Author: Luciana Hicks

PostEra (YC W20) Is Hiring – ML for Drug Discovery – FS Developer and ML Engineer

We care about improving medicinal chemistry to get new cures to patients.

We partner with large clients like Pfizer and small biotechs fresh out of YC to help them develop their drug candidates using our chemistry platform. We’re also leading COVID Moonshot, the world’s largest open-science initiative to crowd-source an antiviral; a patent-free drug that will be cheap and accessible, particularly needed in developing nations.

Open Roles:

– Scientific Software/Full Stack Developer: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/postera/jobs/82uECHo-s…

– ML Researcher/Engineer: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/postera/jobs/dmyRIhNLo…

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29580457

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How to Build Your Personal Brand by Being Everywhere

The Internet has given us one important opportunity: Become a brand. These days we have self-educated experts, self-published authors, self-created celebrities, none of which was imaginable a couple of decades ago when there was no …

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The post How to Build Your Personal Brand by Being Everywhere appeared first on ROI Credit Builders.

Best Ecommerce Platforms

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

What would you do with an extra $1,500 a day? 

With a bit of work and the right platform behind you, you can create an online store that generates that kind of revenue (and more). 

Shilpi Yadav is an excellent example. She quit her job to start an online clothing store based around her Indian heritage. Despite all the risks, the brand now makes more than half a million dollars a year (averaging around $1,500 per day). 

She built her online store using Shopify, one of the best ecommerce platforms on the market. However, there are a ton of different options to choose from depending on what you need.

And the most significant thing standing in the way of your own $500k success story is deciding which ecommerce platform is right for your new store. 

So to help you out, I reviewed seven of the best options in the industry, depending on your current situation.

The top 7 options for the best ecommerce platforms:

  1. Wix – Best for flexibility and customization
  2. Shopify – Best all-in-one ecommerce platform
  3. BigCommerce – Best for medium to large stores
  4. Squarespace – Best ecommerce platform for creatives
  5. WooCommerce – Best for WordPress websites
  6. OpenCart – Best for selling digital products 
  7. Ecwid – Best for integrating with your current platform

How to choose the best ecommerce platform for you

The best ecommerce platform for your business depends on several factors like your experience level, your customization requirements, and the type of products you want to sell. 

But choosing the right platform can feel overwhelming because there are countless options to choose from. 

To make things easier, I created a list of things to consider as you go through the process. 

It may help to start with a list of requirements and the features you need. From there, you can narrow down your choices based on the following criteria. 

Physical vs digital products

Digital products are a booming market. But selling and delivering digital products isn’t the same as delivering a physical product to someone’s doorstep. 

Different ecommerce platforms handle each type of product differently. And some may not support digital products at all. So it’s important to understand which type you plan to sell before you make a decision. 

Deployment options

If you already have a website, the best deployment option is integrating an online store rather than building a brand new website on a new platform. 

Furthermore, if you use WordPress, you can add ecommerce functionality via a plugin. 

Unless, of course, you want to start with a clean slate.

On the other hand, if you don’t have a website, you probably need a website builder with the capability to create something from scratch. So, think about the route you want to take and choose a platform that offers the right capabilities. 

Day-to-day management

Order management, product creation, tracking orders, and dashboard navigation are important factors of day-to-day ecommerce management. 

And it’s important to choose a platform that’s easy to use and manage on a daily basis. It shouldn’t feel like a struggle to create new products, check the status of an order, or update the pages of your website. 

Furthermore, it’s important to find the right ratio of flexibility and customization to ease of use. And keep in mind, the more customizable the platform, the harder it is to manage. Why? 

Because flexible platforms offer more settings and options to configure. 

You can simplify your workload by choosing a platform that offers just enough flexibility without going overboard for your specific needs. 

Design and flexibility

Some ecommerce website builders (like Wix) are truly drag and drop, meaning the customization options are endless. If you can imagine it, you can build it. But, that freedom also makes the platform more difficult to use. 

Other platforms integrate into your current site, taking the look and feel of your existing website with very few customization options. For some users, this is perfect. 

But others may want more control. 

If you’re just starting out, simple designs and ease of use are more important than design flexibility. 

However, if you already own a physical store or an established brand, design is more important so you can create a cohesive aesthetic from one touch point to the next.

