regulated”. Sure on the one hand it helps the banks, but it will annoy your customers who may think that you’re site is somehow blocked by the bank, when in fact, the bank is blocking payments to online business selling crypto currency!
Is there a solution to this problem? Well asking customers to change banks is a bit extreme – but wait a moment, how can your other rivals, operating elsewhere in the world still sell crypto currency? Well that depends on a wide range of local rules, policies and regulations – which typically vary from country to country. With all these complexities, what can you do? Isn’t there just a direct way to actually sell crypto currency to your customers without trying to “jump through hoops” or spend weeks endlessly searching for banks that might “allow” crypto currency sales – only to find they’ve changed they’re minds the next day?
So How Can I Simply Allow Customers To Purchase Crypto Currency From My Website Without Any Problems?
The answer is simple – ePay247! With our multiple leading-edge payment solutions, we easily solve the complex problems of selling crypto currency to your customers! We even provide guaranteed payment acceptance – so use ePay247 now, to finally get your crypto currency sold to your customers without any hassles or problems!
With us, your customers can finally purchase crypto currency from your website via eGateway (a regular payment gateway that accepts most cards – enabling payments via telephone, payment links and recurring payments), eToken (a simple, safe and secure payment community for a wide range of industries), eBank2Bank (the Open Banking payment gateway that initiates payments between banks), eCrypto (your safe and easy way to accept crypto currency on your website) and eSMS (receive payments face to face or by telephone with a safe and secure payment gateway via an SMS). With ePay247, your customers can easily purchase crypto currency (hassle free) and you can receive immediate payment!
So, no matter which crypto currency / currencies you are selling, our cost-effective and innovative hassle-free payment gateways are just what you need! With us, your customers can purchase crypto currency using more than just regular card payments.
We know just how frustrating it is when your payment gateway does not allow customers to buy from your CBD website! All those potential orders and profits are lost! We know all about how frustrating it is when your customers are unable to buy from your website!
We offer you more than just card only payment processing for online crypto currency purchases.
In an increasingly connected world, ePay247 provides you with a secure, trusted and reliable all-in-one industry leading payment solution. From eGateway, eToken, eBank2Bank, eCrypto and eSMS – receiving payments online has never so easy, fast, seamless or flexible. Accepting payments for crypto currency purchases made from your website is now easy, seamless and cost effective – plus with guaranteed payment acceptance, there has never been a better time to start.
We have an industry leading gateway payments technology that provides multiple powerful solutions to empower your crypto currency business to grow more rapidly by accepting these innovative online payments including eGateway, eToken, eBank2Bank, eCrypto and eSMS.
Advice for cannabis seed merchants on how to take payments
Richard Raw
Paying For Cannabis Seeds: Continual Issues With Card Payment Restrictions And Fraudulent Chargebacks
“It’s a real pain, either customers try and order by card and the existing payment provider only allows orders under £200. Then some customers fraudulently request chargebacks claiming the order was placed in error … It’s a never-ending saga!”
That’s bad enough, having a payment gateway set draconian limits on each transaction! But then to find out later on, that some customers have successfully issued chargebacks is just unbelievable! So, just why is the existing payment gateway so restrictive? Well – because you are a cannabis seed merchant, they are limiting their risk and reducing the amount that your customer can spend with your business. Great for your payment gateway provider, but not so good for your business. As for charge backs, some unscrupulous customers can play innocent and say “they’ve never used a cannabis seed website” business, then deny all knowledge of the transaction and the bank will issue a chargeback, leaving your business out of pocket!
With all these problems, what can you do? What you really need is an effective way to remove the card transaction restrictions and prevent fraudulent chargebacks.
So How Do I Bypass Card Transaction Restrictions And Prevent Fraudulent Chargebacks?
We often have cannabis seed merchants asking us this this very question. The answer is ePay247, because our multiple cutting-edge payment solutions will solve the problems you are currently facing with transaction limits and chargebacks! On top of this, we also offer guaranteed payment acceptance – so there has never been a better time to use ePay247!
Use ePay247’s Multiple Payment Solutions And Avoid Restrictive Transaction Limits And Chargebacks!
With us, you can receive immediate payments from all your cannabis seed customers via eGateway (a regular payment gateway that accepts most cards – enabling payments via telephone, payment links and recurring payments), eToken (a simple, safe and secure payment community for a wide range of industries), eBank2Bank (the Open Banking payment gateway that initiates payments between banks), eCrypto (your safe and easy way to accept crypto currency on your website) and eSMS (receive payments face to face or by telephone with a safe and secure payment gateway via an SMS). All without the hassles of transaction limits per customer and fraudulent customer chargebacks.
