The following is a sponsored post (meaning, I was paid a sum of money to post it). Also be it known that I am not liable for what happens as a result of you clicking any links contained within this post.

Many people know that funds get transferred from one account to another electronically when a credit card is either swiped or processed through a payment gateway on the internet. To really know what happens during a credit card transaction, you have to understand the anatomy of a merchant account.

Merchant accounts are special accounts that allow businesses to accept credit cards. Banks provide these services or Independent Sales Organizations (ISO) will provide the service on behalf of the bank. An example of an ISO is North American Bancard. Their main business is providing merchant services.

So the burning question is: What exactly happens during a credit card transaction?

Authorization

After the credit card is swiped, the purchase request from the merchant’s terminal is sent to the acquiring bank which is responsible for processing credit cards. The acquiring bank then sends an authorization request through the network of Visa or Mastercard (there are more providers, but these are the most well known networks) to the bank that issued the card in order to see if there is credit available in the purchaser’s account. If there is credit in the account, the bank that issued the card will send an authorization code through the Visa network to the acquiring bank. The acquiring bank will relay the authorization to the credit card terminal at the merchant’s business.

Batching

This is when the merchant gathers all of the credit card sales into one file and sends it over to the acquiring bank, so that they can get paid.

Clearing

After the batch file is sent to the acquiring bank, the information will be sent through to the credit card network of Visa, Mastercard, etc., and the credit card network will route the sale amounts to the correct issuers (banks that offer credit to customers). The issuing banks then subtract the interchange fees, which is shared with the credit card network, and transfers the rest of the sale amounts to the credit card network.

Funding

The credit card network relays the amount to the acquiring bank. The acquiring bank subtracts the discount fee and pays the rest to the merchant.

There you have it. One transaction involves many different moving parts, and this is all possible with today’s amazing technology. It’s a fast moving world out there.

Well, it’s been one heck of a week so far, and that’s putting it very lightly.

It all started last night when I received an envelope in the mail. Now, the funny thing (at that moment, anyway) was that the envelope was addressed to the Legal Department of ReplaceYourSalary.com. What I thought was humorous about that is that this little ‘ole operation is ran by myself. You know, a one-man team.

I don’t have a Legal Department of some kind. I don’t even have a lawyer. Why should I? It’s not like I’ll ever get into any legal problems, right?

Oh wait, we haven’t gotten to the “funny” part yet. Let’s continue…

Curious as to what it could be, I opened the envelope which happened to contain about six pieces of paper. I notice it’s from Getty Images. Maybe you’ve heard of them? I vaguely knew the name… I just knew they have something to do with images or something… lol.

About five words into the first paragraph of the first piece of paper I read, my heart sank to the floor. Literally.

It turns out that one of the images I was using on my site violated the copyright, seeing as how they couldn’t determine that I owned a license to use the image for my own use.

Obviously this was a complete shock to me… and still is. The image in question had been in use on my site for at least two years. So you can imagine my surprise when, after all that time, I get a cease and desist notice.

BUT…

It doesn’t end at that. If you know anything about what I’m talking about, or maybe have experienced something similar, you’ll know that companies seek monetary damages for the time that the image was used without a proper license. There are many factors that determine the total amount they demand.

The settlement demand for the image I was using came to a whopping total of $450. That may not seem like a lot to some people, but to me it’s a big deal. I was just relieved in knowing it wasn’t much more than that… which is what I was expecting when my heart fell to the floor.

As I already mentioned, I had no idea that there was a copyright issue. I can’t even remember where I got the image from, but that’s irrelevant.

You see, you could get an image from some third party site which couldn’t give two craps about copyright law. You see the image and think it’s cool… and before you know it, it’s uploaded to your server and shown to the world.

The problem with this is that you’re still liable even if you didn’t knowingly violate the image owner’s copyright. A perfect example of my current situation. That was my stupid mistake.

