Are You Using Merchant Services For Your Online Merchant Account?
For those who own a business, no matter big or small it’s always a good idea to make necessary changes, upgrades and improvements to help it grow. The more a business grows, the more it produces profit. As your business continues to expand, you may be wondering how to accept cards online or a possible method to accept credit card payments. Card related payment offer an easy and convenient way for your customers to pay for your product or service. In order to accept major credit cards for your business you will need to open a merchant account. A merchant account will be linked to a card processor so that the card payment can go from that card’s account to your business bank account. There are many different merchant accounts to choose from and there are many different merchant account companies that can provide you with the ability to accept any type of cards as payment.
Before choosing a merchant account, you need to be aware that there is a wide range of credit card processing rates. There are per-transaction fees, which can range from a few cents to a dollar or more. These fees are charged to the business owner for every time a card is used for payment. As you can imagine, this fee can add up quickly, especially with frequent charges, so it’s a good idea to shop around and compare rates before making a commitment to one company. All merchant account holders are required to pay a small percentage of the charges to the merchant processor. Depending on the average ticket amount, this can rack up substantial charges in a very short period of time.
Before you can start a merchant account, you will be required to have a business checking account and a credit check. You will also need to provide promotional information about your business, including your business website if you have one and any promotional fliers or pamphlets that you may have available. This will help the merchant company classify your company to help come up with a processing rate.
Four basic things you should consider before start your merchant account:
1. No business owner should consider signing up with any merchant account provider if they are unable to install the account. The product is an extremely important aspect when evaluating online merchant service solutions. How fast can the merchant account be successfully launched, and working on your website? The faster and easier the processing service can be set up, the higher the score for each card processor.
2. Whenever a merchant processing a credit or debit card, the rates that they are charged on that card are determined by a multitude of factors. Is the card present at the time of the transaction? is it a rewards or business card?, what type of goods/services are being provided? All these factors are directly related to the rate a small business owner will be charged. The floor rates are set by Visa/MasterCard, however credit card processing companies add in margins to those rates and finding the best merchant account provider can be the difference between paying margins that are far in excess of what you should be paying.
3. If you are running a successful online business you will need an online merchant account that has enough options and flexibility to meet your needs. If you choose to work with a bare bones online merchant account you risk losing the features you need, in exchange for what only initially appears to be a better deal.
4. While price is a major factor, the level of customer service that you receive for your costs can play a major role in determining the actual cheapest credit card processing option for you and your small business. The financial ramifications of signing with a low cost credit card processing company only to have your system fail and potentially lose a day/week/month of credit card transactions due to issue with your merchant account, can directly impact your bottom line.
