Sep/090
Making the days easier with Sage Payment Solutions
ICS Support recently switched from a computer software-based credit card acceptance program to the online Sage Payment Solutions because it promised lower rates for credit card transactions. I was pleasantly surprised to find a few more advantages than just the cost-saving rates.
Send email Receipts
Sending a receipt to a customer for any sale is very easy with Sage Payment Solutions. To send a receipt via email with the old system, I would have to print a receipt to a pdf file or scan and save a printed receipt and then attach it to an email. With Sage Payment Solutions, all I have to do is include an email address in the proper field on the “Bankcard Transaction” screen before the sale is submitted. An email is automatically generated and transmitted for the sale transaction.
Retrieve receipt for past transaction
After ICS switched to Sage Payment Solutions, one of our clients changed their mind after a week or more, and wanted a receipt of a credit card transaction. I had not printed a customer receipt (save a tree!) because it was not requested at the time.
With the old system, after entering the sales information on the computer (same as swiping a card for those of you with a card reader) I would submit the sale and print the needed documentation. After the end of that day and the batch was settled, the only way to retrieve information about a sale was to pull the printed information from the files. If a receipt was not printed at the time of the sale, I could not retrieve the information to reprint a customer receipt.
With the Sage Payment Solutions, I also enter the sales information on a computer screen then step through similar actions as with the software-based system. But here is where the two systems are very different. With Sage Payment Solutions I can retrieve a sales receipt from a past transaction by simply logging into the Sage Payment Solutions virtual terminal and clicking on the “Reporting” tab. Under “Settled Batches” I can select any past batch and drill down to the requested record and reprint a receipt.
Save money
And did I mention the rates were lower than the traditional merchant services accounts? Of course rates depend on a merchant account agreement and can be affected by the number of sales, average sales price and dollar volume per month. In checking the first several months on the overall monthly cost per volume of sales, I confirmed that we were saving money with Sage Payment Solutions.
Do more stuff
Sage Payment Solutions goes beyond my simple need for occasional manual credit card transactions. The ability to reprint a receipt is just a simple feature of the online reporting capabilities. The online service can be used in e-commerce applications and it integrates with a number of software packages. Call Gary Jefferson at ICS Support at 425-284-5425 for more information on how Sage Payment Solutions can make your days easier.
Diane Essington
Office Manager
ICS Support, Inc.
Sep/090
An Easy Way to Distribute Invoices and Statements Electronically
Even though you are not ready to go completely paperless, you would like an easy way to create and distribute electronic (pdf) copies of statements and invoices.
In Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 version 4.3, Electronic Form Delivery creates a pdf version of all invoices and statements, and either prints a hard copy or delivers the document to specified email addresses (or both) according to how you set up the customer’s delivery preferences. (Previous versions of Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 may be able to add a Paperless Office Extended Solution for this functionality.)
Statements: With Electronic Form Delivery, you set up each customer for printed and/or emailed versions of the Statement of Account. You can configure it to send the statement to multiple email addresses, and you can configure it to create a printed version plus sending it out via email.
Invoices: Invoices are configured separately from Statements so that you can target the right people in your customer list to receive the appropriate documents.
Example: With just the traditional printed hard copy delivery option, the customer requests that printed invoices are mailed to a Department Head. The invoice goes through a payment approval process before it goes to Accounts Payable. Invoices seem to occasionally go missing on this route. Printed statements go to the same addressee and Accounts Payable may not see it either, so they do not know what is missing. With Electronic Form Delivery, invoices now can go to the Department Head with a copy emailed to the AP Department plus the Statement of Account can be emailed to the Department Head, AP Department, and the CFO. Now everyone stays up-to-date on your account.
How easy is it to configure? There is an Electronic Form Delivery button on the “Customer Maintenance” data entry screen just to the right of the address lines. For each client, click on the Electronic Form Delivery button and a configuration screen will appear.
• Use the “Form Name” drop-down box and select “Statement”.
• Select or deselect the “Printed” or “Emailed” check boxes as needed.
• For email delivery select the contact email address from contacts in your client’s record
• You can also add email addresses that are not associated with a contact in your client’s record.
• When finished entering data, click on “Accept” at the bottom of the screen
• Use the “Form Name” drop-down box to select “S/O Invoice” and repeat the steps above.
• When finished entering data, “Accept” and close the configuration screen
Diane Essington
Office Manager
ICS Support, Inc.