Click & Convert with Maria Sparagis

Hosted by Maria Sparagis

Business Entrepreneurship Education

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Episodes

200

Latest episode

Oct 2026

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About the show

Maria Sparagis has spent 20+ years helping online businesses find the revenue they didn't know they were losing. As president of DirectPayNet and a payment solutions expert, she knows that the difference between a good business and a great one often comes down to how you handle payments and conversions. On Click & Convert, Maria shares the strategies, tools, and insider knowledge that ecommerce founders and online entrepreneurs need to scale to 6 and 8 figures — from optimizing your checkout flow to maximizing what hits your bottom line. Featured in American Banker, Vice, Coindesk, and Yahoo. Connect at mariasparagis.com or directpaynet.com.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

October 22, 20267 min

#258 Free Trial Customers Not Paying? It Might Be Your Setup

Free trial customers signing up but not paying? Before you blame cancellations, check your payment setup. Some of those failed rebills may be declines you can fix. If you run an ecommerce or high-risk business and offer a free or discounted trial on digital or physical products, this episode covers three payment issues I’d investigate before spending another dollar on customer acquisition. In this episode: ✅ How your shopping cart may be sending trial payments and rebills to different processors, and why that can cause declines ✅ How your MCC (merchant category code) can affect rebill approvals, especially on higher-ticket subscriptions ✅ Why collecting a card at signup doesn’t mean you can charge it later, and how to still monetize customers whose cards fail verification ✅ The three numbers every subscription merchant should track to know if customers are leaving or you just can’t collect You’ve already paid to acquire these customers. Sometimes the fastest way to grow isn’t more traffic. It’s fixing what happens when the trial ends. 📌 About the show I help ecommerce and high-risk merchants understand the payment side of their business: merchant accounts, declines, chargebacks, subscription billing, and the processing details that quietly cost you money. Follow the show so you don’t miss an episode. 👉 Having trouble converting trial customers into paying subscribers? Reach out at https://directpaynet.com/contact-us/ 🎥 Prefer to watch? This episode is also on YouTube: https://youtu.be/KqMKFXbC8HI This episode is for educational purposes only and isn’t legal or financial advice. Speak with your processor or acquirer about your specific account.

October 20, 20269 min

#257 Which Online Business Bank Account Is Best? Mercury vs Slash vs Airwallex vs Novo

Which online business bank account is best for your business? In this episode, I compare Mercury vs Slash vs Airwallex vs Novo, including their banking partners, features, and what ecommerce businesses need to consider before choosing one. But there's something most business banking reviews overlook: how your bank account affects your payment processing. Your payment processor doesn't just deposit sales into your bank account. It may also need to withdraw funds for processing fees, chargebacks, refunds, and other adjustments. If your online banking platform blocks those debits, you could face merchant account restrictions, additional fees, settlement problems or worse closure. With nearly 20 years of experience in payment processing, I explain the banking issues I've seen online merchants encounter, how ACH debit controls can cause problems, and what you can do to protect your business as it grows. 👇 Need help with your payment processing? DirectPayNet helps ecommerce businesses improve payment approvals, reduce payment issues, and build payment systems that scale. 👉 https://directpaynet.com/contact-us/

October 13, 20269 min

256 How to Stop Losing Money on Chargebacks

Chargeback prevention starts before a customer disputes a payment. Learn how to prevent chargebacks, reduce dispute losses, and protect your ecommerce profits. A $200 chargeback can cost your business far more than $200. Between lost merchandise, advertising expenses, chargeback fees, and administrative costs, the financial impact adds up quickly. In this video, I explain three ways online businesses can reduce chargeback losses: ✅ Prevent chargebacks with better fraud controls, recognizable billing descriptors, clear subscription terms, and customer communication. ✅ Stop disputes early using Visa Order Insight, Consumer Clarity, Rapid Dispute Resolution (RDR), Ethoca alerts, and CDRN. ✅ Fight chargebacks strategically by understanding when representment makes financial sense and when resolving a dispute is the better option. You'll also learn why chargeback ratios matter and how Visa's VAMP program can affect your payment processing account. Whether you use Shopify Payments, Stripe, or a traditional merchant account, these chargeback prevention strategies can help protect your revenue. 💳 NEED HELP WITH CHARGEBACK PREVENTION? DirectPayNet helps online businesses manage chargebacks, implement dispute prevention tools, and find reliable payment processing solutions. 👉 https://directpaynet.com/contact-us/ RELATED VIDEOS ▶️ Visa VAMP Explained: https://youtu.be/dVWFZq6Z0kw?si=HOtRJGQHyH9kIN9 ▶️ How to Fight Chargebacks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKUKO9ajoH4 ABOUT MARIA SPARAGIS Maria Sparagis is the founder of DirectPayNet, a payment processing company helping ecommerce businesses navigate merchant accounts, fraud prevention, chargebacks, and payment challenges. Subscribe to Click & Convert for practical insights into ecommerce, payment processing, and growing an online business. #ChargebackPrevention #Chargebacks #Ecommerce