Here’s what you can take from all of this…

Make 100% sure that any images you post on your site are royalty-free or don’t have any copyright associated with them. Because, as I found out the hard way, eventually someone will notice, and they will make you pay.

Now, I could have decided not to pay and contend the matter. But, I understand I was wrong and am willing to take responsibility for my actions, or in this case in-actions. Plus, there’s no possible way i could afford to fly out to Seattle, Washington for a court hearing.

Simply put, copyright infringement is a crime, whether you’re aware of the crime or not. I wasn’t aware that I had did anything wrong, but I’m still held liable, or rather, my “Company” is held liable.

This is a tough lesson for me. One I hope I never have to learn from again. With that said, I plan to go through my entire site, including my blog posts, and making certain that any images I have do not have a copyright associated with them. This will take a considerable amount of time, but I’d rather take the time than pay another $450, or more, for another unknowing infringement.

Just a warning that you may notice some images have disappeared from my site. Don’t be alarmed… it’s not your browser or anything like that. It means I found an image that I don’t feel comfortable displaying, and until I find a more appropriate image, it’ll be left blank.

All I can say at this point is… Lesson learned!

Okay… bad part’s over, right?

Hardly…

Sadly today my awesome car decided to crap out on me. And, I wasn’t being sarcastic when I said awesome. I love my car… it’s been reliable beyond belief for the past 5 years, and believe it or not, it’s 13 years old. You’re probably thinking, “well no wonder it crapped out. It’s freakin’ ancient!”

Well yes, it’s old. But, it’s a great car and has a ton of life yet. From what I can tell it’s just an electrical problem at this point. Nonetheless, it’s going to cost a good bit of money to fix. Not to mention the towing expense.

What can you learn from this? Hmm… that maybe cars get old and weak, just like us? Yes, we’ll go with that.

Seriously, though, don’t be stupid and make the same mistake I made. Double, triple check your image sources, and make sure you’re not infringing on anyone’s rights.

Also, if you’re feeling generous, or just feel plain bad for me, here’s a PayPal Donate button. Feel free to click it and enter any amount you would like to donate towards my stupidity. Your generosity will be very welcomed and unforgettable.

I hope you have a better week than mine is turning out to be.

On a bright note… tomorrow is my Birthday. Seriously!

No, no. Don’t rush to get me a Birthday present or anything like that. Simply click the PayPal button above so I can buy myself a $450 settlement demand with Getty Images and a new car. That will be more than sufficient.

December was a very busy month for offline commitments, not to mention Christmas celebration and New Year’s.

I was able to post a considerable amount, although not as much as I would like. I did however meet one of my goals, and that was to get my Alexa Rank down to 250,000 or less. The lowest reached was 245,449.

I was happy to reach my accomplishment, and I have my readers to thank for that. Thank you! 2009 was a great year, and I look forward to great things to come in 2010.

Let’s recap the posts for December:

November Income Report

Work From Home With Affiliate Marketing

How To Avoid Getting Scammed With Work From Home Jobs

Make Money With CPA Affiliate Networks

Where Can You Find Legitimate Work From Home Jobs?

Finding The Right Legitimate Work From Home Job For You

Merry Christmas!

I’m giving away $10 – Limited Offer – If you’re new here, I highly recommend you check out this post.

Do Legitimate Work From Home Jobs Exist?

That wraps up December and the 2009 year.

I wish everyone a very happy and successful 2010. Let’s make it the best year yet!

I wrote a recent article titled Legitimate Work From Home Jobs – Are They Really Legitimate?

In the article I talk about finding an online or offline job that you can do from home. When searching for a job, be sure to do proper research before jumping into it. If you want to start your own local business, take time to plan and investigate every avenue and opportunity that exists.

If you want to work online from home, you’re going to need to learn a few things first. Since you’re reading this you already have a computer and internet connection… a must for working online. Proper training and guidance is highly recommended if you pursue this route. It’s important to have an area of interest that you can start into an online business.

