IS YOUR ONLINE MP3 MERCHANT ACCOUNT SUPERIOR
TO THE FREE MERCHANT ACCOUNT?
While searching for the right merchant
account on the internet, you will first
click that click which says “Free”
merchant accounts. You have to accept
the fact that there are no free cups of
tea in this world especially in the
business world. Therefore, these free
online merchant accounts are not
actually free. The only thing that you
get is: you will not have to pay any
initial costs for the account.
Therefore, you will not have to pay any
setup or membership fee. Because these
accounts are free many people assume
that these accounts are better than the
commercial or paid for merchant
accounts. This is not absolutely true.
Though free merchant accounts have many
advantages their disadvantages are more.
Therefore, you should find out how those
companies are able to give you free
merchant accounts i.e. find the catch
point of the offer.
“Free Merchant Accounts” come with no
setup fee, membership payment and
initial payment. Therefore, you don’t
have to pay a penny till you start
swiping credit cards. The chargeback
rates and processing rates of such
accounts are extremely high. If you read
the agreement properly and compare it
with the paid merchant accounts you will
find this out. For example, the
transaction fees for free merchant
accounts are around $1 + 5% of the total
transaction amount, which means that for
every $100 you have to pay $6 for your
merchant account. The transaction rates
can be as high as 14%. On the other
hand, commercial online merchant
accounts attract $0.20 + 3.5%.
Therefore, with commercial merchant
accounts you can save much more. The
concept which you have to clearly
understand is: “Underpaying for some
service will be compensated by
overpaying for another service”. This is
always applicable in the business world.
You may find a merchant account that is
free and also has reasonable fees and
rates. But you will be surprised when
you realise that this company does not
provide any kind of support. So be ready
to set up your merchant account by your
self. Merchant accounts come with bank
communication software, gateway and
shopping cart application which have to
be integrated, with all the security
issues taken care off. Well if you can
do this complex task then the merchant
account is a good bet. Some decent “Free
merchant account providers” provide some
kind of support through email. Also
check if technical support can be
availed so that your queries can be
resolved.
If you pay for your merchant account,
then you can negotiate the terms and
conditions and even the processing
rates. Also, you can choose the bank you
are comfortable to work with. On the
other hand, with free merchant accounts
you have to work with a provider with
out regard to the type of business you
are doing.
However, there are some cases where the
free merchant account makes more sense.
Therefore, you should carefully evaluate
all the options and choose one. Contact
one of our helpful account
representatives to assist you in the
setup of
a
high risk merchant account or
offshore merchant account for a
high risk merchant. |