Main Merchant is online

Our business is expanding into the UK and would like to use a merchant service that can collect funds in Euros and transfer them to our accounts in dollars. Any idea of a service that can perform this function?

THE TWO COMPONENTS OF A CREDIT/DEBIT CARD TRANSACTION

Each time a merchant process a credit or debit card transaction, she is charged an inquiry fee and a percentage of the total transaction. The inquiry fee is a flat amount, typically between 20 cents and 35 cents. The percentage charged, is typically called your “credit card rate” and it is variable based on the type of transaction and the type of card used.

CREDIT CARD RATE CATEGORIES

Credit Card Rates are typically broken into two categories:

Card Present (where the card is physically swiped through a credit card terminal)–The lowest rates are typically applied to card-present transactions.

Card Not Present (any type of transaction where the card cannot be swiped)–This type of transaction is also referred to as MOTO (mail order/telephone order). All transactions where a credit card is not physically swiped through a terminal, including internet transactions, phone transactions, or credit-card numbers keyed into a terminal, fall into this category.

CREDIT CARD RATE TYPES

The rate for each credit card transaction type is determined by both the kind of card used, the way it is processed, and the time it takes the merchant to batch the transactions for processing. It is important to know whether you do mostly card present or card not present transaction when selecting a plan type, because card not present charges are significantly higher in a Type 1 plan than in a Type 4 plan.

Type 1 (or Retail)–This type of account is designed for card-present transactions.

Type 1 Qualified–The card is swiped through a terminal, and the merchant batches the transactions within 24 hours. Most swiped credit cards will fall into this category. It is typically the lowest rate.

Type 1 Mid-Qual–This rate applies to rewards cards and key-entered transactions. It also applies to charges batched in 24-48 hours, that would be Qualified had they been batched sooner.

Type 1 Non-Qualified–All corporate and government cards are charged this rate regardless of batch processing time. Other transactions batched after 48 hours are also charged this rate. This is typically the highest rate charged.

Type 4 (or MOTO)–This type of account is designed for card-not-present transactions.

Type 4 Qualified–Most transactions fall into this category, provided the merchant batches transaction within 24 hours. This is the lowest Type 4 rate.

Type 4 Non-Qualified–All corporate, government, and reward cards are charged this rate regardless of batch processing time. It also applies to charged batched after 24 hours that would otherwise be Qualified had they been batched sooner.

DEBIT CARD RATES

Debit cards are classified the exact same way credit cards are, but the rate for a debit card transaction of the same category and type is typically lower than the rate for a credit card.

MONEY SAVING TIPS

1. If you have an account that gives you good rates for card-present transactions it will typically penalize you heavily for card-not present transactions. However, you can get a Merchant Account that is designed for these Card Not Present transactions that will provide you with substantially lower rates. Thus, before selecting an account you need to understand the type of transactions you use most. Also note that it is very important to immediately destroy credit card information provided in writing or over the phone and to store electronically submitted information (such as that submitted over the Internet) on a secure server.

Tip: If you regularly have both types of transactions, create two accounts. One Type 1 account and one Type 4 account.

2. Make sure your credit card processor is giving you separate lower rates for Debit Card transactions. They can afford to charge you less for these transactions, because their risk of non-payment is substantially lower. Approximately half of the transactions nationally are actually debit cards transactions, so if you’re not getting the benefit of a lower rate, you are paying too much.

Tip: Very low Type 1 Qualified Debit Card rates are often advertised as teasers to get people to switch Merchant Accounts. Know what percentage of your transactions fall into this category before making a switch.

Merchants: Make sure you know what you are really paying!

Applying for a credit card? Planning to buy a home or a car and making a mortgage or loan? Starting a business and you need a free merchant account? Then one requirement you have to provide (whether you like it or not) is a credit report.

What is a credit report? A credit report lists your credit history, as well as information on your residence history (where you’ve lived), buying history (your bills and how you pay), judgments against you (have you been sued, imprisoned, arrested for financial reasons) and whether you’ve been bankrupt or not. All financial details are in this report.

