One of the hottest trends in the e-commerce arena is the use of electronic checks (“eChecks”) to make payments over the Internet. An eCheck is an ACH-based payment method that enables businesses and consumers to make one time or recurring payments online from their checking or savings accounts. According to NACHA, the association that governs the ACH network, 967 million Internet eCheck payments totaling over $300 billion were transacted in 2004, representing a 40% increase over the previous year.
    With such unprecedented and growing market demand among merchants for eCheck acceptance, savvy organizations like Electracash are leading the industry in providing eCheck product and services. Since 1997, Electracash has been offering businesses the ability to accept eChecks in the U.S. and Canada, and to make direct deposits and initiate wire transfers around the globe. This California-based company boasts many highly skilled staffers with extensive payments experience, superior customer service and unequaled online electronic check processing services.
    Heading up the Marketing and Channel Development division for Electracash is Jody Hancock. She sees expertise as the main differentiator between Electracash and the rest of the eCheck pack.
    “Electracash is well known as a premier service provider in the Internet check space,” says Hancock. “We have well-established systems for fast processing with strong risk management , insuring high quality transactions.”
    In addition to having knowledge, expertise and infrastructure, Electracash also has the smarts to focus its resources on one of the most important pieces of the payment processing pie—the ISO channel.
    “Electracash is all about supporting its resellers,” says Hancock. “There are many benefits for ISOs to offer online check services. The greatest thing about this market is that it is wide open, with tremendous market demand from multiple merchant industries. With credit card services, ISOs are all competing for the same merchants. With eChecks, the demand is huge, offering resellers a terrific opportunity to make great revenue. The bottom line, ISOs don’t have to fight to bring in new business.”
    In addition to providing ISOs with the ability to increase revenue through very flexible compensation programs, Electracash empowers its resellers with marketing tools and training programs. All ISOs who sign up for the eCheck program are provided with an Electracash reseller kit interface that educates them on new product offers, company news and updated sales collateral. Supported by a team designated to manage reseller relationships, Electracash is committed to providing excellent merchant support and quality customer service. At Electracash, everyone works together for the benefit of merchants and ISOs alike.
    Hancock also credits Electracash with three primary attributes that set it apart from other online check service providers, making it extremely attractive to ISOs.
    “First, we offer flexible compensation options, offering a choice of buy rate and commission plans for resellers,” says Hancock. “Both revenue sharing arrangements are aggressive. We are not a greedy company; we believe in sharing the wealth.”
    The second differentiator is Electracash’s tracking and multi-tier reporting. ISOs can log in online and see the status of their merchant accounts at anytime, including the activity and balances of their downline sales agents. Electracash provides monthly status reporting with their revenue sharing payments as well.
    Hand in hand with accurate reporting is Electracash’s third attribute—prompt and immediate payment. ISOs are paid on every transaction processed. In addition, should a reseller wish to sign up independents under their corporate entity, Electracash facilitates those requests with the same tracking, reporting and payment services. ISOs can even choose to have their independents paid directly by Electracash.
    “Reseller organizations can set their accounts up whichever way works best for them and then watch the money roll in,” says Hancock. “We provide state-of-the-art processing, great risk management and superior security. We are early to implement new processes that continue to improve this evolving application, and can quickly get merchants underwritten and processing, all at a very competitive price.”
    Just how quickly can Electracash board merchants? Once the proper paperwork is received from a reseller, merchants are usually set up anywhere from two to five days. The actual time varies with credit history strength and accuracy of data submitted by the reseller.
    “We work closely with merchants to help them get underwritten,” says Hancock. “We are also active participants in NACHA and have an AAP certified (high proficiency recognized by NACHA) CTO on Board.”
    In fact, according to Hancock, Electracash contributes regularly to decisions made by NACHA. Electracash executives participate on various NACHA committees, especially Internet-centric issues. When decisions have to be made and NACHA puts the word out to its members, Electracash is at the forefront with suggestions and solutions. Often it sees its ideas implemented.
    Electracash is posed for high growth and believes the key to that position is through resellers. That is where their focus and commitment lies. Because of that strategy, they are looking to grow with those ISOs that already have merchant relationships and are hoping to bring added value to their existing portfolios.
    “We are targeting the mid-sized players but can support smaller and larger ones as well,” says Hancock. “We are also looking to partner with entities that provide services to a specific market such as gateway providers and Internet processing companies who want to add ACH to their offerings. Our hope for this program is to establish an impressive sales and distribution network that we will service with excellence. It will promote the growth of the overall industry as well as our company and our reseller partners.”