Online Merchant Accounts

Most small businesses need an online merchant account or a third-party payment processor to accept credit cards or checks online.

Just Getting Started Online? 

If you are just getting started online or you expect your online revenue to be under $1,000 a month, consider a third-party payment processor.  For small businesses or even an individual seller, there are many advantages to a third-party payment processor, such as PayPal versus having an online merchant account. With a third party provider processing your credit cards and check payments, there is little to no overhead, easy to qualify, and you can usually start accepting credit cards online immediately. Click Here for Third-Party Credit Card Processors and Third-Party Check Processors.

Online Merchant Accounts

An online merchant account is where a merchant establishes a bank account with a Merchant Bank for the purposes of
accepting credit card payments from the merchant's customers. Essentially a merchant account is a line of credit as there is the risk of credit card chargebacks or credit card fraud. Because of these credit risks, the creditworthiness of the merchant is an important factor in getting an online merchant account. The advantages of having a merchant account versus a third-party processor is that you usually have more control over your money,
processing fees are lower, overall charges are lower, and you have more flexibility and payment options. Click Here for featured Online Merchant Accounts.

How Online Merchant Accounts Work?

Once a merchant accepts a credit card and processes the customer's purchase as a transaction, how does he or she get the money and how does it get funded to the merchant's bank? This is a very commonly asked question, and not really that complicated. There are four steps to getting your money-initiating, authorizing, completing the transaction and receiving your funds. The first step is to initiate the transaction, which verifies that your customer's credit card is active and the amount of the purchase is within his or her approved spending limit. This happens in a number of ways, depending on what kind of business you operate:

Brick-And-Mortar

In brick-and-mortar, retail or restaurant environments the card is physically present. To initiate the transaction, you swipe the card or key in the number through a point-of-sale terminal.

Mail Order / Telephone Sales

In mail order and telephone order environments, the card is not present. To initiate the transaction, you enter the card identifiers the customer has provided you by mail, telephone or fax-these include the credit card number, expiration date and card
verification or validation codes (the three-digit numbers on the back of the card). Address Verification Service (AVS) helps verify street numbers within the United States before the merchandise is shipped. Be sure to input all your customer's numerical address and ZIP code information. If you don't have AVS, contact your credit card processor to add this service to your arsenal of fraud-prevention weapons.

Internet Sales

In an Internet environment, the card is also not present. To initiate the transaction, your customer provides your Web site with the same card identifiers as a mail order or telephone order transaction.

Online Shopping Carts

If you are providing multiple products or services as part of accepting donations online, your web site will need an online shopping cart. A shopping cart program allows your supporters to select products, view suggested donation amounts, and create their order. Visit our Shopping Cart Internet Program Site for more details.

Click Here for featured Online Merchant Accounts

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