Do I need a Merchant Account?

When you start your business online and you start to get the first requests from your customers that they want to pay by credit card, you will quickly meet the term Merchant Account, if you look around for instant on Google for payment service providers or credit card processing, many companies will tell you that you have to open a Merchant Account with one of their Acquiring Banks.

So what is a merchant account, please explain, often people connect a merchant account with a regular bank account which isn’t obvious but simply a confusion in the terms. A Merchant account is opened by an Acquiring bank, which is authorized by the card association to process payments by credit card for Online Merchants. In many countries you will need to contact another company (Payment Service Provider, ISO or MSP) which on behalf of the Acquiring bank will open the Merchant Account for you. Often you need to sign a Credit Card acceptance contract both with the Acquiring Bank and the Payment Service Provider, to become a Merchant Account.

When you open a Merchant Account you will also need to know which credit cards you will and need to accept on your web site. The major credit cards are Visa and MasterCard, then comes Amex, Diners, JCB and the rest. Many countries have also country specific credit and debit cards for which you need a separated merchant account or merchant agreement. A Merchant Account can be opened by any business which sells products and services and which to accept credit cards, this is the case for both online and Offline business. However, not all business industries can become a Merchant Account or Merchant Agreement, some business types are simply not accepted by the card association.

An important thing to know when you consider opening a Merchant Account is that you will be held responsible for each and every transaction made on your web site. When you open a Merchant Account with an Acquiring Bank you will sign an agreement where you will find the clausal, that you will be pay the bank any losses they might have on your business, that you as the Merchant and the Merchant Account holder will not sell any other products or services then what you listed in the Merchant Agreement. Also that if your merchant account is facing excessive chargeback’s that it simply will be terminated and that you will be subject for fines. Often we suggest clients looking for a Merchant Account, to make a good business description of what they are going to sell and how they will do it. This helps both the bank and the payment service provider in finding the right solution for you. A Merchant Account isn’t the right solution for anyone, but if you are doing well with your business and you learn how to protect you from fraud, then a Merchant Account can be less expensive and more agile compared to any other solution.

CCLOGIC LLC has more than 10 years of experience in the field of Credit Card Processing; we have been in the marked from almost the beginning and know very well the traps, the good ones and the bad ones. We work as consultancies for businesses looking for a reliable and secure solution for their Merchant Account and credit card processing needs. We both work with regular e-commerce and high risk considered businesses.

Accept Credit Card Payments

As there is a wide range of different products and services provided by the Acquiring Banks and the Payment Processors you will get some background information here how to accept credit card payments if you are selling Internet Services, like Webhosting, Download of Software or subscriptions for membership websites.

First of all you need to ensure your website is compliant with the Visa and MasterCard regulations this includes having the Visa and MasterCard Logo setup on the FrontPage.

Your will need to have a return policy in place in your case selling Internet Services it is more a refund policy which you need to make clear how you will handle customer enquiries and if it is possible to become a refund if you as a customer are not satisfied with the service bought.

Once the above is in place you will need to make sure to have a Terms and Condition page where you list which terms and conditions that apply for the delivering of your Internet Services, what the customer buying any Internet Service from you need to agree to and how support enquiries are handled.

A good thing to have is a Privacy Policy which clearly states that you won’t share any customer data with any third party or that you will sell the e-mail address or any other data to anyone.

Those is the most important things to have in place before you go and apply for a Merchant Account (which is needed to accept credit card payments)

Next is that you need to make sure that the Acquiring Bank is able to go through the entire process from choosing which Internet Service to buy and to the checkout process.

If you don’t want to have this online before you have your credit card processing in place, then put it up on a “test” area of your website where only the Acquiring Bank has access to it.

When all above is completed you are almost done, what you need to find is a Merchant Account provider which you typically find by a search on Google for Merchant Account  most of these providers also offer a PCI certified Payment Gateway which you need to connect to in order to start accepting credit card payments on your Website.

The process of becoming a Merchant Account can be tuff, so prepare all your documents required which often are Incorporation documents of your company, a utility bill (Phone or electricity bill) copy of passport and a business description of that you are going to accept payments for.

CCLOGIC LLC is a authorized Independent Sales Organization for several Acquiring Banks and Payment service Providers, we offer our services for Merchant seeking to accept credit card payments on their website. Contact us today and we will be more than glad to help you and make sure you become the rght solution for your needs.

While the financial crises are hitting the entire world economy and people are scared about their business then it is more important than ever to improve your website and your online business venture.

The latest reports show that fraud hit 7,5% of Americans in 2008 according to Gartner, that’s are alarming figure which you need to be aware of now!

On the other hand you need to drive traffic and customers to your business and you will need to accept credit cards together with other payment methods to survive in the competition of getting orders.

Do you know that you only have 15 seconds to tell your website visitors what you want to sell them? And did you know that most people will click away from your website if you don’t offer them a easy way to pay for the product you want to sell them?

That’s true, even the best website with the best products or services will not get orders if you not make the payment process easy. Credit Card Payments is no.1 to offer your customers next to alternatives like PayPal and Google Payment.

Many Online Merchants are stuck with the approval process to become a merchant account for their business, and I can understand them, it can be overwhelming what the banks require and the applications to fill. But it is necessary to go through the process, don’t be a lacy business man, sit down take the time it takes to complete the application and to prepare your website to be compliant and get the love from the Acquires you need. Some of the most common mistakes a merchant is doing while applying for a Merchant Account is;

• - No Privacy Policy
• - Missing Return Policy
• - Missing Refund policy
• - Missing Terms and Conditions
• - No Visa or MasterCard logo on the website
• - The application is not filled correctly; false or mistaken information’s are filled in.