If you’re interested in going the online route, check out my last post titled I’m giving away $10 – Limited Offer. I’ll help you get started in the right direction.

No matter what you decide, just be aware that legitimate work from home jobs do exist. Explore your options and do your research. Now’s the time to make it happen. 2010 could be your year.

I wish all of my readers a Happy New Year. I look forward to great new things to come in the new year. Let’s make it a great success!

Do you dream about having a unique, wildly successful online business? It takes a lot of work to create a start-up business from scratch. If you have an existing small business, most likely you have put a lot of time and energy bringing it up from nothing; after all, web site promotion and internet marketing is very time consuming. If so, you have good reason to be very proud.

However, you did not do it to simply create yourself a job. When you are wildly successful, you will want to step back and let your company run itself, without you. This goal separates a business owner from those who are simply self-employed. Treating this goal seriously and keeping it close to your heart will ultimately set you free.

While the success of your business is something you strive for daily, business owners should not have to be constantly concerned with the daily mechanics. They should be concerned with customers and products, not SEO, PPC, Internet keywords and who is typing out your letters. Concern should lie on putting out a great product, and serving your customers. Let competent workers and specialists take care of the rest.

Today, expanding your web presence is the key to your business’ success. Whether your customers are local or around the globe, the Internet is the most powerful resource for potential clients to find you.

Unfortunately, it can be difficult for you to make your website prominent, and it really is not worth your time and energy to reinvent the wheel. Affordable expert small business advice is available to optimize your website, allowing it to be found by potential customers, instead of by people who will just bounce off the pages. Without the proper optimization and marketing, your website may be stumbled upon, but not by people who are interested in your services. Your website might not be found at all. And being found on the web is becoming more and more significant. Fortunately, it is still possible to get an edge on your competition; however, any delay to building an online presence will diminish this advantage.

Do you want news about your business to be contagious? CNN, celebrities, and many businesses use Twitter to release news updates, business solutions, tips and ideas. Social media allows active participation instead of passive visiting. Interaction is crucial, and your business must become a part of this. Community building is becoming very integral to the internet. Social networking will let people spread the word about you and recommend you to others.

Clearly there is a lot that needs to be done to promote your business correctly. Even if your customers are local, your office can be global. With the internet on your side, your business can partner with the best in the world; no matter where they are. Information can be sent and retrieved instantly. A virtual office saves money on equipment and the rent of a physical location to house personnel.

If having a successful unique start-up business is your goal, do it right by getting expert help today.

Confused about web site promotion and internet marketing? Don’t have the time to market your business? We have teamed up with Update Small Business to provide you everything you need to run your business successfully without having to manage every single aspect of promotion. If you would like to learn more, simply fill out the form below…

Whether you are a starting entrepreneur, an established business, or a business with employees and 401k benefits, deciding on the correct Web designer for your business is necessary.

The Web designing company that you choose plays a large role in creating your Internet credibility, how user-friendly your site is and the overall appeal of your online business to your existing or potential clients. Selecting a Web designer who can completely express your entrepreneurship in a successful manor is important. You are depending on your Web site, so take the time to read this article and then find the right Web designer for you.

A Web site designer should be focused on providing your business the professional feel it deserves so that your company will get its Internet credibility. A Web site’s text and functionality play a part in giving a Web site the online credibility it needs. For example, broken or incomplete links on a Web site make the Web site look uncared for and unattended. So ask your Web designing company about how they will utilize each of these aspects into a credible Web site.

A user-friendly Web site is absolutely necessary in order to have a productive site since most company’s primarily use their Web sites to reach future customers. If a future client cannot find his or her way through your company’s Web site, he or she will often leave to find an alternative Web site so it is necessary that you talk with your Web designing company about how they plan to make your Web site customer-friendly.

