Equestrian Hardware

Make your Business More Competitive With

Integrated Bank Card Authorization

Whether retailer, wholesaler, big or small, Oneir Solutions’ fully integrated debit and credit card authorization software can speed your customer payments, increase cash flow, boost productivity, and also keep fingers out of your till.

by Andy Shaw

We know from archeological digs that humans have been making horse harnesses for about 3,500 years. Today, Equestrian Hardware is helping equine and pet harness makers across Canada, in the United States, Australia, and Great Britain put their harnesses together with the 7,000-plus different buckles, rings, hooks, swivels, yokes, and other vital bits-and-pieces the wholesale company stocks and ships out from its Southwestern Ontario warehouse in. But unlike ancient harness makers, Equestrian Hardware’s clients benefit from Oneir Solutions’ fully “integrated bank card authorization” software.

Since Equestrian Hardware’s 1988 founding, they used Oneir because, like a horse in harness, there’s just one bit to chew on.

“That one piece of bank card authorization software can handle every sort of sale we make,” says Equestrian Harness. “It takes advantage of how customers more and more pay by credit card, which is terrific because payment is immediate. For instance, when a customer pays us for the first time, I simply go to the ‘Pay by credit card’ Oneir menu item and input the card’s information. The software then creates a secure ‘token’ of the card, enabling repeat customers to simply say, ‘Put it on my card’.

“That one piece of bank card authorization software can handle every sort of sale we make.

“Then, I just press a button and almost right away I get a payment is approved message. Next morning. I can see online that their payment is in our bank account.”

Equestrian Harness says Oneir’s integrated bank card authentication also helps him save time and worry with reconciling end-of-day company books.

Explains Oneir executive-vice president Jonathan Mainwaring: “In the non-integrated scenario, you need to select the bank card type; Visa, MasterCard, Amex, debit, for every transaction. So it is very easy to accidently pick the wrong type. Similarly, it’s easy to enter the wrong sales total against the card. Finding and correcting those mistaken entries so your accounts balance at the end of the day can take a lot of extra time. In the Oneir integrated scenario, however, our software automates all card entries and eliminates human errors – whether unintentional or otherwise.”

That means Oneir clients can go home knowing not only did their books balance that day but also there was no employee theft or fraud. Mr. Mainwaring adds that Oneir can also help users take better advantage of all sales opportunities including:

Sales orders phoned, faxed, or emailed – as Equestrian Hardware does, you can use Oneir to nimbly handle pre-approved credit card deposits and receive final payment for goods the moment you ship them

Sales reps on-the-road – can register sales via their laptop or iPad right in the customer’s office; then immediately email the sales confirmation to the customer while forwarding the order for warehouse picking, packing and shipping. Using Oneir software’s PCI Secure credit card payment token, your reps get the invoice paid while processing it (How’s that for speed!)

Trade shows & special events – You can input sales directly to your company database, print customer invoices, accept debit and credit card payments on-the-spot – or save the sale for downloading later

Repetitive billings – Oneir integrated bank card authorization enables you to charge a new sale to the customer’s previously submitted credit card or bank account

E-commerce – From your web store, Oneir Solutions will process credit card sales for picking, packing, and shipping – thanks once again to Oneir’s PCI Secure token payment facility, keeping with the trend away from payment by cheque.

In short, Oneir Solutions handles all these options for you. By making your products more accessible this way, Oneir can strengthen cash flow and make you more profitable.

“I like the Oneir email function in particular,” says the owner. “We can email the invoice, showing the approved credit card payment, directly back to the customer. I can even bring up a PDF version of the invoice on my screen and fax it to customers who don’t do email. We also use purchase orders a lot and I’d say we send 95% of them out to our suppliers by email. To do that with Oneir, you just push one button.

“Oneir handles the whole process for us from purchase order through to an invoice.

Most recently, in a typical response to its customers’ good ideas, Oneir has added a new “Email and print at the same time” function to its software, which the owner had suggested.

As Equestrian Hardware has discovered, hitching your sales wagon to Oneir bank card authorization is straight forward, says Mainwaring: “When you ask us to integrate your bank card authorization, we connect you with an Oneir-certified payment processing company and get you set up free of charge. (Changing processors may lower your transaction fees.) They review your current statements and tailor a fully integrated bank card authorization system that best suits your company, which you can keep in the wings until you are absolutely comfortable with the Oneir set-up.

Concludes Mainwaring: “Our customer support team is an industry award winner because we stay with new clients throughout their Oneir implementations and well into a more prosperous future.”

Oneir also helps management control the company’s stock.

“Managing inventory is a main aspect of our business, what with over 7,000 product codes to track,” says Equestrian Harness. “But Oneir handles the whole process for us from purchase order through to an invoice with all the correct landing costs and exchange rates included. At any given time, I know how many of each product we have in stock, without any counting by hand. It’s Oneir’s biggest work saver. So we feel for more than one reason we are in very good hands with Oneir.”

Just like the good strong hands worldwide making harnesses with Equestrian Hardware.

Andy Shaw is a freelance writer, broadcaster and international journalist with articles in many business and technical publications.