(Web blog) A Word to The Wise on Cell Phone Contracts
No commentsBy Les Finley
Cell phones (telefone celular) are increasingly used in the modern world. They are no longer a luxury, but are considered a need. They can send and receive e-mail, get information on news, entertainment, make a call home while traveling and contact the police or the ambulance during an emergency.
The radio, telephone and computer technology fused together to make the cell phone technology. Nevertheless, with the advancing technology, marketing became much tougher, and cell phone operators devised numerous clauses in their contracts to ensure that their competitors do not erode their customer base. Thus the cell phone contract was born.
A cell phone (telefone celular) contract is an agreement between the buyer and the wireless cell phone service provider. Usually it is of 1 or 2 years of duration, during which a consumer is legally bound to remain with the wireless service provider. Certain operators give a trial period to their consumers. After the trial period of 14 or 30 days is over, when the contract is entered upon and the phone is bought, the penalty for breaking the contract can range from $150 to $600, depending on where the phone was bought.
Before the contract finishes, if a new phone is to be bought, then some companies give a customer loyalty discount, which in effect extends the contract. This may prove to be expensive when compared to buying a new phone with a good discount. Thus, you may be locked in to a single operator, without your knowing it, if you do not read and understand the terms of the cell phone contract.
If one is not satisfied with the service provided by the cell phone (telefone celular) service provider, then one can come out of the contract, without paying a termination fee, if someone else is willing to go through the contract for the remaining period. Finding someone willing to undertake this may be difficult. Numerous websites have come up which help you in finding someone to transfer your contract to, however cell phone service providers do not endorse such websites as they only connect the buyer and the seller, doing nothing with the actual transfer.
Thus once you find a buyer for your cell phone contract, you have to contact your cell phone service provider to complete the transfer. This may take quite some time, as your provider will do a credit check on the buyer and if the creditworthiness is not found sufficient for the contract, the transfer will not take place. In case the transfer does take place, then you have the option of keeping the same number that you originally had. Usually, it has been seen that with transfers, you may have to supply the cell phone also as a free incentive to the buyer. High-end cell phones offered free along with the transfer usually get buyers within a couple of days.
Cell phone (telefone celular) service providers generally give a trial period before enforcing the contract term, which may be of 1-year or 2-year duration. Almost all providers give at least 14 to 30 days of trail period. A 1-year cell phone contract has a shorter commitment period, which may prove to be beneficial if the phone needs repairs, or is lost.
In addition, since the period is short, one may avail of new discounts that come up. After the term of 1-year ends, the phone can be kept without any contract and no penalty is charged for quitting. However, in a 1-year contract, the activation fee and/or the phone may not be cheap. Certain discounts and promotional offers cannot be availed of as in a 2-year period.
In a 2-year cell phone (telefone celular) contract, the activation fee and/or the phone may not be expensive. Huge discounts on the phone may be availed. Special promotions may be availed. However, since the phone is kept for a longer duration, more money may be spent on repairing, insuring, or replacing. The opportunity to buy a new phone reduces, and thus may not be eligible to switch cell phone service providers. Expensive phones may also opt for phone replacement insurance plans. However, due to the costs of such plans, few subscribe to these plans.
Pre-Paid or No Contract cell phones (telefone celular) are not available with all cell phone service providers. They are attractive as they require no commitment, the credit history is unimportant, and there is no penalty for quitting. However, call charges may be more expensive, and no promotional discounts etc., may be availed of.
It is always advisable to read and fully understand the terms of the cell phone provider as stated in the contract form, including the fine print, before signing the cell phone (telefone celular) contract.
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Credit Card Processing: What Online Businesses Need to Know
By Marcia Lopez
If youre operating, or planning to operate, a business online, you need a merchant account. Studies show more than 900 percent of online shoppers use credit cards to make their purchases, so the need for a merchant account is obvious. Consider the following tips when selecting an account for your business:
What types of Internet merchant accounts are available for my business?
There are essentially two types of Internet merchant accounts: delayed processing accounts and real-time accounts. Delayed processing accounts are less costly than real-time accounts, but they require a business representative to intervene in the sales process, meaning they are a good choice only for businesses with lower sales volumes and those that do not mind the daily interaction with the online sales process.
In the delayed processing system, credit card information is entered via your online shopping cart system. But rather than being processed immediately, it is stored until later in the day, when you or your representative must retrieve the information and then re-enter it manually for processing.
Real-time or automatic processing is much more convenient, but you pay for that convenience with higher fees. In a real-time system, information is gathered by the shopping cart system and then transmitted instantly and automatically to the card issuer via a portal known as a gateway provider, which also offers added security for online sales.
Once the information is transmitted to the card issuer and the card issuer approves the sale, a virtual receipt is issued and the card issuer transfers the amount of the transaction to your merchant account provider. At the end of the business day, the account provider adds up daily sales, subtracts the cost of any maintenance and account fees, and deposits the remaining money into the business bank account thats tied to the merchant account. No intervention is necessary by you or your representative in these systems.
In addition, today many merchant account providers offer mobile account processing, which uses wireless Internet connections to facilitate sales anywhere, via a cell phone or other mobile device, or a laptop computer. If you anticipate sales on the road or at trade shows, fairs or conventions, a mobile account can be a good add-on to your Internet account.
What type of equipment will I need?
In addition to your website, you will need a shopping cart system capable of accepting credit card information and other sales information. For real-time accounts, you will also need a gateway provider. Often these services are provided by the merchant account, but in some cases, you will need to find your own gateway provider. Be sure the provider you select uses software that is compatible with the merchant account provider system you choose.
What should I look for in an Internet merchant account provider?
Ideally, you want to select a merchant account provider with extensive experience handling Internet businesses. An Internet business has vastly different needs than a retail business, and is also at a higher risk for fraud. Why? Because online sales are essentially anonymous; that is, they dont require the buyer to be face-to-face with the seller. As a result, you want to choose a merchant account provider that can deal with issues of fraud successfully.
In addition, you want to be sure the company you choose has the technical staff and expertise to handle any problems that can arise in maintaining the services required to process payments over the Internet. If the company is not experienced in speedily resolving technical issues, it could result in a significant sales loss and even a loss of customers for your online business.
What costs can I expect?
Internet merchant accounts have higher fees than retail accounts, since they are subject to higher levels of fraud. Fortunately, because of increased competition among an ever-broadening number of merchant account providers, many fees and costs have been significantly reduced in recent years, and some have been entirely done away with.
Most accounts have daily fees, some of which are set for the type of account you have, and all have fees associated with individual transactions. Transactions fees are usually based on the amount of the transaction, as well as the number of transactions your business has. In addition, maintenance and service fees cover the cost of reporting and transferring sales funds to your account each day.
You will also be asked to estimate the amount of sales you expect monthly, and to pay a fee based on that figure. If your sales fall short of that estimate, you will likely be asked to pay the difference; however, if your sales are significantly greater than your estimate, you will also have to pay a fee to cover the extra costs associated with those sales.
Regardless of what type of online business you operate, its important to find a merchant account provider you can rely on. By using the information above, you can make a wise decision and watch your online business bloom.
Marcia Lopez is a freelance writer who writes about a range of topics including businesses that offer credit card processing such as North American Bancard.
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 at 2:25 pm and is filed under internet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
