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Article Title: Having a Merchant Account is No
Longer an Option!
-
Author: Pat A. McDavitt.
-
Word Count: 1447
Article
Start:
Having a Merchant Account is No Longer an Option!
Setting up a merchant account
makes it easy and affordable for your business to
accept credit cards.
·
Setting up merchant account services
offers you:
•
Improved customer satisfaction
•
Larger customer base with more payment options
•
Increased credibility for your business
With a merchant account you can
offer your customers several payment options:
•
Point of sale processing—Using physical terminals to
process your sales
•
Virtual terminal processing—To process telephone,
fax, or Internet sales made at a web site
•
Software—to make sales using your computer to
process orders
Your company cannot afford to
ignore the need to accept credit cards. Setting up
a merchant account solves this problem. Any good
merchant account representative can give you the
information you need on how you can either add
credit card acceptance to, or improve credit card
processing for, your business.
Even if your company is
considered high risk, (adult sales, gambling sites
and other similar high risk business categories) a
merchant account can be set up for you! Most US
banks will not set up high risk merchant accounts.
However, if your credit is good, offshore merchant
accounts provide the perfect solution for your
business needs.
When a customer says: “I would
like to buy your widget. Do you accept credit
cards?” A yes answer results in a sale. A no
answer results in a no sale. Which answer is best
for your business health? Well, that is pretty
obvious!
Your merchant account services
should offer a comprehensive line of payment
solutions for your business—credit card acceptance,
debit cards, and check acceptance—for all types of
businesses including retail storefronts,
restaurants, hotels, service companies, wireless
merchants and mail, telephone or Internet order
businesses.
Additionally, your merchant
account should provide customer service 24/7/365 to
provide the following information:
• Transfers of
money into your designated checking account, monthly
statements, chargeback and retrieval requests, and
other issues that face merchant account holders very
day
• Provide
answers about your point of sale credit card
terminal, need to schedules telephone training for
you or your employees, need to replace broken
equipment, or need additional supplies
Some important definitions:
|
What is a merchant account?
|
|
A merchant account is a special account
that allows your business to accept
credit cards as payment in person, over
the telephone, by mail order, or over
the Internet. You must have a merchant
account if you want to be able to accept
credit cards from your customers.
|
|
What is an acquiring bank?
|
|
An acquiring bank is the bank that holds
your credit card merchant account. It is
also the bank that transfers funds from
your merchant account into your local
bank account. |
|
How do I apply for a merchant account
and a payment gateway?
|
|
It's easy to establish a merchant
account. You can submit an application
online, by fax, or by meeting with a
sales representative at your business
location. Your application will be
approved almost immediately, your
account will be activated, and, if
you're buying or leasing new credit card
processing software or terminal
equipment, it will arrive in just days.
|
|
What credit cards will I be able to
accept? |
|
You'll be able to accept Visa,
MasterCard, Discover, American Express
and Diners Club/Carte Blanche. In
addition, you'll be able to accept debit
cards that carry a Visa or MasterCard
logo, purchase cards, and online checks.
|
|
What is the discount rate?
|
|
The discount rate is one of the
processing fees charged to your merchant
account. It is a percentage of your
gross sales.
|
|
What is the "per transaction" fee?
|
|
The "per transaction fee" is a nominal
charge for processing each transaction
through your merchant account service.
|
|
What is a charge back?
|
|
Charge backs occur when a credit
cardholder informs the credit card
company that the charge was not
authorized, or that goods or services
were not delivered as promised.
|
|
What is a merchant account?
|
|
A merchant account is a special account
that allows your business to accept
credit cards as payment in person, over
the telephone, by mail order, or over
the Internet. You must have a merchant
account if you want to be able to accept
credit cards from your customers.
|
| |
|
What is an acquiring bank?
|
|
An acquiring bank is the bank that holds
your credit card merchant account. It is
also the bank that transfers funds from
your merchant account into your local
bank account. |
| |
|
How do I apply for a merchant account
and a payment gateway? |
|
It's easy to establish a merchant
account. You can submit an application
online, by fax, or by meeting with a
sales representative at your business
location. Your application will be
approved almost immediately, your
account will be activated, and, if
you're buying or leasing new credit card
processing software or terminal
equipment, it will arrive in just days.
|
| |
|
What credit cards will I be able to
accept? |
|
You'll be able to accept Visa,
MasterCard, Discover, American Express
and Diners Club/Carte Blanche. In
addition, you'll be able to accept debit
cards that carry a Visa or MasterCard
logo, purchase cards, and online checks.
|
| |
|
What is the discount rate?
|
|
The discount rate is one of the
processing fees charged to your merchant
account. It is a percentage of your
gross sales. |
| |
|
What is the "per transaction" fee?
|
|
The "per transaction fee" is a nominal
charge for processing each transaction
through your merchant account service.
|
| |
|
What is a charge back? |
|
Charge backs occur when a credit
cardholder informs the credit card
company that the charge was not
authorized, or that goods or services
were not delivered as promised.
|
| |
|
How often will I receive funds from
Total Merchant Services?
|
|
Total Merchant Services will transfer
funds from your merchant account to any
checking account you designate on a
daily basis.
|
|
What type of equipment do I need to
accept credit cards?
|
|
If you have a retail storefront,
restaurant, hotel, or service business
you can use either a hard-wired or
wireless point-of-sale (POS) credit card
terminal or a personal computer equipped
with credit card processing software. If
you have an Internet business, or a
telephone order or mail order business,
you can use a virtual terminal. With a
virtual terminal, you do not need to
load any software onto your computer.
Since this is Internet-Based software,
you simply need access to the internet.
Other options include using credit card
processing software. This is software
that you load onto your computer.
Authorizations are obtained by dialing
into the credit card processor with your
computer modem. Or, you can hand enter
(key in) data into a point of sales
(POS) credit card terminal.
|
|
Why do I need a separate account for
orders I accept over the phone, fax,
mail or Internet? |
|
Because you never take physical
possession of a credit card so that you
can swipe it through a magnetic strip
reader, both Visa and MasterCard use
different criteria for evaluating risk
and have different fee structures for
card-not-present transactions.
|
|
What is a payment gateway?
|
|
A payment gateway links your web site to
the credit card processing companies and
your merchant account. When your
customer enters his or her credit card
number on your web site, the payment
gateway obtains authorization for the
charge and later handles the transfer of
funds into your merchant account. Total
Merchant Services works with the
industry's most widely used and reliable
gateways including the Total Pay powered
by Authorize.Net, Plug N Pay, and
VeriSign Payment Systems. |
Article End
C. J. & Tuck Consulting, LLC owns and operates
http://www.cashflownow.org.
We specialize in Electronic Payment Processing
Services and offer a complete package of electronic
payment processing solutions.
For more information, contact:
Pat A. McDavitt,
Author and Sole Manager of C. J. & Tuck Consulting,
LLC
Telephone: 512-837-1358
Fax: 512-837-0345
