Merchant Accounts

Benefits of Opening the Right Online Merchant Account

An online merchant account is a business owner’s gateway to accepting credit and debit cards on the web. But if you play your cards right, you can get more than the ability to process payments. By opening the right online merchant account, you can end up with a host of free tools, software, and products that are crucial to running a company on the web. Follow these tips to ensure you get more than credit card online processing when you open a merchant account.

Ask about free software tailored to your business. While it’s important to have a merchant account so that you can process payments online, you will also need the right software. Find a merchant account provider that offers free software tailored to your business. For example, if you need a merchant account for credit card online processing, you might benefit from receiving free online check software so that you can also accept checks by web, phone, or fax.

By opening the right online merchant account, you might also end up with a free web shopping cart or a virtual terminal for phone orders and in-person sales.

Ask about technical support. It’s not enough to open a merchant account these days. What if something goes wrong with the software? Companies need to know that their merchant account providers can provide them with industry leading support when they need it most. For this reason it’s important to find out whether your merchant account provider that offers technical support. Find a company that provides support 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

This post has been provided by Charge.com Payment Solutions, Inc., a leading merchant services provider. Visit the website for information about ecommerce credit card processing.  

What is a High Risk Merchant Account?

Online credit card processing is a fast and easy way for your customers to pay for goods and services. Customers not only appreciate online shopping because it’s fast and convenient, they appreciate the security as well. Ecommerce sales in the United States have enjoyed a 400% increase over the last 10 years from $72 billion in 2002 to $289 billion in 2012, according to Statista.com. One thing is clear: ecommerce credit card processing online is a thing of the future and will only become more prevalent as time goes on.

That’s why if you’re a high risk merchant, it’s extremely important to use a trusted merchant account provider to ensure the reputation of the high risk merchant remains in high regard.  What qualifies your need to have a high risk merchant account depends on a number of factors, and is spread across multiple industries.

There are five main reasons why your business may be considered a high-risk account:

1. Your personal credit or company finances would not be able to support the sales volume that you are asking for in the worst-case situation.
2. Longer charge-back liability periods.
3. The bank feels it spends too many resources on you because of a repeated history of charge backs.
4. Being involved in an industry that may affect the reputation of the merchant account service to other, more conservative merchants.
5. Having a listed terminated merchant file (TMF) that resulted in not honoring term agreements. This is also called a MATCH list.

Examples of these could be adult productions, business opportunities, home-based business, online auctions, telemarketing, and debt services and so on. If your business does accept credit cards and you may be a high risk merchant, you need to find a merchant processing company that tailors specific plans for high-risk merchants. You will need a company that has the best terms and fees that they can offer for your business.

The Benefits of Mobile Credit Card Processing

If you run a mobile business, you need a way to accept credit cards while on the road. One of the most advanced mobile credit card processing methods today is actually your cell phone. Whether you own an iPhone or Blackberry, your smart phone or cell phone can be turned into a wireless processing solution that allows you to process credit cards while on the go. How? Through your merchant account provider.

Whether you have a retail or internet merchant account, you can choose from several payment processing solutions to meet the needs of your business. However, for companies on the go — such as food delivery services, tow truck operators, and carpenters — the best way to get paid while out and about is by turning your cell phone into a wireless credit card processing solution. Through such a quick and easy method, you can begin accepting credit cards no matter where your business takes you.  This process can improve your cash flow, reduce the paperwork and time involved with sending invoices, and guarantees you will never receive a bad check again.

If you don’t have a merchant account yet, we invite you to apply for one. The company offers merchant accounts for all types of businesses, including high risk merchant accounts.

Shop Online with Your Secure E-wallet

Although shopping online is extremely convenient and even fun, it can also be risky. Internet fraud is a major problem and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. If you’re an avid online shopper, you might find it difficult to keep track of all of your accounts and passwords. What if there was an easy and safe way to shop online through one account? The good news is there is! It’s called an E-wallet.

An E-wallet is online software where you can store all of your personal information and make purchases on the web. It’s basically one account through which you make all of your purchases. Depending on the software, you can store information such as passwords, email, and credit card information. Think of it as your own online bank account, but through a merchant account service provide such as SolidTrustPay.

In addition to online shopping, you can use your E-wallet account to send and receive money without having to pay expensive money transfer fees. For example, Solid Trust Pay offers free Global Money Transfers anywhere in the world with the ability to use multiple currencies. Receiving money is also easy through Solid Trust Pay’s E-wallet. It’s also affordable; only 1.5 percent plus $.20 per transfer.

How to Accept Money Online for Your Business

Starting your own online business is about more than having a website with your products displayed. It doesn’t matter if people love your products if they aren’t able to purchase them when they visit your site. Asking customers to call you or send an email to complete an order often takes people out of the buying mood. If potential customers want to buy your goods, you need to give them a way to do it immediately.

Any online business that sells its products online needs to have the ability to accept online payments. Coming to SolidTrustPay is one step in the right direction, but it’s not the only thing you’ll need to do in order to take your online storefront to the next level. Here are some steps you need to take before opening your business up to online sales:

Open a corporate bank account. If you want to allow customers to make check and charge credit cards to your business’ name rather than to your personal account, you need to open a business bank account. This is also helpful in keeping your business finances separate from your personal finances for tax purposes and to protect your own money against business losses or lawsuits.

Get a business tax ID number. Much like with getting a corporate bank account, having your own business tax ID number allows you to keep your personal finances separate from your business finances. In many states, this is a requirement if you have your own business — even if it’s home-based.

Start a merchant bank account. A merchant bank account serves as the step that allows your customer’s credit card payments to be processing and transferred over to your business bank account. While it was previously the case that merchant bank accounts were very expensive for smaller businesses, this is increasingly not the case. Many merchant banks such as Solid Trust Pay offer solutions that are targeted toward small businesses and start-ups with lower transaction volumes.

Find an online payment system. The last step in the process is to have an online cart system that allows customers to select the items they want and start the purchasing process. Working with a company to create a shopping cart for your site speeds the process of buying up, keeping customers happy and ready to buy.