In addition to achieving online credibility and an easy to navigate Web site, one must find a Web designing company that will pay special attention to the appeal of the Web site. An attractive Web site will combine all the aspects of a Web site together in an appealing manor so that potential customers will not think about the actual Web site he or she is viewing but only the company he or she is reading about. Ask your Web designing company about how they will combine all of the different areas of the Web site together so that users will find it attractive.

Therefore, talk to your Web designer about how they intend to assist your business or company’s Internet credibility and will make your Web site user-friendly and appealing. After all, the Web designing company you pick will be the one setting these tones for your company.

If you are currently seeking a Web designer for your company, Web Designs by Monica Swanson is the perfect Web Designer for your small business. She gives extra attention to her client’s Internet credibility, the Web site’s navigation and the overall feel so that your potential clients will feel comfortable and welcome when they enter your business Website.

Find free hints to website traffic – welcome to your individual knowledge base.

Many Australian families with children of school age often find it challenging to balance work and family life. Many employers demand strict adherence to the firm’s hours. When a child gets ill at school, for example, the mum must leave work and bring the child home. You may have found yourself in this type of dilemma before and know how frustrating it can be.

This need for flexibility can be viewed in broader terms as a desire to gain personal freedom. The most alluring aspect of starting a home based business is the opportunity to gain control over your own life. As a home-based business owner you can shape your work life around your own goals. There are no bosses to follow, no corporate cultures to live by and no rigid work schedules. If you enjoy getting up early, you can start work early and finish early. If you enjoy getting up late, you can start your workday later and finish later. You have the freedom to work and earn as you choose.

A Home-Based Business Can Save You Time

You can gain financial and time benefits by working from home. Just think of the time and transportation costs you can save by not having to commute to an office each day. Even if you commute half an hour each way to and from work, it adds up to 5 hours each week, or 250 hours each year. You probably can find much better ways to use this time. If you now drive to work, you can eventually save thousands of dollars by reducing the amount you spend on gas and car maintenance costs by starting a home based business.

A Home-Based Business Can Be Beneficial for Family Relationships

Many decide to start home-based businesses to strengthen family relationships. Most parents have to work full time just to provide for their families. They don’t have the time to enjoy parenthood. Home-based businesses makes it possible for parents to enjoy parenting. Husbands and wives can help each other with various parts of the business while older children can also be directly involved. Even younger children gain from seeing how business is conducted. Children learn about working together as a team and goal setting, which often isn’t taught in their schools. A home business can be an important part of the child’s education and help build stronger family bonds.

A Home-Based Business Can Reduce Stress

Many Australians have chosen to start home businesses to reduce stress. Much of the stress today is caused by the attempt to juggle work and family commitments. With your own home business you can stay at home to care for a sick child, or older relative. You can prepare and share dinner with your family without feeling rushed or stressed.

Office politics and personality conflicts are another part of corporate life and are causes of work-related stress. By working from home you can decrease stress by avoiding these politics and personality conflicts. You can also decrease stress by freeing yourself from the deadlines that are imposed on you from above. In addition, having to travel to your work adds stress at the beginning and end of your day. Many people find this to be a highly stressful part of their lives.

Home-based Business Trends

Home-Based Business is becoming more and more popular in the Asia-Pacific region in countries such as Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, The Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea.

A recent article from NBC News presented several women who operate successful businesses from their homes. The article also showed the government’s positive attitude towards the trend. Several government officials quoted in the publication believe that home based businesses add entrepreneurial vibrancy to the communities in which they are located.

Home-based Businesses are becoming more popular in Australia. In June 2004, there were 282,400 home-based businesses in the state of NSW in Australia. This represented 63.8% of small businesses in New South Wales .

Opportunities for Aussies in Intellect Marketing

Australians around the globe have achieved success and financial freedom through network marketing . The growth of network marketing in Australia is one way to leverage their businesses even further by working with contact back in the Australia.