October 6, 20266 min

#255 The Problems That Start When Your Shopify Store Hits $1M

Scaling your Shopify store toward $1 million in revenue? Your payment processing setup may need to change before your sales do. As ecommerce volume grows, payment approval rates, routing, reserves, funding speed, fraud controls, and backup processing become increasingly important to the stability of your business. In this video, Maria Sparagis explains what Shopify store owners should review before reaching higher processing volumes, including why relying on a single payment setup can create unnecessary risk and what questions you should ask before your store reaches its next stage of growth. You'll learn about: - Shopify payment processing at higher sales volumes - Payment approval rates - Payment routing and redundancy - Reserve exposure - Funding and cash flow - Fraud controls - Backup payment processing - The real cost of changing your payment setup - What to review before your Shopify store reaches $1M+ If you're scaling an ecommerce business, your payment infrastructure needs to scale with it. ____________________________________________ 👇 Need help with your payment processing? DirectPayNet helps ecommerce businesses improve payment approvals, reduce payment issues, and build payment systems that scale. 👉 https://directpaynet.com/contact-us/

September 26, 202610 min

#254 Make More Profit Than 99% of Business Owners

Most online business owners know how much revenue they're generating. Far fewer know how much money they're unnecessarily leaving on the table. After more than 20 years working behind the scenes in payments and ecommerce, I've seen profitable businesses overlook surprisingly small things that can add up to tens of thousands of dollars. In this episode, I'm breaking down some of the numbers, costs and decisions I look at when evaluating an established online business — including one number I think far too many business owners are paying attention to instead of the one that could matter more. You may be surprised where the profit is actually hiding. Chapters 00:00 03:31 06:08 08:39 #BusinessProfit #ProfitMargin #BusinessTips #Entrepreneur

September 21, 202612 min

#253 Whop vs Skool: Which Is Better for Courses, Coaching & High-Ticket Sales?

In this episode, I compare Whop and Skool for online courses, coaching programs, communities and high-ticket offers. We look at the differences in features, pricing, transaction fees and payment processing — including what a $5,000 sale can cost on each platform. I also break down where Whop and Skool differ when it comes to international payments, financing, payment flexibility and what happens as your business and processing volume grow. If you're deciding between Whop vs Skool in 2026 , this episode will help you understand the differences that matter beyond the basic feature list. In this episode: Whop vs Skool pricing and transaction fees Courses, coaching and community features The cost of a $5,000 high-ticket sale International payments and financing Payment flexibility as you scale The risk of relying on one platform for your business and payments Chapters: 00:00 Whop vs Skool XX:XX What Are Whop and Skool? XX:XX Whop vs Skool Pricing & Fees XX:XX Payments & High-Ticket Sales XX:XX The Risk of Relying on One Platform XX:XX Whop or Skool: Which Is Right for Your Business? Need help with payment processing for your online business? Visit DirectPayNet to learn more about payment solutions for growing online businesses. About Click & Convert: Hosted by Maria Sparagis, Click & Convert covers payment processing, ecommerce and the strategies behind building and scaling an online business.

September 14, 202611 min

#252 Shopify vs WooCommerce: Which Is Better as Your Business Grows?

