With over 80% of consumers using credit cards on a regular basis, a figure that has not decreased since 2002, there is just no way a business can grow or flourish without processing credit card and other electronic payments. A credit card merchant account is a necessary component in any realistic, 21st century business plan.
Depending upon the size and age of your company, you may be required to offer more financial data than is contained in your Dun & Bradstreet rating (or, as a sole proprietor or partnership, in your individual credit report). A new firm with a strong business plan, adequate capital and good management will have little trouble in securing a credit card merchant account. However, undercapitalized firms, Internet-only sales operations and a variety of other “higher risk” businesses may find it somewhat more difficult to land the best deals available.

A range of account types
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Check processing

Credit cards are the preferred means of payment for consumers the world over, but not everyone in the world is ready to give up using checks. Americans alone still write billions of checks every year, and the number globally is many times that. While businesses need to change with the times, and in fact are developing various electronic payment systems, they also need to accommodate consumers who write checks.
Contrary to some credit card commercials that show checkout lines stopping when someone pulls out a checkbook, check processing can be completed almost as swiftly as card payments. Writing a check will not cause a buyer to hold up the line (and make the music stop), and the check processing capabilities you employ will ensure that you can make every sale, regardless of consumer payment preference. Read the rest of this entry »

Merchant accounts are what allow businesses to charge credit cards and accept other means of electronic payments. The banks that actually do the charging and manage the money flow are called “acquiring banks.” These banks, or their agents known as ISO’s (Independent Sales Organizations), are the entities that will qualify businesses for the accounts, open them, get them set up and make them work. There are a number of important details to handle, and there are both government and industry controls and regulations on the procedures.
Merchant accounts are a fact of doing business in this day and age, and have kept up with the changing times by becoming more and more specialized. There are now special, online-only merchant accounts for businesses selling over the Internet, although the rates and fees on these types of accounts are higher than for the less risky in-store accounts. In fact, everything about a company and its individual characteristics is considered in these fee structures. Read the rest of this entry »

Despite the incredible reliance consumers have on credit cards, a business still must be prepared to accept checks for payment, as well. The check guarantee programs available from acceptcardsfast.com make it easy for merchants, and can even protect them against losses due to bad checks.
In most cases, merchants will be able to accept and process checks in a manner quite similar to a credit card transaction. Often, the program will do what is called a "conversion," right at the point of sale, where the check will be scanned or keyed into the payment system. The paper check is then handed back to the customer.

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If you are bringing a new or existing business to the Internet to make online sales, you must offer quick, easy online payment options to capture business. The most widely used payment method today is the credit card. Online merchants can easily accept credit card payments, and other forms of electronic payment such as debit cards and “e-checks,” through Internet merchant accounts.

Credit cards increase sales by making impulse buying simple and fast, and the Visa and MasterCard logos reassure customers of your firm’s legitimacy. Electronic processing also streamlines the billing and accounting process for you and/or your employees. Especially if your company will exclusively sell over the World Wide Web, Internet merchant accounts are key to your future success. Read the rest of this entry »

Although some merchant account providers will advertise “low prices,” there is no such thing as “standard” merchant account rates. Even if providers did publish the major element of the pricing scheme, call the discount rate, it would be a number without much meaning. In fact, if you were to shop for a provider based on merchant account rates by themselves, you would probably end up paying too much.
This is because merchant account rates are the result of a formula with perhaps half a dozen (or more) variables. By looking only at the discount rate, you ignore a lengthy list of other cost factors like initiation and termination fees, equipment leases, monthly minimums, statement fees, chargeback debits and other direct and indirect costs. And the costs that are codified into the merchant account rates are then applied according to your business size, the industry you are in, the way you make sales and various other considerations. Read the rest of this entry »