Advanced ecommerce features

Do you want to be able to offer discounts or accept payments through different payment processors? Maybe you want to send visitors a reminder email when they exit your website with something in their cart. 

Perhaps you’re interested in creating customer profiles and analyzing advanced analytics. 

Other advanced ecommerce features include:

  • Email marketing integrations
  • Memberships and recurring payments
  • Gift cards and discount codes
  • Partial payments or payment plans
  • Shipping and fulfillment management
  • Product variations
  • Product categories

Think carefully about what you need and what would be nice to have. Then, you can use your list of requirements to narrow down your list of choices. 

The different types of ecommerce platforms

There are several different types of ecommerce platforms on this list. And which type you should choose depends on your current situation. 

Ecommerce website builders

These are all-inclusive website builders that include ecommerce functionality. 

This option is best for businesses without an existing website (or those who want to start over from scratch). Website builders also don’t require a lot of design experience to get up and running so it’s an excellent choice for beginners.

Adding ecommerce functionality to an existing website

If you already have a website, integrating an online store is much easier than starting over on a different platform. Several of the recommendations on this list can be used with an existing website so you don’t have to worry about starting over.

However, these typically require a bit of coding knowledge to customize so they’re not suitable for beginners. 

WordPress plugins

This option is best for users already using WordPress to run their website. 

Note: If you don’t know what a WordPress plugin is, this probably isn’t the best option for you (go with a website builder instead). 

#1 – Wix Review — The best for flexibility and customization

Wix is a great option if you’re looking for an affordable and flexible ecommerce platform. It’s famous for it’s drag-and-drop interface with complete design freedom to create anything you can imagine. 

With Wix, you also get access to more than 500+ prebuilt website templates and plenty of customization options (with no coding required). Or you can create pages from scratch with complete design control. 

Furthermore, they have a robust mobile app so you can make changes and manage your store from anywhere in the world.

Wix also includes a wide variety of marketing features, like emails, Facebook ads, and social media posts right from your account dashboard. You can even sell directly via social media.

Their ecommerce plans include powerful features, like:

  • Support of 90+ languages and local currencies
  • 250+ apps to add extra functionality to your site
  • No additional transaction fees
  • Custom product pages
  • Worldwide shipping and taxes
  • Coupons and discounts
  • Advanced sorting and filtering
  • Product collections
  • Customizable checkout
  • Recurring payments

Plus, if you already use Wix, you can upgrade to an ecommerce plan in just a few clicks within your account dashboard. 

Wix offers four ecommerce plans for online shops of different sizes, including:

  1. Business Basic — $23/month
  2. Business Unlimited — $27/month
  3. Business VIP — $19/month
  4. Enterprise — custom pricing

This is an excellent option if you have a small store or special design requirements. However, If you expect a high order volume and large range of products, you’re better off with BigCommerce or Shopify instead.

#2 – Shopify Review — The best all-in-one ecommerce platform

Shopify is an all-in-one ecommerce website builder that powers more than one million online stores, making it one of the most popular choices on this list. 

However, it’s not as customizable as Wix. But it offers more advanced ecommerce features because it’s built specifically to host online stores. Plus, it’s easy to use with just the right level of flexibility. 

It’s also incredibly versatile, powering micro to large stores, and everything in between. Shopify plans include access to an incredible suite of ecommerce features, including:

  • Point of Sale for brick and mortar shops
  • Real-time carrier shipping rates
  • Abandoned checkout recovery
  • 100 different payment gateways
  • Automatic tax calculations
  • Customer accounts and profiles
  • Fulfillment centers
  • Advanced inventory management
  • Unlimited products
  • In-depth analytics

Plus, with 70+ professional themes (nine of which are free) and 4,100+ apps, you can create a beautiful and highly functional ecommerce store without having to start from scratch. Or write a single line of code.

Combine that with award-winning 24/7/365 customer support and you have an excellent ecommerce platform. 

Shopify offers five plans for businesses of all sizes, including:

  • Shopify Lite — $9 per month 
  • Basic Shopify — $29 per month 
  • Shopify — $79 per month 
  • Advanced Shopify — $299 per month
  • Shopify Plus — custom pricing

Shopify Lite is a great option if you want to embed products and “buy” buttons onto an existing website. However, it doesn’t come with the all-inclusive website builder. 

