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May I Take Your Order, Please?

I n an industry where the ISO buffet table is starting to groan under the weight of companies promising tasty and satisfying products and services, here is an organization whose menu just might be irresistible.

Since 1993, Single Source Electronic Transactions Inc. (SSET) has been evolving from a terminal provider to a company with an array of tempting full-service processing and Internet solutions. From front- and back-end e- commerce solutions to POS terminal sales and processing, SSET supports every step of the sales process for thousands of merchant locations with credit, debit, smart cards, check and cash transactions.

One thing about SSET recently changed: It's now a solely owned subsidiary of its parent company, Single Source Financial Services. SSFS purchased SSET to secure a credit card sales company with the intention of going into processing and beyond. But as with any upgrade, SSFS needs money to go to the next level. It's heading to Wall Street, NASDAQ IPO papers in hand, with SSET along for the ride.

Does the ISO industry have an appetite for SSET? The Green Sheet posed that question to CEO Bill Graham (no evangelist jokes, please!).

Graham asked us to consider all the billion-dollar mergers and acquisitions that have been completed without sales organizations enjoying even the crumbs of revenue streams. SSET promises to offer more than those crumbs. SSET believes sales people deserve respect and are entitled to the money that goes with it. By hiring qualified people, training them properly and cross-marketing products and providing proper tools, SSET intends to fulfill that goal.

SSET's clientele includes small- to medium-size businesses across the U.S. and abroad. Canada, Mexico, Algiers, Morocco and Russia are part of SSET's international flavoring through parent-company contacts as well as a partnership with First Data Corp. SSET even has received commitments from the Russian association of banks as well as the Russian airline Aeroflot to handle its ticketing sales.

SSET is teaming up with CardReady, Concord EFS, Tax Debt and Debt Guard to put together a program to satisfy the needs of multi-location, multi- processing, chains, supermarkets, gas stations, credit, tax services and card consolidation. Its existing service includes a full check suite: check verification and guarantee, check truncation, check debits, recurring check payments and multiple check payments.

SSET uses the latest POS terminals from top providers such as VeriFone, Lipman USA, Hypercom, Dassault and Schlumberger.

One new item on SSET's menu is its Flash Elite e-commerce solutions - a complete Web site package with full e-commerce capabilities for completion of customers' whole commerce processing, including design, hosting, shopping cart and gateways.

Column A offers a 24- to 48-hour turnaround time to build the Web site, plus supply equipment, funding and support - all for $69 a month. Column B and C offer the same items, less some of the e-commerce solutions, for anywhere from $29 to $49 per month. All require a 48-month lease program.

SSET promises ISO customers additional revenue streams via insurance companies, mortgage companies, stock brokerage processing and credit card issuance and processing. What sets SSET apart is its ability to combine service, rates, programming, timely residual income payment, minimal turnaround time on merchant numbers, equipment leasing, full commerce flash technology Web sites, back-up, support, research development and constant upgrading.

"Our competition is every company out there that is not giving their clients what was promised to them," Graham said. "Those accounts we will take. Customers are getting beat up. It's time to stop the abuse."

Sound tasty to you? Bon appetit! For more information about SSET, visit www.ssetonline.com and view the company's real-time interactive demo.