When a customer buys a coat and decides he no longer wants it, he can visit the store and return the jacket to receive a refund. Seems simple enough. But what about when the purchase is for a service, like a deposit for a medical procedure? There’s no item to return, so the customer doesn’t have a good reason to visit to the clinic if he decides he no longer wants to go through with the procedure.
With old-fashioned credit card terminals, this inconvenience can’t be avoided. To get a refund, the customer must visit to the clinic to reswipe the card he made the purchase with or call in to provide the credit card number over the phone to a staff member. It’s unlikely this cumbersome process will leave the customer satisfied. But what if there was a solution to this problem?
Credit Card Refunds With the Click of a Button
What if credit card refunds could be issued with the click of a button? Regardless of transaction method — in-person, online or keyed-in — this feature should be included with any Virtual Terminal you're considering using for your business.
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Ideally, your Virtual Terminal stores all transaction information and cardholder data securely in the cloud and in adherence to PCI Level 1 compliance. With a recorded history of all transactions made, all a staff member has to do is search for the transaction and click “refund,” without inconveniencing the customer. With the right Virtual Terminal software, your staff should be able to search for a transaction using any of the following potential queries:
- Transaction ID
- Invoice number
- Customer name
- Amount
- Last 4 digits of the credit card number
Once located in the system, a partial or full credit card refund can be issued. In the case of a misentered transaction total or membership cancellation, the best Virtual Terminal can provide a no-fuss solution. Leave a positive and lasting impression on your customers with a convenient, quick and painless credit card refund process.
Avoid Credit Card Refunds by Voiding Purchases
Did a customer change her mind immediately after making a purchase? If the processed transaction hasn’t been settled yet, a good Virtual Terminal should let you simply cancel the payment by voiding the transaction. This results in a faster return of funds for the customer and saved processing fees for your business. Refunds take three to five business days to be credited back onto your customer’s card, whereas voids take only one to three days to process.
If you don’t want certain staff members to be able to issue refunds, you'll want a Virtual Terminal that has user access controls. This would allow admins to turn off the ability to issue refunds for certain employees, along with a number of other permissions.
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Is your business a service provider? Would one-click credit card refunds make things simpler for you? Let us know how you think this could impact your business in the comments section below.
