HOW TO ACQUIRE A CREDIT CARD MERCHANT ACCOUNT?

Today, more than eighty five percent of the purchases are made using the credit card, more so when it is an online purchase. According, to a study, the sales of a retail store and an online retail store can increase more than 4 times when they accept credit card payments. If your company still insists on check or cash then you can put it as an exhibit in the museum. Getting a credit card merchant account must be the highest priority of a business if they wish to survive the competition.

If you have an idea of credit card merchant account then it is good but if you don’t have an idea, then there is no need to panic. It is a simple concept and also simple to get one. There are several providers and a simple procedure to get you a credit card merchant account.

But before you decided whether you need a credit card merchant account or not, it is better if you have a little knowledge about credit card processing. The most important players are the credit card companies such as MasterCard or Visa, followed by the banks that tie up with the credit card companies and provide the cards to their customers and finally the clearing houses which verify the transactions and process it. Then, there are independent sales organisations or merchant account providers, who ensure that your business is linked with the credit card merchant account. To get yourself an account, you will be talking to these guys, so be sure to choose a dependable provider, like Merchant Accounts Express who give a price protection guarantee for safeguarding the interests of the account holder.

Ok, now let us look into the infrastructure required to successfully operate the merchant account. Establishing a gateway, should be the top most priority on the list. The gateway establishes a communication link to the clearing houses. One way to do this is, using the swipe machine, seen in most of the retail establishments. The card in swiped on the machine. The machine captures and sends the details of the credit card to a clearing house. The clearing house checks to see for any fraud and the credit balance and authorises the card once there are no discrepancies. At the retail store you get the charge slip. The owner of the credit card signs the slip and gives it to the “credit card merchant account” holder.

However, if you are in a business that relies more on e-commerce, then the machine isn’t for you. You will only need software installed on your computer that will make possible, exchange of the data between the clearing house and your merchant account. But, this will require you to manually key in the customer credit card details, transaction details etc, therefore, the extra effort and time should be factored in and also the prospect of a data entry fault. However, you also have another option of “real time payment gateway” such as PayPal.

Contact one of our helpful account representatives to assist you in the setup of a high risk merchant account, high risk ach account or offshore merchant account for a high risk merchant.