What Crocs can teach us about gaining new customers and keeping them happy.
May 15, 2023
About 15 years ago, I bought a pair of Crocs sandals in Myrtle Beach, SC. Not only were they hot pink, but the insole was traffic cone orange. My buddies hated them, but oddly others loved them. The sandals were affordable (maybe $20), comfortable, and a conversation starter.
According to last week’s The New York Times' profile on Crocs, I’m one of tens of millions of happy Crocs owners. This happiness is profitable:
How to let customers know that your store will call them to receive payment for their order.
January 17, 2023
Some Bridge merchants do not accept credit cards online. The merchant calls the customer (after they placed the order) to collect the customer's credit card information. For merchants that do not accept cards online, your Bridge has an updated feature that makes it easier for customers to expect a call from the store. A customer will now see a banner with a green telephone icon on the final checkout page. The banner displays this message:
I don’t own a car, yet I have a strange desire to read Dan Neil's car column each weekend in The Wall St. Journal. Why would someone who doesn’t own a car, won’t be buying one soon, and hasn’t owned one in 25 years read a car column? It's a mix of enjoying the design and technology of automobiles, wanting to know what Dwayne Johnson may be buying next, loving Dan’s witty writing style, and, confession, simply being 13-years old at heart. Cars are ...
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Last February e-commerce company Shopify Inc. replaced the “Ottawa, Canada” dateline that began its press releases and earnings reports with a strange new one: “Internet, Everywhere.” The geographical shift came at the insistence of Shopify’s founder and chief executive officer, Tobi Lütke, who tends to view such matters through the prism of cold, hard logic. In May 2020, only a few months into the pandemic, he’d made the early, seemingly rash decision to...
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Bridge's ability to process retail purchases using credit cards on Authorize.net was suspended today through approximately 4 pm EST. The issue is fixed now.
The reason for this is early this AM Authorize.net changed its processing location to Singapore and did not alert us. They updated their API domain to a Singapore-based IP. Since that city state is a hotbed for hacker activity, Bridge historically has blocked all traffic all incoming (and outgoing) traffic to Singapore as a ...
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Visa and Mastercard are most likely raising their fees on your business, shares the Wall St. Journal. The amount of fees collected from credit cards has doubled since 2012. In the article, one retailer shares that it paid almost $400,000 in credit card fees.
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October 26, 2019
October 26, 2019
Wonder how prices are so low on Amazon? Yes, many items are stolen (at the time of purchase) or counterfeit, but there’s another reason: they’re bought after you buy them using stolen credit cards. In other words, they’re stolen after the ‘legit’ purchase. Recently, a retailer reported that it was being asked to ship Versace items to far off locations, only to have the credit card holder say it didn’t order them. They say their credit card was stolen. The reason the scammer ordered the goods ...
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First read:
There are millions of indie stores in the world who don’t get to succeed online. They get ripped off by web designers and coders, pay more in local taxes than big tech companies, don’t have access to cheap money from Wall St. (like big tech companies), and can’t protect themselves from hackers looking to steal credit cards. They are prevented them from running their business, helping their customers, and servicing their communities. Due to these expenses and ...
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April 15, 2019
April 15, 2019
Are Indie Stores 'Digitally Poor'?
There are millions of indie stores in the world who don’t get to succeed online. They get ripped off by web designers and coders, have to pay local taxes unlike many Amazon sellers, don’t have access to cheap money from Wall St. like Amazon.com, and get attacked by hackers looking to steal credit cards, all factors which prevent them from running their business, helping their customers, and servicing their communities. Because of these expenses and obstacles, ...
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April 8, 2019
April 8, 2019
Facebook is helping thieves share stolen credit cards. Thanks, Mark Zuckerberg.
Wired is promoting sharing the article on Facebook in the left-hand margin. Promoting sharing on a platform that has so many sharing holes in it is a bit ironic.
Are you paying credit card fees each month? If so, you may be interested in what store owner Laura May did.
Laura May, who owns the Ivy House in Texas, was paying thousands of dollars in fees to accept credit cards in her store each month. She thought she may be paying too much in fees. She asked Bridge to review her credit card statements. Bridge reviewed the statements and found problems preventing her from getting the fair, lower rates. In the end, Bridge saved her more than $7,000 per year ...
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January 5, 2019
January 5, 2019
Amazon may start a bank—and become a competitor to JP Morgan. Imagine if Macy’s or Walmart owned a bank. When a customer makes a large purchase, would that make them more appealing than your business? Financing an engagement ring?
Amazon already offers third-party backed credit cards (Chase), cash cards, and a digital wallet, and it’s exploring adding financial integration with its Alexa platform.
Are you ready to lose $500? You could if you don't update your authorize.net account settings.
Recently, an identity thief entered 2,000 different credit cards on a retailer's Bridge website. They did so using a bot that entered in card information automatically into the website. Please note: an identify thief can do this process on just about any e-commerce platform—it’s not unique to Bridge. Credit card fraud is widespread online. Many thieves buy files of 1,000s of stolen credit cards and ’...
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October 1, 2017
October 1, 2017
Do you accept credit cards? If so, you are likely losing almost $200 a year. The reason is that your store likely has not completed its PCI compliance or it has expired.
Are you being charged a fee? Here's how to find out... 1. Please look on your credit card processing statement and see if you are being charged.
The charge will be in the “FEES” section and resemble something like this:
PCI NON-VALIDATION -$15.95
2. If you are not being charged this fee—and therefore are PCI compliant, then visit ...
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May 1, 2017
May 1, 2017
Want to help small businesses? Pay with a debit card. Debit cards cost small businesses less to process--while credit cards with travel perks cost the businesses the most.
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August 1, 2016
August 1, 2016
Airlines are cashless. So are more and more restaurants. Should your gift shop become cashless? Taking only credit cards has some good advantages. Sunday's Times hashes out the pros and cons.
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November 14, 2015
November 14, 2015
Need help passing your PCI compliance? Ask us. Bridge has a service to help you complete the compliance.
PCI is a security standard that credit card processors require you to pass if you accept credit cards.
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September 24, 2015
September 24, 2015
Are you ready for October 1st? That is the day that your credit card companies put the blame and burden on you to securely accept credit cards. Please find with this Chalk some explanation images. Have questions? Call Bridge at: 212-254-9654. We do help retailers securely accept credit cards online and in their stores.
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September 19, 2015
September 19, 2015
New feature: you can now view and edit your credit card processing settings.
If you accept credit cards online, you can now view if you authorize & capture card data or just authorize it.
You can view and edit your merchant processing ID number. We suggest that you place this on file so you can easily reference you account when calling the payment processor.
You can view and edit your PCI compliance renewal dates. When your account is not PCI compliant, you are often penalized with a fee. Please ...
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