So, whether you’re a start-up cannabis seed merchant or an existing cannabis seed merchant looking for a more cost-effective and hassle-free way to take online payments, ePay247 is here to get your online payments moving.
We offer you more than just card only payment processing for online cannabis seed purchases.
In an increasingly connected world, ePay247 provides you with a secure, reliable, trusted all-in-one industry leading payment solution. From eGateway, eToken, eBank2Bank, eCrypto and eSMS – receiving payments online has never so fast, easy, flexible or seamless.
Accepting payments for cannabis seed purchases made from your website has never been easier – plus with guaranteed payment acceptance, there has never been a better time to start.
We know that in some geographic locations, card payments alone can prove to be very restrictive and can really squeeze the growth of your business. This can be due to certain card issuers refusing to transact payments in specific countries, or card issuers who are simply unable to transact payments in specific markets due to a variety of reasons.
The good news is that with ePay247 those problems are a thing of the past! We have an industry leading gateway payments technology that provides multiple powerful solutions to empower your cannabis seed business to grow more rapidly by accepting these innovative online payments including eGateway, eToken, eBank2Bank, eCrypto and eSMS.
How can CBD merchants take payments online?
Richard Raw
Customers Tell Me That The Bank Is Blocking Their Purchase Of Crypto Currency From My Website!
“It’s so annoying! All I want to do is sell CBD via the internet, but then the current payment gateway I was about to go live with, tells me that they’re suspending my account because I’m selling CBD online!”
Talk about annoying, so why are the mainstream payment gateways so awkward when it comes to allowing a legitimate business like yours to sell CBD online? Well unfortunately, it’s ‘one of those’ things because as soon as you mention ‘CBD’ they’ll just mention something about an ‘Acceptable Use Policy’ and that’s that. Or is it?
So what alternatives are there? Well there are some lesser known payment providers who will allow you to use their payment gateway, but what are the pitfalls? There can be quite a few – namely website integration issues, costly upfront fees, and unreasonably high card transaction fees. What then can you do, to sell CBD online, without being rejected by the popular payment gateways – or experiencing high cost / complex integration issues with other lesser known payment gateways?
Easy - use the trusted and secure leading-edge payment solutions from ePay247!
As the global leading specialist payment gateway provider for CBD merchants around the world. We offer easy specialist payment solutions for all CBD merchants of any size, with guaranteed payment acceptance.
With us, you can receive immediate payments from all your CBD customers via eGateway (a regular payment gateway that accepts most cards – enabling payments via telephone, payment links and recurring payments), eToken (a simple, safe and secure payment community for a wide range of industries), eBank2Bank (the Open Banking payment gateway that initiates payments between banks), eCrypto (your safe and easy way to accept crypto currency on your website) and eSMS (receive payments face to face or by telephone with a safe and secure payment gateway via an SMS).
So, whether you’re a start-up CBD merchant or an existing CBD merchant looking for a more cost-effective way to take online / face to face payments (beyond regular most cards), ePay247 is here to get your online payments moving.
We know just how frustrating it is when your payment gateway does not allow customers to buy from your CBD website! All those potential orders and profits are lost! We know all about how frustrating it is when your customers are unable to buy from your website!
Bringing you more than just card only payment processing for CBD purchases.
In an increasingly connected world, ePay247 provides you with a reliable, trusted and secure all-in-one industry leading payment solution. From eGateway, eToken, eBank2Bank, eCrypto and eSMS – receiving payments online has never so easy, fast, seamless or flexible. Accepting payments for CBD purchases made from your website is now simple, straightforward and cost effective – plus with guaranteed payment acceptance, there has never been a better time to start.
Why be stuck with only being able to accept card payments online when you can give your customers so many more ways to pay. We know already, that in some CBD markets and geographic locations, card payments alone can prove to be very restrictive and can really squeeze the growth of your business. This can be due to certain card issuers refusing to transact payments in specific countries, or card issuers who are simply unable to transact payments in specific markets due to a variety of reasons.
The good news is that with ePay247 those problems are a thing of the past! We have an industry leading gateway payments technology that provides multiple powerful solutions to empower your CBD business to grow more rapidly by accepting these innovative online payments including eGateway, eToken, eBank2Bank, eCrypto and eSMS.