Keep in mind that Shopify has its own payment processor. They charge 2.4% – 2.9% + $0.30 depending on the plan you choose. They also charge additional fees (0.5% – 2%) if you use a separate payment processor like PayPal or Square. 

#3 – BigCommerce Review — The best for medium to large stores

Like Shopify, BigCommerce is an all-in-one ecommerce website builder specifically for large online stores. It includes more advanced ecommerce features suitable for managing high volumes and a large number of products. 

With a customer base of 100,000+ stores, including some big names like Ben & Jerry’s and SkullCandy, they’re a smaller player in the industry. 

But that doesn’t make the platform any less powerful. 

BigCommerce plans include access to powerful, industry-leading features, including:

  • Customer accounts for faster checkouts
  • Mobile-optimized checkout
  • Abandoned cart recovery
  • Google AMP and Akamai
  • Advanced product filters
  • Coupons and discount codes
  • Advanced inventory management
  • Customer groups for personalized shopping
  • 65+ payment gateways with no extra transaction fees
  • Built-in shipping management

Plus, all of their plans include unlimited products, file storage, bandwidth, and staff accounts. 

And you can choose between 12 free mobile-responsive design templates or opt for a paid template to make your online store stand out from the crowd without touching a single line of code. 

BigCommerce offers four paid plans (with a 15-day free trial), including:

  1. Standard — $29.95/month with a $50,000 annual sales limit
  2. Plus — $79.95/month with a $180,000 annual sales limit
  3. Pro — $299.95/month with a $400,000 annual sales limit
  4. Enterprise — custom pricing

If you’re just getting started, BigCommerce is overkill for your online store. However, if you’re an established business or plan to sell high volumes, it’s an excellent choice. 

#4 – Squarespace Review — The best ecommerce platform for creatives

Squarespace is well-known as a website builder, but their higher-tier plans also include ecommerce functionality. Furthermore, their design templates are famous for their ease of use and creativity, making this an excellent choice for creative online stores. 

You can also install and customize multiple templates at a time to see which one you like best. And switching between templates takes just a few clicks. 

Aside from beautiful templates, Squarespace offers a variety of ecommerce features, including:

  • Subscriptions, digital products, and in-person compatibility
  • Built-in tax tools for automatic tax calculations
  • Discount codes and gift cards
  • Abandoned cart recovery
  • Mobile-optimized checkout
  • Mobile store management
  • Rich product listings
  • Quick view capability
  • Inventory management
  • Real-time shipping estimates

Furthermore, Squarespace integrates with most of the popular email marketing and social media platforms so you can sell and market your products like a pro. 

And they have fantastic 24/7/365 customer support ready to answer your questions and help you get things set up the way you want to. 

Squarespace offers three ecommerce plans (and a personal plan), including:

  1. Personal — $12 per month + no ecommerce functionality
  2. Business — $18 per month + 3% transaction fees
  3. Basic Commerce — $26 per month + 0% transaction fees
  4. Advanced Commerce — $40 per month + 0% transaction fees

They also have an enterprise plan with a dedicated account manager, SEO consultations, and prioritized technical support. 

And while the Business plan offers ecommerce capabilities, I highly recommend choosing Basic Commerce to start. It’s the cheapest plan with no transaction fees, plus it includes other essential features like, customer accounts and ecommerce analytics. 

#5 – WooCommerce Review — The best for WordPress websites

The recommendations thus far are all-in-one website builders. WooCommerce, however, is not. It’s a WordPress plugin built to add ecommerce functionality to existing WordPress websites. 

WooCommerce powers approximately 30% of stores online today. And with 80+ million downloads, it’s one of the most popular ecommerce platforms on this list. 

Note: if you don’t already have a WordPress website, I don’t recommend going this route. Stick to an all-in-one ecommerce platform, instead. 

WooCommerce is a lightweight plugin that adds ecommerce capabilities like accepting online payments, configurable shipping options, product listings, and more. But you have to have an existing website to use it. So, it’s a great option if you already use WordPress. 