There has been a huge growth of intellect marketing in Australia. According to the Direct Selling Association of the Australia, direct marketing sales in the Australia are around $500 million per year. Being in the top twenty five direct selling markets, Australia offers considerable opportunity.

Learn More About the Latest Australian Home-Based Business Opportunity?

If you’re interested in creating financial freedom, I would like to discuss this ground floor network marketing opportunity with you. You can leverage your time by working with your friends, family and associates to build a successful network marketing business. Time is of the essence. Contact me now to learn more.

Email: 3822292@usana.com
Website: http://www.ideallifestyle.usana.com

Read free hints in the topic of silver bullion bars – your own knowledge pack.

One way that people choose to make money from home is through a home based business. There are many reasons that this choice is one that makes sense. It offers the owner many options that may not be present in all work from home jobs.

An advantage of having your own business is that of choices. You can turn a lot of things into a business. All that’s needed is a strong consumer demand for your service or product. It’s very possible to take an ability or talent you possess and turn it into a viable home based business. Begin with doing some research to assess the demand for it.

Once you have hit on the perfect product or service to offer, your next step should be figuring out just how much it will cost you out of pocket to get things started. This can be anywhere from very little to having to get a small business loan. It completely depends on what your business is going to be. For example, if you want to begin a house cleaning service, your initial financial outlay will most likely not be a lot.

Examples of home based business could be domestic help. After all you already clean your own house so there are probably already a lot of needed supplies on hand for this work from home based business. As you take on more clients, your inventory can be upgraded but, by then, you’ll have the money to do it.

Something you should keep in mind is that when running a home based business you forego a lot of the overhead that public businesses incur. You don’t have to pay rental fees on an office, for one thing although you will probably want to get a second line installed for business use. Everything you need is right in your home office. There are certain things you must pay for each month, anyway, and while some of these expenses may increase marginally, you won’t be paying them for 2 different places. That is certainly a real benefit of having a home based business.

It is better if you have a room in your home to devote to office space. In that way, the rest of your house remains yours and there is little notice that you actually are running a business out of your home. If you have small children, it’s even better to be able to keep work related items in a separate room so that little hands don’t destroy something, or cause harm to themselves.

When you feel you’re ready to take the plunge, don’t hesitate to ask for advice or guidance from others who are traveling this path. With the right idea, a little ingenuity, commitment, and dedication, you CAN make this work!

Find useful tips about silver bullion bars – welcome to your own tips store.

If you’ve been online for any amount of time, you’re probably aware of the online auction site eBay. Making money on eBay isn’t all that complicated, unless you want it to be. You can use the auction site for simply selling unwanted stuff around the house, or you can start your own work from home business selling a high volume of products every day on eBay.

If you want to start making money from this online auction giant, then I recommend first starting small and getting rid of unwanted stuff around the house. This will get you familiar with the whole process of how eBay works and what to expect. There’s many features of eBay that you’ll want to be familiar with if you want to take your selling to the next level and work from home full-time making money on eBay.

First, you’ll need an eBay account. You can sign up for free HERE.

Here’s some things you’ll want to get yourself familiar with:

• Buying/Bidding
• Buyer/Seller Feedback
• Payment Options
• Shipping Options

The best thing to do is go to eBay’s Help Center that will provide links with everything you need to know to get started selling and making money on eBay.

Buying and selling on eBay can be very fun. I say this from my own experience. Bidding can be a rush! Of course, selling is a lot of fun as well. You’d be surprised what kind of money you can make selling some old junk around the house.

If you want, check me out on eBay… workfromhomeopportunities.

I used to have a semi-business on eBay, but now I just sell stuff I no longer want. Check out my user page and see what all is available to you. You’ll also get a glance at the feedback system they have.

Now, if you want to get serious about making money on eBay, the best route to take would be to find a dropshipper that will provide you with a list of items to sell at wholesale prices, and then when you make a sale through eBay, the dropshipper will ship the item to the buyer for you.