Have this in place and you are good. If you think that you are into a business which do not is accepted by the various processors, then don’t lay or show a website which isn’t the one you are want to process credit cards for. We open to your Merchant Service Agent and tell them the truth often many Merchant Agents have several banks and processors available and if they know the real case they find a solution.

Make sure you pay attention to fraud, MaxMind is one of the ways to go to protect your business from credit card fraud once you got it in place, it will keep down your chargeback ratios and also ensure that you don’t accept payments from people which are out for a scam, you don’t get a 100% insurance but it is close to.

For merchants which can’t comply in the Visa or MasterCard regions their business belongs to, they have the possibility to incorporate an Offshore company with some Offshore Agency, this often comes as a complete solution where you get a legit Offshore Company, Offshore Bank Account with IBAN number and this can then be connected to a Merchant Account to accept credit card payments. Often it is worth to go this way, and it isn’t complicated.

CCLOGIC LLC the Offshore Merchant Service Specialists can help with the opening of Merchant Accounts to accept credit cards and Bank Accounts as well as Incorporating Offshore Companies for instant in Cyprus.

This is one of the most asked questions at many forums and people often get confused about the terms Merchant Account and Payment Processor and think it is the same.

Also I see that people name a e-wallet solution like paypal or moneybookers as payment gateway, so here are a few clarifications which I hope someone find useful.

First of the e-wallet solution like paypal and moneybookers are neither a merchant account nor a payment gateway, they are electronic money services which let you quickly accept payments from millions of users around the world.  Sure people can pay you without to open a paypal account but still it isn’t the same, I will cover this in another post in the right forum.

A Payment Gateway is an electronic gateway which connects your website with the bank; most banks require using a 3 party payment gateway since they do not allow merchants to connect directly to the banking systems.  

Once you have integrated your website with the payment gateway, you will still need to be accepted by a bank and sign a “Merchant Account Application” or “Credit Card Acceptance Contract”; it is the same just 2 terms.  Many Payment Gateway Providers also called Payment Service Providers or in short PSP’s have already an agreement with one or more banks where they are able to help you to become the merchant account.

However sometimes it is useful to take in consideration that they might be other Banks which are cheaper and maybe have better conditions then the one your PSP’s suggest to use.

This part of the article has been taken from our Online Payment Forum, and the entire article can be found by clicking the link.

The Internet has become an ideal place for hackers, scammers and criminals to use as their very own illegal playground with little fear of ever being found.

Online merchants need to minimize the risk of online credit card fraud by installing security tools and procedures that can effectively reduce up to 50% of fraud, a bonus for your customers and business. Fraudsters will most commonly conduct their criminal activities by setting up a web-based free email address, such as hotmail.com, yahoo.com, gmail.com and many others. Web-based email is mainly logged on via a web browser and not an email client, such as Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla’s Thunderbird.

Web based emails can be set up by anyone and so are a popular choice for criminals who use them to remain anonymous as details are not easy to trace back to the owner. Credit card fraud is helped in its escalation by underground software programmes used to generate thousands of usable, but false credit card numbers and various newsgroups set up on the Internet where stolen credit card data is posted.
As awareness of credit card fraud grows merchants are learning to undertake as many precautionary means possible to protect themselves against online crime. The obvious method would be to not accept credit cards on the website, but that would lead to losing international sales, impulse buyers, unable to compete with other online merchants and the vast majority of customers buying elsewhere.

 
There are a few methods you can use to minimize the risk of online fraudulent transactions. First and foremost is to make certain all customer details are completed and don’t accept the sale until this is filled in correctly. If your website experiences many cases of fraudulent transactions, consider not accepting any orders from a free web based email address. This might seem a little dramatic but if your losses are multiple with charge back penalties and transaction fees on top, it could be the only solution. Ask the customer if they have an Internet service provider (ISP) or domain based address as these types of email accounts are much easier to track.

Most fraudulent orders should only come through the free, web-based, or e-mail forwarding services. If you are wary of turning away business from customers with web based emails, consider the risks involved before making any final decision. If people have a free e-mail service they will usually also have an ISP email address also, supplied when the account was opened. Just let the customer know that orders through free e-mail services aren’t accepted and ask them to use their standard ISP issued address.
A simple way to confirm a transaction is to call the telephone number given on the order form. This will either confirm the order or bring the card holders attention to the fact that their card is being used for fraudulent transactions. Then notify the card issuing banks fraud department that the card is being used illegally.

Regrettably, fraudsters are always developing new systems and methods to avoid detection and stay one step ahead of the merchants, banks and FBI. As one fraud method is identified and thwarted, a new one springs up to replace it. Criminals are generally of different types, people who just try one time and are easily stopped with straightforward safety measures, petty criminals who can be prevented with high-quality anti-fraud tools, and professionals. The professionals are the ones that will make this a full time career and be clever enough to keep one step ahead of the law. Fortunately, there are not too many of these. Fraud committed against merchants will continue to grow so defend your website with a specialized system of anti-fraud tools.

There are that many good Anti Fraud Tools out there that a simple earch at google will help you to find the solution for your business.