It includes powerful ecommerce features like:

  • Plugin extensions to increase functionality
  • Rest APIs for developers to create custom platforms
  • Extensive tutorials and documentation
  • 140 region-specific payment gateways
  • Support of subscriptions and deposits
  • Automated tax calculations
  • Real-time shipping rates
  • iOS and Android mobile apps
  • Physical and digital product capability
  • Endless product variations
  • Public support forum

And the best part? It’s free to download, install, and use. Forever. 

However, some of the extensions aren’t free so watch out for that if you start digging into those. 

With the power of WordPress behind it, your customization options are only limited to what you can imagine. So, the sky is legitimately the limit with WooCommerce. 

But with that said, it’s not the easiest or most intuitive ecommerce platform. So, I don’t recommend it if you aren’t already using WordPress and 100% comfortable with it. 

#6 – OpenCart Review — The best for selling digital products

OpenCart is another open source ecommerce platform, much like WooCommerce. However, it’s not limited to WordPress websites. But you do need to have an existing website to use it. 

Over 300,000 online stores use OpenCart to confidently sell products of all shapes and sizes online. Plus, most web hosting companies offer one-click installation or will install it for free, so it’s incredibly easy to set up. 

Note: I only recommend going this route if you already have a website up and running. 

While you can sell products of any kind, the no-fluff interface (and free price tag) makes it an excellent option for selling digital products to make more money with your online business. 

All without adding an extra monthly expense because it’s 100% free forever. 

OpenCart offers a powerful set of ecommerce features, including:

  • Simple and centralized admin dashboard
  • Advanced user roles and access controls
  • Manage multiple stores from a single dashboard
  • Limitless product variables and variations
  • Built-in affiliate management and rewards system
  • Discounts and coupons
  • Unlimited products
  • One-click digital downloads
  • Product reviews and ratings
  • 36 built-in payment methods
  • Recurring payments

Plus, with 13,000 modules and themes in the marketplace, you can add any functionality you can imagine including service integrations, conversion modules, email marketing, and more. 

Keep in mind that not all of OpenCart’s extensions are free. You may have to pay for more advanced capabilities. 

And they don’t currently offer support for free, either. 

If you can’t find what you’re looking for on their community forum, you have to pay for dedicated help. Dedicated support starts at $99 per site per month or $99 for a one-time fix. 

#7 – Ecwid Review — The best for integrating with your current platform

Like OpenCart and WooCommerce, Ecwid is an ecommerce platform you can use to integrate with your current platform, regardless of what you’re already using. 

It integrates with platforms like Weebly, Wix, WordPress, Squarespace, and more. So, if you already have a website set up and want to add ecommerce functionality, Ecwid is an excellent choice. 

With that said, they also offer an all-in-one ecommerce website builder if you want to start from scratch. However, there are better website builders to use. 

So, I only recommend Ecwid if you want to integrate ecommerce into your existing website. 

This ecommerce platform includes a wide range of features, like:

  • Multi-channel selling (social media, marketplaces, in-person, etc.)
  • Integrated email marketing and advertising features
  • Centralized inventory and order management
  • No transaction fees
  • Fully responsive designs
  • Built-in POS integrations
  • Customer accounts for easy checkout
  • Real-time shipping rate calculator
  • Poduct variations
  • Digital product capabilities
  • 40 payment options

The biggest downside is that you can’t manage your store from inside your website account dashboard. You have to log in to Ecwid instead. So, you need to manage two separate accounts. 

But the good news is… you can start on the limited free forever plan to try it out before making any investments.

The free plan only allows up to ten products, so you have to upgrade if you need more. Ecwid also offers three paid plans, including::

  • Venture — $15/month (up to 100 products)
  • Business — $35/month (up to 2,500 products)
  • Unlimited — $99/month (unlimited products)

As a stand-alone store builder you might be better off with other options (like Wix and Shopify). 

But if you already have a website and want to add an ecommerce store, Ecwid is a great alternative to WooCommerce and OpenCart. 

Summary

My #1 recommendation for most users is Wix. It’s great for users of all experience levels. Plus, it’s easy to use, highly customizable, and affordable as well. But if Wix is too customizable for you, Squarespace is a fantastic alternative. 

For large stores, I highly recommend BigCommerce or Shopify. 

However, if you already have a website, WooCommerce, OpenCart, and Ecwid are excellent choices depending on what you need. 

