Get The Facts On What Type Of Merchant Accounts Are... Perfect For Your Business!
Don't choose any merchant accounts, until you have looked at what we have to offer. Acquiring merchant accounts without getting the facts straight is... the most overlooked aspect of starting an online ECommerce business.
There is a lot of confusion out there about what works and what doesn't when it comes to merchant accounts. The most important issue when it comes to your eCommerce business is getting the right merchant account that...
it suites your business, has no hidden fees, high fraud protection, 100% up-time and a top notch customer service, because anything less is a killer for your business and we are here to help you avoid choosing just any type of merchant accounts.
Now let's start by shedding light on the process of why you need to accept credit cards online.
Do you know that by accepting Credit Cards online you can... Double, even triple your profits.
Fact. Do you know that by not accepting credit cards online your crippling your business and missing out on massive potential growth from customers world wide. Most people enjoy the convenience and speed of shopping online and using their credit card gives them just that.
Nowadays everyone is trying to avoid calling customer service reps to give them their information and... don't you just hate waiting until one is available. This is tossing your customers to the competitors who are doing business online.
Fact. Do you know it's safer to use your credit card online due to the fact that... all the information is sent through encrypted secure servers on the net.
A Secured server starts with: https ://www.Secure-server.com ( please: notice the little "s" )
If you don't see this type of URL, then please keep your credit card tucked away safely because this is not a safe area.
Accepting Credit Cards online let's you...
- Have a fully automated administrator that collects, totals and processes all your transactions.
- Look like a real trustworthy Professional.
- Have piece of mind while your customers shop at their convenience.
- Accept multiple currencies, which builds trust and removes fair.
- Have more lifetime customers to give you repeat sales.
- Make money round the clock, without the need for extra employees.
- Receive faster payments of your money from your transactions
How does this all work?
There are two ways for you to accept credit cards:
- ON-line or Real-Time
- OFF-line or NON-Real-Time
OFF line uses a swipe terminal and ON line uses processing software.
It all starts with a web site.
Do you have a web site?
No!... Then It's time you get a professional web site that saves you $100's even $1000's
Let's see how this works...
Visitor browses to your web site in a shopping mood and is in need of... your products. Visitor checks to see if you accept credit cards. Yes,... starts smiling and loads up shopping cart with products and hits the order button, and...
Non real-time processing, the customer fills out secured order form and the merchant swipes card through Point Of Sale Terminal. The POS terminal routes information to the processor via a dial-up connection.
The processor send information to the issuing bank of the customer's credit card, here the card is verified and checked for sufficient funds, the card is... approved or declined.
Issuing bank sends transaction to processor, processor send information to the terminal. On approval terminal prints receipt, customer signs receipt.
Funds are transferred from the card holder's bank to the merchant's bank and a receipt is sent to the customer.
For Real-time, the encrypted information is sent to a secure processing payment gateway, the payment gateway connects customer with merchant and merchant with financial providers to process authorization and payments.
Some companies also use the Address Verification System ( AVS) to verify if card address is same as the billing address given by the customer, please be aware that AVS does not work for International orders and this is of no use with... e-goods that you let the customer's download.
The payment gateway then sends the encrypted information to the Processor. The processor send information to the issuing bank of the customer's credit card, here the card is verified and checked for sufficient funds, the card is... approved or declined.
Issuing banks sends transaction results to processor where the processor routes information to the payment gateway and payment gateway passes results to merchant.
Funds are transferred from the card holder's bank to the merchant's bank and a receipt is sent to the customer.
What do you look for in a processing equipment?
- Should accept and process different payment types, including credit cards and checks.
- Provide real time verification
- Must be able to use terminal offline as well as online
- Store transaction records so that you can look up old transactions if needed
- Very scalable, if you need to expand your business.
- Be able to work with all the leading merchant accounts.
Where can You get merchant accounts?
- Banks, seldom service small businesses.
- Independent Sales organizations (ISO), these are agents more like brokers for merchant accounts.
- Financial Service Providers, have the lowest rates.
- Third Party processors, these are best for small businesses who is just getting started.
Banks are a No!... No!... for beginners. You can get accounts all over the Internet, but most are just re sellers. The best places to get merchant accounts are from providers.
Advantages of owning your own merchant accounts!...
- Fees refundable on returns.
- Lower rates.
- Many fees are waived.
- You have total control over your account and your business.
- Shorter waiting time to get your money.
What about Third Party Merchant Accounts?
- Higher rates, almost 4 times higher.
- No access to customer's credit card number.
- Server down time is very high.
- Must use their shopping cart.
- You have NO control over your merchant accounts.
- Longer waiting time to get your money, up to 14 days.
- You will have the ability to accept multiple merchant accounts.
- ability to clear cards in real time.
- you can be setup in a very short time.
You should only use third party merchant accounts if your business isn't doing enough volume to get your own merchant accounts, and if you have highly priced products and you only sell a couple per month. You will be secured that once we recommend a third party merchant accounts provider, you have our guarantee they are in business to help you succeed.
Are there any risks involved?
With any business opportunity there are risks, but the idea is to try and minimize the risks. High risk merchant accounts, are those accounts where no one is present to sign the issued receipt, such as.... Mail-Order, Telephone Order and Internet Businesses ( MOTO Businesses), they get the high Discount rates.
One risk we have to cover is the Charge Back to your merchant accounts and... merchant accounts fraudulent activities...
The ideal provider tries to protect the merchant against charge backs, but most providers don't care.
A Charge back is credit card sale that has been disputed by the card holder to the issuing Bank and that has been sent back through the card processor in order to be reversed against the merchant's accounts.
Please, live up to your Guarantee, once a customer returns goods and request a refund, please do so and eliminate the charge back request.
As a merchant you are required to maintain accurate and complete records of customers transactions up to 6 months to deal with charge back claims.
What charges can you expect from having merchant accounts?
Or... should we say, what charges should you avoid.
Some companies ask for security deposits ranging from: $5000-$20000. Now.... that is impossible for the small business beginner to put their hands on, so we try to avoid "Banks"
You will need...
|
cost |
description |
| processing equipment |
$200-$800 |
can be software or terminal |
| payment gateway |
$200 |
processes credit card information |
| monthly fees |
$20-$50 |
monthly charges |
| discount rate |
1,95%-5% |
small transaction fee charged to each transaction |
| per transaction fee |
0.10-0.30 |
small transaction fee |
| setup fee |
$40-$150 |
cost to get you started |
| statement fee |
$5-$15 |
for your monthly statements |
| chargeback fees |
$5-$25 |
settlement fee |
| annual fees |
$10-$100 |
yearly charges |
As you can see there are a lot of hidden fees being charged to merchant accounts owners by... certain provider companies, and... we have researched the best companies that don't apply those ridiculous charges.
We did not mentioned the "lease option", because for a startup company we advice you to... Never Lease.
What type of Merchant Accounts should you choose?
Now choosing an high risk merchant account isn't an easy task, but you should look for providers who is looking to have your business up and running 24/7, with friendly customer service that is available at all times, low cost processing and no limitations on your volume.
As a start up not well funded company, you should start off with third party processors until your volume reaches at least... $1000-$3000 monthly. Only then should you get your own merchant accounts, it will save you a "ton" in extra charges.
These are the best providers that we have researched, they also provide international merchant accounts. We highly recommend these providers to get you started.
Paypal is best to use for only selling ebooks, but bad for international customers, because they can't get an account with paypal. You should use Paydotcom (The Cheapest), Clickbank, or Stormpay (Most expensive) for selling your ebooks.
1Shoppingcart and Charge are for high volume sales.
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