All the hard work you’ve made to sell your goods won’t matter if you aren’t able to get paid. Choosing how to collect your money can be a hard thing to do because there are so many options that it would take an eternity to choose the right one if you do not know what you’re looking for in a payment processor.

Being able to receive payments from both, credit and debit cards is a must, but there are other things to consider, recent tech developments have evolved so much that cellphones can be used to make payments thanks to their NFC capabilities at retail shops able to process this technology through services such as Google Pay and Apple Pay.

Any retail shop that uses these payment platforms can benefit a lot from offering these services if they make use of a good marketing campaign, the millennial customer base is always looking to try the “new thing” and they will feel compelled to try it buying something, and what’s more, they are constantly carrying a cellphone, so they will always have a payment option at hand even if they are not carrying cash or cards.

Here are some recommendations for new entrepreneurs that will help them choose a payment processor:

• Study their terms. Choosing who’s managing your payments is a whole lot different than subscribing to a new social network. Reading the terms of service is vital if you want to know what you are truly getting out of your contract. If you do not agree with the terms you just received you can just skip it and look for another processor. On the other hand if you discover later that the contract you signed doesn’t benefit you, it will take you a lot of time to make the switch to another one.
• Research your candidates. If you are not sure about your potential payment-processing company you can always do a bit of research. Studying a processor before signing a contract can give you an idea on how they work and how the businesses that use them feel when doing business with them. Most experts recommend partnering with established payment processors as they tend to be more reliable.
• Know which payment methods you want to use. Everyone can accept cash, using it to pay is quick and doesn’t require specialized equipment, but not everyone carries a NFC-compatible smartphone so you might not need to invest in a processor that charges extra for their NFC equipment. The area in which your business is located can make a big influence on the payments methods you want to provide, if you live in a big city you can benefit a lot from offering many different payments options as your customer base will be more varied.

Choosing which payments options you should offer requires a bit of knowledge of both your targeted clientele and your possible payment processors. It is always a good idea to do some proper “homework” before choosing a partner, so be sure to do some proper research first.