The post Best Ecommerce Platforms appeared first on Neil Patel.

The Best Credit Card Processing Companies (In-Depth Review)

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

There are many touchpoints along the customer journey. The transaction is of course one of the most important, if not the most important.

So, the way in which you accept payments matters for both you and the customer. You need to have the right software and/or hardware in place to make sure transactions are simple and secure for both parties. 

Not only that, as a business owner you need to know that you’re not shelling out cash on inferior services or unnecessary additional fees.

Therefore, this post will cover everything you need to know about choosing the right credit card processing company. Plus, I’ll introduce my top picks for a wide range of businesses of different sizes and with different needs.

The Top 10 Credit Card Processing Companies

  1. Square
  2. PayPal
  3. FIS
  4. Stripe
  5. Payline Data
  6. Fiserv
  7. BitPay
  8. Adyen
  9. Dharma Merchant Services
  10. Fattmerchant

How to Choose the Best Credit Card Processing Company for You

Here are some key elements to consider when choosing the right credit card processing company for you:

1. Fees

Look at the payment terms and fees carefully. Different companies offer different pricing models and things can start to get a little complex.

Firstly, there are interchange fees, which is the percentage taken by the company on every transaction made. Full-service credit card processing companies also take a monthly fee. There may also be additional costs, such as setup or monthly minimum fees.

2. Accepted Payment Methods

Nowadays, you need a payment processing company that accepts more than just debit and credit cards. Digital wallets like PayPal, Google Pay or Apple Pay have become extremely popular. 

3. Customer Experience

When shopping, customers want the entire experience to be quick and easy. This is particularly important in e-commerce where the checkout process needs to be streamlined. 

In fact, a long and complicated checkout process is the number three reason why consumers abandon their carts in 2020.

It’s also vital that the payment gateway is secure because obviously we’re dealing with sensitive data here. So, look for elements such as PCI compliance and encryption.

4. User Experience

Of course, you or your staff are going to be the ones actually using these systems. Thus, the software, apps and/or hardware need to be user-friendly.

Furthermore, with tech, there’s likely to be a glitch or an issue at some point. This means that you need a credit card processing company that offers superior customer support. The reason being, the longer your payment processor is down, the more sales you lose.

Now you know what you need to consider when researching credit card processing companies, let’s take a look at how they work.

The Different Types of Credit Card Processing Company

There are two main types of credit card processing company. Here’s the 411:

Credit Card Processor

A credit card processor is the go-between that takes care of transactions. The processor takes the funds from the customer’s account and deposits them in your merchant account. It also ensures that the transaction information is correct, the customer has sufficient funds and notifies the payment gateway that the transaction was successful.

Full-Service Credit Card Processor & Merchant Account

Full-service providers do the same as credit card processors but also provide a merchant account, meaning you don’t need an additional merchant account with a bank. These providers tend to offer lower interchange fees but also charge a monthly fee and additional fees, such as the above-mentioned setup fees and so on.

Depending on the size of your operation and the volume of payments you receive, you’ll have to calculate which type of credit card processing company is going to keep costs low overall. Look for companies that are transparent and straightforward about the way in which they operate and take fees.

#1 – Square — The Best for Ease of Use

Square is a hugely popular, low-fee credit card processing company for online and brick-and-mortar stores.

Its POS app is rich in features and easy-to-use. Square is also known for providing an exceptional, frictionless range of POS systems:

Bonus: you can get the software and Square Reader for free.

The beauty of Square truly lies in its simplicity. The company offers a transparent, straightforward pricing model: 2.6% + 10¢ for every tap (mobile payment), dip (chip card) or swipe (magstripe card) on the POS and 2.9% + 30¢ for e-commerce transactions.

Other benefits include active fraud prevention, end-to-end encryption, a quick sign-up process and live phone support.

Essentially, Square is an easy-to-use all-rounder that would be an excellent choice for a wide range of businesses.

#2 – PayPal Commerce Platform Review — The Best for Individuals & Low-Volume Sellers

You’re no doubt familiar with PayPal (unless you’ve been living under a rock), but you may not be as familiar with its commerce platform.