How important it is? A credit report determines whether a financial firm (a bank, credit card company etc) will process or grant whatever it is that you requested. A credit report is unbiased – it will just list details but it will never make a judgment whether it’s “bad” or “good”

A Bad Credit report is usually deemed “bad” because:

you have an outstanding debt
you’ve declared bankruptcy once in your life
you’ve been imprisoned for a while
you don’t have enough assets

Pertinent information your credit report holds:
ID Information- Who are you? This section includes your full name, nicknames, aliases you go by, current address (as well as previous addresses), your social security number, birthday, employers (both current and previous), and civil status. May also include information about your spouse.
Credit Information – How many credit cards do you have? All financial accounts you have with financial firms including but not limited to banks, credit card companies, and lenders (whether it be a mortgage, student loan, recurring loan). This section includes when and where you opened the account, credit limit, and for loans, includes amount of the loan, co-signers, and payment behavior.
Public Record Information – have you ever declared bankruptcy? This section includes declared bankruptcies, monetary judgments, and “everything financial” that is made public or declared.
Recent Inquiries – who has been reading your credit report? This section lists down all inquiries made over the past two years.

Who makes the credit report. Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA) or a credit bureau collects the information and charges a fee every time an inquiry is made.

Needless to say, whether you’re applying for a loan, credit card or a free merchant account, you’ll be needing a credit report. Here are some tips to make your credit report look dashing:
Get a copy of your credit report every two years (every year if you prefer) so you can assure all information is correct and recent, as well as note all inaccuracies and take immediate actions. This also secures you against identity theft.
Late payments of your bills can cramp your credit report. Pay all bills on time because your payment history will show up on your credit report.
Did you know that when you declare bankruptcy, it stays on your credit report for 10 years!? So as much as possible, AVOID at all costs. Pun intended.
Longevity in anything – a home and job – shows sign of steadiness which lenders look forward to seeing in your credit report. House hopping is perceived negatively.
Businessmen who apply for merchant accounts are free from rejection when a credit report is adjudged as good and worthy. Although not all merchant account providers ask for it, high risk merchants need a good report for credit worthiness.
Don’t take more debt than you can handle.

Maintaining a good credit report is difficult, but with discipline, a bit of scrimping, and common sense all be worth it in the end when you finally get that loan, or that card, or that merchant account free of any hassles.

The business world of today is one that is rapidly changing. If you’re doing things the same way you were doing them five years ago, you’re probably going out of business. No where is this more prevalent than in the online business world.  You have to act fast or go out of business.

With the power of the internet, customers can now buy everything from a new car to a pair of gloves.  With all of this buying power, there is a lot of money that changes hands without ever leaving the house. Did you ever stop to think about how that works? One of the big factors in this process is internet merchant account credit card processing. What is a merchant account and how does it help you as a business owner?

An internet merchant account is what allows you to make money online. You can have the most amazing product in the world at your disposal, but if you can’t accept money from anyone, you’re no better off than before you had the product. You have to be able to take credit card payments, check payments, debit cards and any other way that payment is possible. The more ways that you make it possible to pay, the more likely you are to make the sale.

Think about this for a minute. If someone comes to your website and they like what you are selling, they might click on the “Buy Now” link. If you only accept one form of payment, they might not be able to pay that way. If they can’t pay that way, the likelihood of them finding a way to buy it is unlikely. The customer will just move along to someone else who has what they want and can take their payment.

Internet customers are very rarely loyal. They’ll go after whatever has the best price and the most convenience. Having a payment gateway is the only way to be able to strike while the iron is hot. With the internet, you only have a few seconds to grab their attention and then convert them into customers. If you fail on the first attempt, they will most likely not give you another chance.

So how do you set up an internet merchant account credit card processing system? It’s actually quite easy. Once you have a product and a website to sell it on, you simply sign up with any number of credit card merchant services companies and they’ll walk you through it. After giving them your basic info, you’ll most likely be given a piece of code to paste into your website. This will create a “shopping cart” or merchant gateway where customers can pay for your product right then and there.

The internet merchant accounts company will charge you some sort of a minimal fee to run the transaction for you, but it is usually well worth it. If you didn’t have their capability, you would miss out on all of the sales anyway. Therefore, the small investment in an internet merchant account  credit card processing system is worth it.

Whenever you read about an internet venture, you see phrases like “e-commerce payment processing” and “payment gateway”. If you are just getting into the field, you should know a bit about the differences between a merchant account and a payment gateway – sometimes called an “e-commerce” payment processor.

If you are looking to peddle your wares on the net, then go ahead and read this article so you can understand more concerning the way payment processing works, what it costs, and the options that are there for you…

Here’s the basic definitions:

What is a merchant account? A merchant account is a specific kind of bank account provided by a financial institution on a set contract. This will allow you to take credit card payments when conducting transactions. This is an approval-based product, that has separate fees and terms and conditions.

