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Why COVID-19 is leading to rise in mobile payments

March 30, 2020 Miscellaneous

The recent worldwide COVID-19 pandemic is changing the world in more ways than we could have ever imagined. One of the early trends emerging from the situation is a reduction in physical cash being used to make purchases and an increase in global mobile payments. The World Health Organisation (WHO) advises that COVID-19 can be spread through small droplets from the nose and mouth that can land on objects and are passed on when another person touches these objects then touches their own face. As a result of this information many businesses are moving all transactions to contactless mobile payments so that

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Customer Spotlight: Jet Resin Jewellery

February 21, 2020 Case Studies

After getting a bead making kit for her 13th birthday Sophie had found her passion – making jewellery! In her teens she made all kinds of beaded necklaces, earrings and bracelets for her friends and family. In her last year at school she was introduced to resin, a composite style plastic, that can be moulded into any number of shapes and forms and is incredibly strong. This began Sophies continuing creative experiment with using resin to produce unique pieces of jewellery. How did your business journey begin? At first, I created a small amount of jewellery pieces and attended small local

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Updating your Business Plan

January 22, 2020 Miscellaneous

A new year, and in fact a new decade in this case, brings about a great opportunity to start fresh in your business. Updating your business plan allows you to refocus on your direction and priorities in the post-Christmas period. This will allow you to start the year with momentum and clarity on what it is you will achieve. Use any new insights to form your revised business plan. Here are a couple of areas of your business plan to review and update: The numbers Review the sales results for the last 12 months and compare these to the forecast

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Maximise the Holiday Season Sales Opportunities

December 16, 2019 Miscellaneous

As the holiday season fast approaches people start planning purchases and preparations for celebrations with family and friends. This time of year presents a great opportunity for businesses to increase sales, attract new customers and increase market brand awareness. Facebook reports that 1 in 5 people start planning their holiday season purchases as early as October 31. So as a business owner you should be planning now in order to maximise sales opportunities during this time. Here are some things to consider: Content calendar: There are a number of significant dates during November & December that may present sales opportunities

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‘Restricted’ Stripe accounts

December 6, 2019 Tips

PayNow has recently become aware that some of our awesome customers are getting this message after signing up and using our app once: ‘This account cannot currently make live charge. If you are customer trying to make a purchase, please contact the owner of this site. Your transaction has not been processed.’ If this is you, please continue reading to find out how to solve the issue. In certain circumstances Stripe restricts accounts if the business is deemed high risk or they just need more information, such as bank account details or verifying addresses, to allow payments to be processed

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What happened with Stripe in 2019.

December 3, 2019 Stripe News

Stripe describes itself as, “a global technology company that builds economic infrastructure for the internet”. A recent report from Forbes states that Stripe is now valued at $35billion and will continue to grow in this booming market and expanding industry. Stripe’s mission is to grow the GDP of the internet, making it easy for companies everywhere to start, run and scale their business. The company has made some market leading announcements this year via continued expansion across the globe, the launch of chargeback protection, Stripe Corporate Card, Stripe Capital and Stripe Billing in Europe. They have supported many businesses in the implementation of

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Tips for planning your Christmas marketing

November 1, 2019 Miscellaneous

With Christmas fast approaching have you got your marketing plan ready? Every decent marketing consultant will tell you to plan early to gain maximum traction and leverage over the Christmas holiday season. This is one of the biggest shopping periods every year that just cannot be missed. In 2018 shoppers in the United States spent over $1 trillion on Christmas gifts. Shoppers in the United Kingdom topped 2 billion pounds in the same period. At PayNow we have assembled our top tips for your Christmas marketing this season. OPENING HOURS Update all of your Christmas opening hours on all marketing touch points to keep

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Why accepting cash is costing your business money

September 25, 2019 Miscellaneous

It is no surprise that the speed, ease and convenience of card payments is overtaking the traditional cash payment method in many parts of the world. A 2017 survey conducted by The Reserve Bank of Australia showed that for the first time credit and debit cards — especially of the “tap and go” variety — had overtaken cash payments in Australia. Many other countries are mirroring this trend. Sweden is by far the country with the biggest uptake of cashless payment technology with only 15% of payments involving cash in 2018. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons

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Customer Spotlight: Adora Ceramics

September 12, 2019 Case Studies

5 years ago Sally left her demanding marketing job to pursue her love of ceramics and create a minimalist lifestyle away from the city. Ceramics had always been a hobby and it took over 12 months to decide that a change of direction was required. Once the decision was made Sally began her transition from executive to artist. How did your business journey begin? After many hours of contemplation, I realised that the fast-paced city life was no longer for me. I attended a weekend arts festival on the outskirts of the city and discovered a whole community of people

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Apps to Assist Your Business

August 19, 2019 Miscellaneous

With so many apps in the market place it’s hard to know which ones will actually help you run your business better. The PayNow team have assembled this list of apps that we believe can assist your business to run effectively and save you some time. This is by no means an exhaustive list but will hopefully provide some options to trial and see if they work for you. Payments – PayNow We wouldn’t want to start without mentioning our very own PayNow app. This app allows you to charge a customer’s credit card quickly and easily using your mobile