This eliminates the need of you having to stock any inventory, which is a huge plus. This is the best way to sell a high volume amount of products on eBay. No inventory; no shipping. Just list the items, get paid and notify the dropshipper. That’s it.

The hardest part is finding reliable dropshippers with reasonable wholesale prices. That’s where The SaleHoo Wholesale Directory of eBay Product Suppliers comes in handy. The SaleHoo Directory is the #1 Directory for finding wholesale suppliers and dropshippers specifically for eBay products. They offer a one-time lifetime membership fee plus a free trial to check them out.

This is definitely the way to go if you want to earn extra income or work full-time from home making money on eBay. At this point you’ll be listing a large amount of items per day which can get pretty tedious and time consuming. There are some free tools available to make this process easier for you.

eBay provides a free listing tool called Turbo Lister. Turbo Lister is an application you install onto your computer. You make your listing within the application going through every single option available to you. Once you have your listing setup with the options that you want, you can upload your listings directly to eBay from within Turbo Lister. It’s very comprehensive yet very easy to use. I personally use it for all of my eBay selling that I do.

Another free tool and one I highly recommend is Auctiva. Auctiva is a third party software client that is web-based, which means you don’t have to download and install any software. Auctiva is provided specifically for eBay sellers, but it’s not provided by eBay themselves. Auctiva actually provides many more beneftis and perks that you wouldn’t get otherwise from Turbo Lister or eBay. For instance, no image fees, no scheduling fees and over 1500 templates to choose from for free.

If you’re planning on selling a lot and making money on eBay, I would recommend using one of these two listing tools to simplify the selling process and making your life A LOT easier.

I hope this helps you learn more about eBay and the possibilities that are available to you.

I’m sure you know that advertising is essential to the success of your work from home business, whether it’s large or small, new or old. If you don’t advertise and market your work from home business, it simply will not succeed or last long at all.

Most offline advertising costs money, which is why online advertising is the way to go. Whether online or offline, word-of-mouth advertising can do wonders for your work from home business. It is, in my opinion, the best advertising you can get, and it’s free. It also tells you that your previous customers or clients were happy and are spreading the word about your business. They’ll usually tell they’re friends, family and coworkers which will bring in new customers and more business for you. Another benefit from this type of advertising is that it provides credibility to you and your business.

A great example of this would be my Proofreading and Editing Services where I provide a professional proofreading service for many different clients from all over the world. I strive to keep my clients 100% satisfied because I know they’ll use my service again and also tell others about my service. It’s completely free advertising for me.

Having people spread the word about your work from home business is great, but it shouldn’t be the end of your advertising efforts. Some offline options include television spots, radio spots, billboards and print media. These are all effective advertising methods, but for a small work from home business they’re usually unrealistic and quite expensive.

A more economical and yet very effective way is online marketing and advertising. It doesn’t matter if you provide a service, product, or sell other people’s products or services as an affiliate, such as my work from home site. Online advertising can reach a huge audience as the World Wide Web is now an integral part of daily life for most people. You can reach an audience of literally millions of people.

There’s many forms of online advertising, and many are free. Don’t underestimate the power of free, though. While the saying, “you get what you pay for” may apply to some things, it couldn’t be further from the truth when it comes to marketing your work from home business on the internet. I’m not saying paid advertising isn’t worth it, though. Paid advertising can bring in a lot of return if you know what you’re doing, such as Pay-Per-Click advertising.

No matter what you’re trying to sell or promote, you must advertise and get the word out about your work from home business. You can’t just “build it, and they will come.” Your business will fail with that kind of mindset.

Here are a couple of online marketing resources you may find useful:

• Free Online Marketing Newsletter
• Internet Marketing Strategies, Tools and Tips

Everyone has their own preferred methods of advertising their work from home business. Let me know some of the advertising and marketing methods you’re using to find success on the internet. Are you using offline or online methods? I’d love to hear your comments!