Some customers will actually prefer to call rather than send an email and wait for a reply, especially if it is a quick query or regarding a refund. Once the query has been dealt with and the customer now wants to make a purchase it would be inconvenient for them to return to the website, they might decide not to bother and so you lose the sale. A virtual terminal means the merchant can take a sale over the phone by processing the customer’s credit card payment manually. Virtual terminals are also used to issue returns and cancel unwanted transactions.

Credit cards have become the most common and convenient way to pay online but there are still people who don’t own one; you don’t want to turn these people away and lose a sale. Whereas written cheques used to be the norm, there are now electronic checks (eChecks) available. No need to write out a cheque, post it, wait for it to arrive and clear, customers can merely enter their bank details by electronic means.

The main headache for online merchants is security. Along with your business information, your customers’ personal information moves through your gateway every day. This information is invaluable to hackers; when choosing a gateway ensure you select one that uses the highest security techniques to keep information safe. These should include security schemes operated by the main credit card providers, such as the Visa Cardholder Information Security Program, MasterCard Site Data Protection, and Discover Information Security and Compliance. If your gateway provider doesn’t comply with these you could end up paying higher fees or your account closed down. Check out the Internet for a quality payment gateway provider that offers a high level of anti-fraud tools to protect you and your customers.

If you need a Payment Gateway or Merchant Account you can take a look at CCLOGIC LLC – click the link in this line.

The decision to accept credit card payments and so increase revenue to your online business brings with it the difficulty in choosing a payment gateway to process sales.

In very simple terms, the gateway processes online payments by connecting your websites order form with the merchant account and returning the answer to the merchant and customer, either approved or declined. Although the gateway itself actually only connects the website to the merchant account, larger payment gateway providers offer additional services, such as merchant accounts and shopping carts.

Gateways offer a range of features that will increase security and revenue. Listed below are several of the more common features to expect.

The most important feature are fraud prevention tools. Merchants continually neglect this part of their business; fraudulent transactions result in loss of revenue, something no merchant wants or needs. Merchants will be aware of chargebacks and the penalties these can incur; credit card fraud is prevalent, increasing daily as hackers come up with advanced methods to obtain card information. Utilising anti-fraud tools will mean less time inspecting suspect transactions and more time generating sales. Basic anti-fraud tools include an Address Verification System (AVS) that checks the customers’ delivery address against the address the card issuing bank has on file, and CVV2, the 3 digit security number printed on the back of credit cards VISA, MasterCard and Discover Card.

Another addition to expect is a recurring billing system, particularly suitable for subscription and membership based businesses. Many merchants have customers that order products on a regular basis, if billing has to be done each month to the same customer using the same details it can waste valuable time and energy. With recurring billing you just supply the gateway with the customers billing information and how regularly to invoice them (this only needs doing once) and the gateway conducts all future transactions.

Comment this here or at our Merchant Service Forum

Shoppers today expect convenience, simplicity, and a wide range of payment methods for them to choose from.

Payment by credit card is by far the most popular payment of choice and if a merchant doesn’t offer this, the consumer will simply go elsewhere; competition is fierce.

Setting up a merchant account with Our Payment Gateway providers enables the major credit cards to be accepted on a website, including Visa, MasterCard and Visa Electron for UK customers. The account allows for authorisation, settlement and management of credit card transactions online.

Internet sales can be managed worldwide using a single payment gateway and payments processed in real time. Our Payment Gateway providers also have Virtual Terminal software, a payment terminal that allows you to accept mail order or phone payments if for some reason the information can’t be collected from an internet based system. So transactions can be processed either online or offline.

Access to the payment gateway will ensure all transactions are easily processed with all the major banks and is available to merchants in all European Countries.

The gateway used by Our Payment Gateway providers has been designed to be as easy to use as possible, giving absolute control over payments and transactions; the option to print out statements is even available. The system is extremely powerful and several merchant accounts can be handled on one server. The system is able to handle all major clearing banks and several clearing banks can be installed at once.

Our Payment Gateway providers utilizes the Address Verification System (AVS) which confirms the identity of the credit card holder. The system works by confirming the billing address of the credit card is the same as the one on the application form held at the credit card issuing bank. Security Code Verification (MasterCard Secure Code & Verified by Visa) was introduced to improve the security of Internet payments.

Basically it is 3 numbers printed on the card or signature strip and required by merchants to secure ‘card not present’ transactions taking place over the Internet, on the telephone, by mail or fax. Due to increased attempts at card fraud, it is now obligatory to supply this code when the cardholder is not present in person.

This article is written by Accept Credit Card Payments . biz

During the time being in the payment service provider business I came through a lot of cases where Merchants pretended to sell legal Pharmacy products, also called non controlled drugs. In the early beginning of 2003 the card association’s regulations changed due to many Online Merchants in the Pharmacy business sold controlled drugs behind their main websites, which defiantly isn’t allowed. MasterCard was the first of the big 3 credit card companies that stopped processing for Online Pharmacies due to the fact they wasn’t able to control the many online  pharmacy websites nor the payment services providers which handled the payment transactions.

Visa decided to still deal with this type of business and asked the merchant to provide legal opinions from a lawyer or notary, this was mend to protect them self from getting merchants processing credit card payments for websites selling controlled drugs and to back up their bag if something goes wrong.

 First it looks like the business was in the process to be “cleaned” from Online Pharmacy websites which won’t play by the rules. At this time it was still possible in some cases to obtain a Mastercard credit card acceptance, and some Acquiring Banks around the World seemed not to follow the global regulations by the card associations because there was good money to earn while processing for Online Pharmacies selling non controlled and controlled drugs. However a few years later it wasn’t possible any longer since the Card Association including Visa and Mastercard started to issue huge penalties to those Merchant’s and Merchant Service providers which breached the regulations, fines in the range of USD 25.000 to USD 150.000 per incident.  

Today it is only possible to obtain a Merchant Account with Visa credit card acceptance, some Merchant Account- and Payment Service Providers do still pretend to be able to open Merchant Accounts for Online Pharmacy’s which include Mastercard credit card acceptance, those are fake, or they hide those transactions and code them as something else than what it is, Online Pharmacy.

Sometimes it is strange, since on one side the Card Association has to deal with their preferred Payment Service Providers to tell them what is allowed and which isn’t, and on the other hand the payment service provider’s have to tell the merchants what they can sell and not, this looks as a good way to regulate the entire business. But since there is so much money involved in processing Online Transactions for business which are strictly forbidden or require license to sell, then some Payment Service Providers and Acquiring banks look to involve them self in this business as long as no one ask questions and the merchants processing their credit cards don’t get caught by the Visa Monitoring program or they face massive chargebacks.

Continues on the forum, see the link below……….

This post was taken from our Cyprus Company Formation & Merchant Service Forum read the entire article by visiting the forum.