Shopify or WooCommerce—which is the better choice for your ecommerce business? Shopify offers an integrated, easy-to-manage ecommerce ecosystem, while WooCommerce gives you considerably more flexibility and control. But the differences become more important as your business grows. In this episode, I compare Shopify and WooCommerce from a business owner's perspective, including ease of use, customization, total operating costs and an area that's often overlooked: payments . I also explain why payment flexibility can become a financial decision at higher sales volumes, and what established ecommerce businesses should consider before deciding which platform makes the most sense as they scale. Learn more about DirectPayNet: https://directpaynet.com/contact-us/

September 5, 202612 min

#251 How I Increase ROAS 25% Without Touching Ads

Your ROAS might look great—but your business could still be leaving serious money on the table. The problem may have nothing to do with your ads or traffic. In this episode, I reveal an overlooked way to increase ROAS without increasing ad spend by focusing on what happens after the customer decides to buy. We’ll look at checkout optimization, payment declines, approval rates, fraud settings and payment methods that can quietly impact your eCommerce conversion rate and profitability. If you're spending money on ads to drive more traffic, make sure you're not losing the customers you've already paid to acquire. #ROAS #eCommerce #ConversionRateOptimization #DigitalMarketing #eCommerceMarketing ____________________________________________ 👇 Need help with your payment processing? DirectPayNet helps ecommerce businesses improve payment approvals, reduce payment issues, and build payment systems that scale. 👉 https://directpaynet.com/contact-us/

August 31, 202611 min

#250 Best Stripe Alternative for a Non-Resident US LLC

If you're a non-US resident with a US LLC and Stripe suddenly puts your funds on reserve, holds your payouts, or shuts down your account, finding another US payment processor may be harder than you expect. In this episode, I explain why finding a Stripe alternative for a non-resident US LLC can be challenging; and what you can do before a Stripe problem leaves you scrambling for another payment processing option. I also share the story of an established e-commerce merchant processing $2–$3 million a month through Stripe who suddenly had a 25% reserve imposed after a temporary increase in chargebacks; potentially tying up hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash flow. We’ll look at why non-resident owners can face additional challenges qualifying for a US merchant account, even with a US LLC, EIN, ITIN and US bank account. I’ll also explain how building a strong processing history, maintaining low chargebacks, establishing legitimate US presence where possible, and understanding reserves can help improve your options. The biggest takeaway: using Stripe isn't necessarily the mistake. Waiting until Stripe becomes a problem before exploring another processing option can be. If you're a non-resident owner of a US company consistently processing $50,000+ per month with at least six months of processing history, my team at DirectPayNet can review your business and help you set up a US merchant account. CHAPTERS Stripe Reserve: What Happens When 25% of Your Funds Are Held Why US Merchant Accounts Are Harder for Non-Residents Why Stripe Is Easier to Start With 05:51 How to Build Your US Processing History Does Having a US Presence Help? Why a Merchant Account Reserve Isn't Always Bad When to Look for a Stripe Alternative #Stripe #MerchantAccount #PaymentProcessing ____________________________________________ 👇 Need help with your payment processing? DirectPayNet helps ecommerce businesses improve payment approvals, reduce payment issues, and build payment systems that scale. 👉 https://directpaynet.com/contact-us/ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📣 Connect with Maria LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/mariasparagis Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mariasparagis.directpaynet/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mariasparagis/ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Subscribe for weekly videos on ecommerce payments, merchant accounts, fraud prevention, and checkout optimization. https://www.youtube.com/@clickandconvertwithmaria

August 20, 20268 min

#249 I Helped Build a 9-Figure Business... Here’s What Actually Helped Us Grow

What happens to your business when you step away? If every important decision still needs your approval, growth eventually becomes harder — no matter how talented your team is. In this episode, I share what I learned helping grow a company from roughly 10 employees into a 9-figure business, where I helped hire the first 90 employees — and what I later learned when I became a founder myself. I break down why capable teams can become overly dependent on the founder, how we unintentionally train employees to bring us problems instead of solutions, and the simple shift I use to encourage independent thinking and better decision-making. We’ll cover how to: Build a team that can make good decisions without you Hire for judgment and problem-solving, not just task completion Stop becoming the approval point for every decision Develop employees who bring solutions instead of problems Create the leverage you need to scale without working more The goal isn't to make yourself unnecessary. It's to build a stronger business that can keep growing even when you step away.