If you’re stuck with a dud business as a result of being deliberately deceived you certainly can take them to court. But you don’t need me to tell you of the costs of litigation, the time it takes (years!), and the very real chance you may not succeed anyway.

Trap: The Demolition Clause

Before I left the shop I had asked the owners for a copy of the lease. They told me it still had 4 years to go and there was an option to renew for another 5. Good.

I read the lease and found it had a demolition clause in it. This allows the landlord to terminate the lease with minimal notice if they planned to demolish and redevelop the mall. And there is no compensation to the unfortunate lessee.

The trouble with a demolition clause is that it can be triggered at any time by the landlord and usually with very short notice. You might assume (or be told) that it would only be used to periodically give the center a makeover, which is not necessarily a bad thing. You have a lovely new shop and traffic through the center increases.

But a demolition clause does not in any way guarantee that you will get a new shop or that an office block (or whatever) will not be built on the site with no room for your shop.

So, in essence, you could lose everything. Where I have seen businesses with this clause in the lease, I usually say don’t buy it – just walk away.

Trap: The Refurbishment Clause

I then discovered a clause that said the shop had to be refitted and refurbished every 7 years to a minimum standard dictated by the landlord and at the lessee’s expense. The 7 years was up in two years time and I estimated it would cost about $100,000.

Retail shops do have to be refurbished from time to time, otherwise they may lose customers. But it should be the owners decision when to do this and how much to spend on it. This clause does not necessarily mean you should not buy. But it certainly gives you grounds for negotiating a lower price.

What makes a good credit card? Is it the interest rate? The rewards? There are many things that go into deciding whether certain cards are good or not. And depending on your financial situation, a good credit card for you, may not be a good one for you neighbor. Here are some deciding factors that can help you find the right cards for you.

A good credit card will have a good rewards program. Now this might not be your biggest deciding factor, but it definitely is the most fun. Some companies give out some amazing rewards simply for using their cards. If you are going to use charge cards, you might as well earn some reward points. These points can be redeemed from anything to airline miles, to groceries. Finding a good rewards program can be fun and, well, rewarding.

Interest rate. One of peoples biggest concern with choosing charge cards is getting a low interest rate. This make many people jump when they see introductory rates of 0%. But don’t let this sell you alone. A low interest rate is only one aspect of certain credit cards. Also, low introductory rates can also mean high regular rates, so don’t be fooled.

Annual fee. Good charge cards will have a balance between an interest rate and an annual fee. Typically, the higher the annual fee, the lower the interest rate.

Card company. The biggest deciding factor when choosing cards is choosing a good company. Visa and mastercard are credit giants and are accepted all over the world. But there are many smaller companies that can offer you better rewards and service. You need to consider all of these factors when deciding on the type of charge cards to put on your shortlist. ]]> http://www.chosenthought.com/what-makes-a-good-credit-card/feed/ 0 http://www.chosenthought.com/three-types-of-merchant-accounts/ http://www.chosenthought.com/three-types-of-merchant-accounts/#comments Wed, 25 Mar 2009 06:31:53 +0000 Admin http://www.chosenthought.com/?p=73 As more innovations are being created in the world, so do newly coined terms emerged. The world of business which keeps on expanding every minute is hardly an exception. And one of these business terms spoken by different mouths worldwide is merchant account. Well, many have heard how helpful it is for men with businesses online. But hardly its whole concept is fully grasped. So, it is about time to create this article which should contain a guide for readers worldwide who might wish someday to have merchant accounts.

This account bears a big difference with bank account. The latter means an account where money is being deposited. Merchant account is different in the sense that it is a credit account. This account is acquired through an arrangement with a credit card acquiring bank which makes an evaluation of a merchant if he is qualified to own such an account. The very advantage of this type of account is that it can increase profits as time goes by. Settling in other companies that do not offer credit arrangement will let merchants waste some of their precious time because rates do not rise up as their business ventures get older in the business world. As proof to it, those who chose Worldpay and PayPal end up arranging with credit card acquiring bank to acquire this account.

There are three kinds of merchant accounts which depend on who is present at the time when products are sold. The first kind is called card holder present which means that that the merchant and the card holder were both present at the time of transaction. The second is called mail order/ telephone order which connotes that customers’ orders are processed without their presence by the merchant. The third is called internet merchant account which implies that both merchant and customer transact on the online site. The third type is convenient because the merchant can deal with customers anywhere and anytime without seeing each other.

The good thing about promotional merchandise is that it works in a variety of ways and in comparison to other marketing techniques around, the merchandise has a better reach in respect to the spectrum of people it can capture. Most marketing techniques are centered on a narrow group of individuals, but things like promotional clothing can be a really great idea because not only is the brand being promoted to the wearer but also to everybody in their environment when the clothing is worn.

Some products have an inherent potential to be marketed with promotional clothing. Most of such products fall under the category of diminishable items like eatables. Everybody loves food and if you can make your promotional clothing attractive, some people would go as far actually to ‘get’ this type of clothes. This thing actually goes really well along with social marketing and can have a good effect on the perception of your product because it’s becoming a part of the urban culture.

Promotional mugs is also a great idea when it comes to promotional marketing, because of the fact that they fall in the category of daily usage items. Daily usage items are a part of your life. You can not ignore them and you keep looking at each time they are used. It’s a really great idea to have your logo printed on a lot of promotional mugs and giving them to people for free.