With the PayPal Commerce Platform you can take payments online, in-store, on-the-go with an iZettle card reader, by QR code, over the phone and via social shopping links:

If you’re a solopreneur or small business just starting out then the platform is a fantastic choice for you. PayPal offers a flat-rate system where you only pay for the processing services you use.

The other great thing about PayPal is that it’s a highly recognizable and trusted brand. Therefore, advertising the fact that you accept PayPal payments could lead to more conversions.

Overall, the PayPal Commerce Platform is a secure, user-friendly and low-cost solution for beginners, individuals and low-volume sellers.

#3 – FIS — The Best for Small Businesses

FIS (formerly Worldpay) is a global banking software provider that offers payment processing solutions for large enterprises, small businesses and e-commerce stores.

However, this company puts most of its focus on small businesses, serving a range of industries including grocery, retail, restaurants, personal and professional services: 

And this is where FIS really shines as they work directly with small businesses to give them competitive terms and rates. You must contact FIS for a quote.

FIS also stands out as a great provider because of their superior 24/7/365 customer support. Furthermore, their software integrates with 1000+ POS systems which is great if you don’t wish to purchase one of their smart terminals.

FIS is the choice for you if you own a small business and want a customizable solution.

#4 – Stripe — The Best for Internet Businesses

Stripe was designed with a range of online businesses in mind, including e-commerce, mobile commerce, subscription services, marketplaces and other platforms. So, if you’re primarily a web-based business then Stripe is the choice for you.

What also makes it the best choice for online businesses is that the company provides tons of pre-built integrations and ready-made checkout forms for major e-commerce platforms, subscription services and the like:

There’s a simple pay-as-you-go pricing model of 2.9% + 30¢ with no additional monthly or setup fees. 

Stripe is also one of the most technologically-advanced solutions out there with its dedication to improving the platform and machine learning models for intelligent optimizations.

If you’re looking for a competitively-priced credit card processor that will integrate easily with your online business, choose Stripe.

#5 – Payline Data — The Best for High-Risk Merchants

Payline Data offers in-person, online and mobile payment solutions for companies of varying sizes. 

It’s the best option for high-risk merchants that struggle to get approved for accounts elsewhere. Thanks to its partnerships with major banks and premiere support team, Payline Data is able to simplify high-risk account management.

Payline Data’s pricing model is a little more complex than other options with setup, monthly and other additional fees involved. Take a look:

However, you can work out exactly what your monthly costs will be using their payment calculator tool.

Another advantage of using Payline Data is its integrations with major POS, shopping cart and accounting software providers, along with developer APIs for a customizable solution.

As long as you consider the costs carefully, this could be the simplest and cheapest option for those looking for a high-risk merchant account.

#6 – Fiserv — The Best for High-Volume Retailers

This company provides a convenient, secure and reliable payment processing service as well as end-to-end accounting services, if you require them.

What makes Fiserv the best choice for high-volume retailers is the fact that you can negotiate favorable interchange-plus pricing and terms. Or you can opt for flat-rate pricing via its Clover platform.

Having recently merged with international payment processing leader First Data, Fiserv is also a great option for those who operate globally. 

Seven out of the ten largest digital merchants trust Fiserv. Plus, retailers can accept a range of payment methods that are popular around the world, such as Alipay.

Fiserv is the right choice for more experienced, high-volume and global retailers.

#7 – BitPay — The Best for Accepting Crypto

Though technically not a credit card processing company, BitPay is a forward-thinking payment processing company for those who want to add crypto into the mix.

Owned by Shark Tank powerhouse, Mark Cuban, BitPay allows you to accept a range of cryptocurrencies online, via email and in-store. 

The way it works is simple – the customer gets an invoice, they pay in crypto at a locked-in exchange rate, BitPay converts the payment into your local currency and you receive the payment in your account the next day:

Due to the nature of crypto, you can accept payments from around the globe without having to worry about fraudulent purchases. What’s more, BitPay promises a flat rate fee of 1% and no hidden fees. 

So, if you’d like to expand your reach and gain access to the crypto market, BitPay is for you.

#8 – Adyen — The Best for Growing Enterprises

Adyen isn’t for newbies. It counts the likes of Uber, Virgin Hotels, Hunter and Spotify among its customers. So, it’s perfect for growing enterprises that are ready to take their business to the next level. 

