Personal Finance and Investing

Every major U.S. credit card company with the exception of one charges a two to three percent foreign transaction fee when you use your credit card abroad. Until recently, many credit card companies did not clearly disclose these fees in their terms and conditions. Consequently, many people received a notice of a class action lawsuit settlement in regards to these fees earlier this year. Now that the lawsuit has been settled, credit card companies are required to clearly state foreign and international transaction charges on credit card applications. Here, we will look at ways to minimize and avoid these fees.

First, if you do not know how much your current credit card company charges for international transactions, contact customer service to find out. The vast majority will inform you that this fee is three percent. With the US dollar sagging, paying an extra three percent on every purchase can really hurt the wallet. Fortunately, there are a few ways to avoid these charges.

If you have cash available, using a debit card eliminates this fee. Most banks do not tack on a transaction fee for ATM withdrawals. Plus, the foreign currency rate you’ll get from your bank is often significantly better than what you would get at a foreign currency exchange booth. Again, exchange rates and potential fees vary from bank to bank, so it is important to call ahead.

While ATM withdrawals are generally free of foreign transaction charges, using your debit card as a credit card comes with some risks. First, a credit card provides much better fraud protection than a debit card. If, for example, an unscrupulous merchant overcharged or fraudulently used your credit card, you can easily contest the charges and get a refund. If, on the other hand, you debit card was fraudulently used, you will not only be faced with a depleted bank account, but it often takes a great deal longer to get your money returned. For this reason, using a debit card to make purchases abroad can prove risky.

Ultimately, the only way to pay no international transaction fees is to use a credit card doesn’t charge these fees. By using a no fee credit card, you get the security a credit card provides without the annoying added expenses.

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When it comes to e-commerce everything is a little bit different, even the web site design for an e-commerce site as compared to a normal web design. If you are interested in developing an e-commerce site, then it is important to learn about the differences between the two types of website designs and how you can design the best e-commerce website with your resources.

Your normal web design or normal website is structured to offer information to web surfers and so it includes a variety of text blocks, photos, animations and the like. The point of these websites is to be well organized and provide comprehensive information about the topic at hand to the web surfer. Frequently, these sites offer links to other websites and sometimes have advertising as well. This is the basic setup and design of the normal web page. However, with so many people worldwide using the Internet as a means for employment there is a drastic increase in e-commerce websites online, and these sites require different attention, functions, and tools.

Your basic e-commence web site is going to have the same elements as the normal website, however the e-commerce web site must also have shopping carts, secure check outs, shipping and/or delivery information, frequently live help or call center, credit card processing, fraud protection, and other elements.

For example, the e-commerce website should be designed as a store because it is offering products for sale. Also, text should be persuasive and help viewers make the decision to buy products or services from you. In addition to this, the e-commerce website should have additional information on the products, common and suggested uses, a great gifts section, and any other information that will help sell the product.

These websites should also utilize a search function where individuals can go and look for what they want without having to go through the entire website to find it. This is something normal web pages usually do not have, but as an e-commerce site it will certainly serve you and your customers well.

A testimonials page is also important on an e-commerce site because it allows newcomers to read about past customers experiences, which builds confidence immediately in your products and services. This is a really important page that you will certainly want to include on your e-commerce website.

Also, a FAQ page will really prove to be a big help to both you and your customers. The reason for this is that most customers have the same or very similar questions, and if you go ahead and answer them on an FAQ page you will not have to worry about receiving and responding to lots of different e-mails asking the same questions. Save yourself a lot of work and include an FAQ page!

Now that you know the basic differences between a normal web page and an e-commerce website, you are well on your way to building and designing your e-commerce website.

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