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Strong Customer Authentication

August 5, 2019 PayNow News

You may have heard that European payment rules are changing as at September 14, 2019. In order to reduce fraud, the Payment Services Directive (known as PSD2) regulation will require Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) to apply to many online transactions conducted by European customers. This means extra layers of authentication are being built into the online card payment system unless transaction-specific exemptions apply. If you’re using PayNow then it will be business as usual for you. The team at PayNow are making sure your transactions are compliant with SCA and there will be no action required on your behalf. If you

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Keeping things simple in your business

June 6, 2019 Miscellaneous

At some point in your life you would have had the advice – Keep it Simple. However it is not always easy to take this advice on board, especially when it comes down to business. It is human nature to complicate things. We think it highlights our intelligence and abilities to others if we can come up with new original ideas. Sometimes even the best decision makers will over look the simple or obvious solutions because they are instead trying to apply their fantastic problem solving skills and entrepreneurial thinking to every situation. By keeping your business simple, everyone understands

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Fraud Prevention with Stripe

May 10, 2019 Tips

As you may be aware your PayNow App allows you to accept payments using Stripe, a worldwide payment processing company. Stripe is one of the biggest platforms for card payment processing in the world and is used by millions of companies including large corporates like Amazon and Google. Stripe launched in 2011 and is headquatered in San Fancisco. It operates 9 global offices with more than 1500 employees. Bloomberg suggests that Stripe is now a $20b company which places it amoung a handful of the world’s most valuable private startups. So when it comes to fraud prevention let’s take a

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Mobile Payment Trends in 2019

April 7, 2019 Mobile Payments Technology

The payments industry is one of the most dynamic sectors in financial services. It is continuously evolving as technology innovation develops at a rapid speed. Established players and newer financial technology firms are fighting for dominance in a transition stage where cash is becoming less popular around the world and more people are making the switch to mobile payments. Let’s take a look at some of the mobile payment trends that are emerging in 2019. Payments on every device Payments were once tied to a location via merchant machines in store, however, technology now allows them to take place on

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Review and Refresh Your Business Branding

March 22, 2019 Miscellaneous, branding

What is branding? Your business brand is your identity and your message. It’s the package you put out to your customers. It reflects what your business is about, what it stands for and how it does business. It makes your business stand out in the crowd and should be recognisable to your customer base. Your branding includes your visual identity (colors, fonts, images), tone and personality of communication and should be consistent across the whole business. Why is branding so important? Branding is a fundamental way to market your business and can influence how people perceive your product or service,

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Customer Spotlight: Jen Fix – Mobile Tech Consultant

March 7, 2019 Case Studies, consultant

We all love our technology……when it’s working! When you run a small business and your computer fails it can scream disaster! That’s when Jen Fix will come to the rescue. Jennifer is a mobile tech consultant who will respond to your technology failures and general challenges within hours. She has been operating Jen Fix for 3 years now and demand for her service is as high as ever. How did your business journey begin? While completing my university studies I started helping other students and my mum’s friends get their computers and devices operating, as they should. I would trouble

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Frequently asked questions about mobile payments

October 2, 2018 Mobile Payments Technology

In our modern world most people are very comfortable using their smart phone for just about anything. However when it comes to using a mobile device for digital payments they may have some concerns. These concerns may be due to a low understanding about what mobile payments are, the security of payments or how it is different to using a traditional credit card merchant facility. To give you the tools to discuss these concerns with your clients we have outlined some of the common questions you might be asked you when you offer a mobile payment option at the point

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Taking Card Payments over the Phone with PayNow

September 27, 2018 Tips

Let’s face it, doing business over the phone is convenient for both the customer and you as the business owner. It’s a quick and easy way to exchange card information and complete the transaction. The easier you make it for customers to pay, the more sales you can complete and the more successful your business will be. Which businesses benefit from taking card payments over the phone? In general all businesses can benefit from offering card payments over the phone. However it is especially successful if: Your customers don’t visit you or your premises in person due to remoteness or

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Reducing Disputes and Fraud with PayNow

September 1, 2018 Tips

The best way to reduce the risk of disputed and fraudulent online payments in your business is to take steps to prevent them from happening at all. There are a number of effective dispute and fraud prevention strategies built into the PayNow app and the Stripe processing platform however you can also take action to reduce your risk in this area when dealing with your customers. Collect as much payment information as possible Firstly, you should always ensure you collect as much payment information as possible when processing payments, including customer name, email address, CVC number and billing address (zip

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Creating Goals for your Business this Financial Year

August 28, 2018 Miscellaneous

Most small business owners would agree that goal setting is integral to business success, however in reality, not many have concrete goals written down to help guide their business from year to year. At any stage of the business lifecycle goals are needed to keep your business moving forward and growing, sustaining motivation through achievement of objectives and tracking and celebrating successes. Goal setting doesn’t need to be a long and complicated process. At the heart of it, a goal is simply something to aim for. By going through the process of setting goals (or things to aim for) you

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