You can benefit from transaction optimization to help you get the most revenue from your sales, as well as in-depth reporting on the platform to better understand your customers and aid growth:

Fees vary depending on the payment method used. Yet, Adyen provides a transparent list of all fees for each payment method on their site.

Other benefits include data-driven security, fraud prevention and access to a dedicated team of payment specialists who will provide you with expert advice.

Overall, if you’re focused on growth, Adyen is the perfect partner.

#9 – Dharma Merchant Services — The Best for Quick Service Payments

Dharma is a low-fee credit card processor that specializes in retail and quick service transactions. In other words, if you own a restaurant, bar, fast food joint or other quick service business then this is a great choice for you.

The company offers a low fee of 0.15% and $0.07 per transaction above interchange for storefronts and restaurants:

Plus, the virtual terminal and app are free. The e-commerce rate is slightly higher at 0.20% + $0.10.

With Dharma, you also benefit from exceptional customer service. If you’re new to credit card processing you can get a free consultation and ask all of the questions you need to. Plus, they offer 24/7 tech support.

Choose Dharma if you own a quick service business and need support along the way.

#10 – Fattmerchant — The Best for Professional Services

Fattmerchant provides a range of smart payment processing solutions, but really nails it when it comes to professional service providers.

The reason being, the platform offers the ability to send invoices and retrieve recurring payments quickly and easily. There’s also the option to create payment links and even buttons to take payments for subscription services.

The platform has features which will speed up your business processes through automation, e.g. automated payment reminders:

Fattmerchant offers a different pricing model to many other credit card processing companies. There’s a flat rate subscription fee starting at $99 but 0% markup on interchange and no pesky additional fees.

Essentially, Fattmerchant’s software is a fantastic choice for a range of businesses, but especially for those in professional services or that take recurring payments.

Summing Up

Naturally, there are several criteria to consider when choosing a credit card processing company. Often it will depend on the type of business you run and the volume of payments you take.

Furthermore, some options are better suited to smaller businesses or beginners while others provide more advanced solutions for experienced, higher-volume companies.

Above all, you want a company that offers transparency, security, strong customer support, great software and hardware and the right pricing model to suit your needs.

Now it’s over to you to explore these top providers further and make the right choice.

The post The Best Credit Card Processing Companies (In-Depth Review) appeared first on Neil Patel.

Opinion Management

Opinion Management

We humans are curious creatures, with a variety of opinions, which make up our personalities, our buying habits, and how we live our lives. These opinions are a result of years of learning and observing. We get our opinions from the media, friends, family and many other sources. In turn we use what we learn from these sources to make decisions about life and more importantly what we buy.

Customer opinions are invaluable to institutions and businesses alike. They allow those in charge to make the appropriate decisions in product development and management. Strategic planning and forecasting are all benefits of harvesting the opinions of your consumers and clients.

There has been a lot of negative economic new lately. The housing slump, mortgage issues, gas prices, and a weak dollar have all added to the financial woes of this country. A large majority of the economic pundits are forecasting a recession, or at least an economic downturn in the foreseeable future. It looks dark and gloomy, but what you may not know is that consumer don’t necessarily share in this pessimism.

Consumers and businesses alike are watching the economy with a strained eye. Knowing that what happens over the coming weeks and months could have a huge impact on the American lifestyle.

All this is what makes a recent USA Today/Ballup poll so interesting. When measuring the publics opinion on the economic situation, Gallup found that only 4 out of 10 Americans felt that an economic recession is likely within the next 12 months. This is a relatively small number of less pessimists consumers when compared to the numbers gallup received during a similar poll in the 1990’s.

American attitudes are actually quite robust when compared to past economic hard times. After the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, roughly 45% of Americans thought there would be a recession during the next year. Only a couple months later, it inched up to 53%, and then declined shortly after to 49%, in march of 2001. Even a stronger showing of economic disbelievers existed in 1990. When during that economic slowdown, somewhere between 65% and 78% or Americans said that the economy was headed toward a recession. And as it turned out there was a recession from mid-1990 to early 1991.

When respondents were asked if they thought the economy was currently in a recession, 36% of those respondents said that it was, while 58% said that it was not. Once again the numbers paint a far different picture than what you would expect.