A merchant account allows you to take credit card payments from your clients. Depending on the merchant service, it is possible that you could also be able to accept debit cards and e-check payments.

For an online business, you will be required to get a payment gateway after you set up a merchant account. This will provide you with a shopping cart system with which your customers are able to buy and pay for whatever product they select.

The asset that a merchant account provides is that it has the capacity to automate your business – people will be able to put money into your account on the Internet, around the clock.

What is a payment gateway? – A payment gateway, exactly as the name says is the direct link between the shopping cart and the bank that processes the payment. This is generally completed online, in real time and involves authorization, processing and management of all online transactions. Immediately after the payment is authorized the organization would need to access their gateway graphical user interface in order to finish the transaction.

As you can see, the main difference between the merchant account and the payment gateway is that one is the license that allows you to take payment by credit cards, and the other is the medium through which the receiving of online payments takes place, including credit cards.

You should know that having access to payment gateway does not entitle you to take credit cards. The merchant account is an entirely different service that must be applied for and gotten before you are able to accept credit card payments. Keeping that in mind, many merchant providers also provide payment gateway services. A well liked payment gateway is Authorize.net.

Many times when you establish your business you will be given the option of opening some payment gateways or other services with which you would be able to receive credit card payments. When you accept this offer , many times you will not have to pay for set up charges that you would be required to pay when you apply for a merchant account. Sometimes, these may be beneficial when compared to a regular merchant account if you have low sales volume.

(Generally, if you are looking to do any sort of volume with your company – and I’m speculating that you are – it’s better to simply obtain a merchant account of your own. It’s more dependable, more affordable over the long haul, and you retain more control over the payments that are processed – also access to card/customer data)

Remember, a payment gateway will rarely include the approval of receiving credit cards, while numerous merchant accounts in reality offer the set up of payment gateways as part of the extra features affiliated with the contract with you.

Both the payment gateway and the merchant accounts are vital steps in establishing your online business on the way to complete automation. In fact, you may not understand how many sales you’re forfeiting until you take the plunge and set up your own merchant account with a gateway…

Setting up a business on the World Wide Web necessitates the setting up of a merchant account to process payments. A merchant account is a special account with a bank or online website that is a member of organizations like Visa or MasterCard. A merchant account provider is a business or website that is authorized to provide merchant account services to online businesses. Setting up of a merchant account will enable your e-commerce site to receive payment online via credit cards for purchase of goods or services.

What happens is:

⢠A customer to your e-commerce site presents a credit card to make payment for purchase of goods or services.

⢠This electronic request will immediately go to the âprocessing networkâ of the merchant account provider. Here verification of credit card will take place. If funds are available and the credit card is verified the system will send an electronic response to your website. Known as the â authorizationâ code, this guarantees you funds as payment for goods or services. The authorization code is a six digit number. This transaction will then be stored in the system

⢠At the end of a business day you must submit a âfinal requestâ of the dayâs business to the merchant account processing network. The processing network will then âsettle your batchâ or âcapture the funds.â The settlement report is systematic and lists payments received by card type âVisa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover etc.â Any errors must be immediately corrected.

⢠After this the funds will be deposited electronically to your bank account after deduction of the discount rate you have agreed to pay the merchant account provider.

⢠At the end of thirty days or the month the merchant account provider will send you a consolidated statement listing your activities and the associated fees charged to you.

Setting up a merchant account is not difficult. All you need to do is select a reliable merchant account service online from a website that has done considerable background checks on your behalf.

Merchant account providers charge their customers for the service. The fees are: a discount rate, a transaction fee, and monthly fees.

⢠A discount rate can range from 2.5-5% depending on your business and other factors.

⢠The transaction fee is a flat sum of say 30-50 cents a transaction.

⢠Monthly fees are charged of the service the merchant account provider gives. This is normally decided before signing the merchant account agreement.

In order to set up a merchant account you will need to provide the merchant account provider with details such as:

⢠Your name and business nomenclature.

⢠Details of your business checking account.

⢠A copy of a voided check.

⢠Articles of incorporation.

⢠Details of online business.

⢠A copy of your return policy and business structure.

⢠References from the trade.

⢠Tax returns (the latest).

⢠Copy of driverâs license and social security details.

⢠Details of any e-commerce association memberships.

The relationship between any business and the merchant account provider needs to be based on trust so choose your merchant account provider with care.