A person gets the feeling when watching the news or reading the paper that the current economic forecast does not look favorable. Fortunately, American opinion shows a more optimistic outlook. However, you would never know that Americans had a far sunny view than the pundits if no one took the time to ask Americans what their opinions were. What matters most about this optimism is that it reflects on the future of holiday spending. Investors are worried, and watch with sweaty palms, the spending habits of consumers. They should take some comfort in the fact that consumers aren’t as nervous as perhaps they are.

Knowledge really is power, no matter how tired that cliche is, it still rings true. Those who can see into the minds their consumers, can make the decisions necessary to navigate the complicated world of business.

One way of obtaining the opinion of your customers is through online surveys, telephone surveys and email surveys. These surveys can be a non intrusive way of gathering information that can make your company get through when times are hard, and flourish when they are good.

Getting into the heads of those people who mean the most to your business can be a lot easier than you think. You’d be surprised what you could learn and how you could use that knowledge to grow and improve. Knowing the opinions of your customers is key in todays financial environment.

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Retool (YC W17) hiring engineers, support engineers, designers, etc. in SF

Hi — we’re Retool (https://retool.com), a fast way of building internal tools. We launched on HN around a year ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17725966). We’re a small team based in Hayes Valley, San Francisco, CA.

Business-wise, we’re profitable, growing quickly, and well-capitalized. (We recently raised a Series A from Sequoia. Other investors include technical founders, including Paul Graham, John + Patrick Collison, Nat Friedman, Greg Brockman, etc.)

Culture-wise, we’re a small group who enjoys solving problems and working hard. We work closely with customers, and iterate quickly. We spend our days typically either writing code or talking with customers.

The market for custom enterprise apps is huge. And we think that we have a promising shot at capturing much of it: we have a product that works, that customers love (go talk to any customer!), and whose usage is growing rapidly.

We’ve significantly de-risked the business (e.g. have significant revenue, have a good amount of paying customers, have raised $20M from Sequoia, are profitable, etc.). But there’s plenty of stuff to figure out as well. For example:

    - How can we quickly ship new products while keeping current customers happy? 

    - How do we design the UI/UX for a new programming environment? 

    - How do we concisely explain what Retool is, without a 4 minute demo video (https://retool.com)?

We’re hiring for many roles, including engineering, sales, developer relations, customer support + success. We think you’d be a good fit at Retool if you enjoy:

    - building things,

    - deciding what to work on, independently, and

    - getting things done + managing yourself

If you’re interested, please email me at david@retool.com. Thanks!

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21340263

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New comment by beckerfuffle in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (August 2019)"

Penn Medicine – Predictive Healthcare team | Software Engineer, Data Scientist | Philadelphia, PA | ONSITE | Full-time

Help improve patient outcomes by predicting the future. http://www.med.upenn.edu/predictivehealthcare/

Penn Medicine (a.k.a University of Pennsylvania Health System) is the largest private employer in Philadelphia and home to the nation’s first hospital. The predictive healthcare team focuses on using machine learning to help clinicians make more informed decisions.

We’re seeking both a Software Engineer (http://bit.ly/UPHSEngineer) and a Data Scientist (http://bit.ly/UPHSData) to help us build operational predictive applications that utilize Electronic Medical Record (time series, imagery, text), social media, wearables, and IoT data.

As a Software Engineer you will:

* Collaborate with our Data Scientists and clinical partners to build predictive healthcare applications that can reliably scale to the needs of the organization.

* Create and deploy micro-services to our cloud-based and on-premise Hashicorp clusters.

* Build frameworks designed to speed up and facilitate algorithm development.

As a Data Scientist you will:

* Collaborate with our Software Engineers and clinical partners to apply machine learning and statistics to help improve the lives of people affected by serious illness.

* Work for the PAIR center http://pair.upenn.edu/ on leading the Data Science aspects of projects that will improve patient outcomes http://bit.ly/UPHSImproveCare

* Lead large data acquisition, data mining, NLP, and analysis projects.

You will report under Michael Draugelis @mdraugelis, Chief Data Scientist, and work directly with the rest of the Predictive Healthcare team.

If you have any questions I can be reached at Michael.Becker (at) uphs.upenn.edu