Merchant Services

When I started my research for this business, I communicated with a number of people whom I thought might have some practice in managing such merchants, and what I heard from them didn’t precisely come as a surprise to me. Most of my contemporaries warned me that such businesses could be very difficult to work with — that their company practices were doubtful, that they could infrequently doctor the required paperwork, that their chargeback ratios were sky-high, and that customer objection levels were off the chart. “Where have I heard that before?”, I wondered, and my initial practice rapidly confirmed the authenticity of these warnings. However, I had the good fortune to quickly stumble upon a high-risk merchant who turned out to be hardworking, trustworthy and legit. He also ensured low levels of customer complaints and chargebacks. Equally important, the volume per month was extravagant— about $500,000 and still continues to grow. Finding the best payment processing solu...

Payment Card Industry (PCI)  compliance refers to the technical and optional standards that businesses must follow to ensure that credit card data provided by the cardholders is secure. The compliance is enforced by the PCI Standards that set the guidelines. Furthermore, it needs to be enforced by all the merchants and businesses irrespective of their turnover or growth and the number of  credit card/debit card transactions  they are dealing with. They have to follow the guidelines of PCI compliance to secure the sensitive information of their customers. This reduces the likelihood of theft of financial and personal data. HOW DOES PCI COMPLIANCE WORK? PCI DSS keeps itself updated with new norms to keep new threats at bay. Its guidelines are implemented in both, the administration and technological part of the merchant business. Hence, you will have to keep your website updated regularly and make sure the payment deals are in accordance with PCI complianc...

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE US AND THE EUROPEAN MERCHANT ACCOUNTS – MERCHANT STRONGHOLD: Pricing: There is a huge difference in the prices between the US and the European Merchant Accounts in terms of the gateway, setup fees, and discount rates etc. The European merchant accounts are way higher in prices than the US Merchant Accounts . The cost of the US Merchant Accounts decreased due to the high competition among the US banks. Unlike US banks, there is no such competition for the European Merchant accounts which leads to a higher cost. European Banks offer their services all over the world while the US banks provide their services in the US only. Quality: In terms of the quality of the services, both the banks are equal. Both the US and European Merchant Accounts offering the same credit card processing services like VISA and MasterCard etc. Even though the banks are using the best credit card processing services and security services there also be a possibility of scams. ...

Collecting payments through cards has grown as one of the essential parts of the business. As today people prefer to pay through their cards that are, purchasing product or services through their account directly. For this, the businesses who are practicing the traditional way of business are rapidly changing their working or the start-up businesses who want to have a credit card payment accepting merchant account, needs to deal with a lot of paperwork for the approval of a merchant account that is specially dedicated to collect payments through cards. Here we are going to discuss the  merchant account  requirements in the UK, Ireland and other 26 European countries. For a merchant account to be initiated for collecting card payments the businesses need to have the following documents to file applications: The above were the perquisites that will act as the deciding factor whether the applicant is eligible to apply for the merchant account. Now, for filing the ...

Business Documents and KYC 3 months recent prior processing statements for all products intended on being processed through the  merchant account  (If applicable) 3 months recent business bank statements. (If the new business, the merchant should be able to show financial stability to support the startup/operation of the business or personal bank statements.) Prior years and year-to-date business financials (Prior years audited financials required if available) Website or Marketing materials (Print ads, brochures, etc.) if mail order/telephone order sales If product/service being sold and not owned by the merchant, reseller agreements should be provided Articles of incorporation/articles of the organization showing the ownership of the entity associated with the merchant account Offer/Campaign Information Describe the product/service being sold? How is the product/service ordered or purchased? What are the price points for the product/service? Is the produ...

Requirements for Online Merchant Account For merchants that try to make new merchant accounts, it is imperative to have a comprehension of the necessities for online merchant accounts. Thinking about the prerequisites for credit card processing on the online can ensure that a merchant does not mistakenly engage in fraud and makes every single vital report to a managing bank. Here are a some of the necessities that a merchant should consider for an online merchant account. Typical Merchant Application Requirements The basic important Description and Documents are required in the Merchant Application for credit card processing . Annual Volume – Merchant should describe the Average Monthly volume on the application. Average Ticket – Merchant should describe the ticket size of the products and services they will provide. Approved / Secure website – Website(s) should be SSL certified, Terms and Condition, Privacy policy & return policy should be clearly mentioned o...

Offshore Merchant Account An offshore merchant account, also known as an international merchant account or “offshore” merchant account, The Main benefits offshore merchant account is the security and option the accepting major currencies. Popular Offshore Account among Merchant Offshore Account & E-commerce mostly communication as Merchants, irrespective of their industry types. Merchant aim at attracting a majority of customers and look for maximizing sale to earn good profit. To accomplish this, the merchant needs a merchant account that acknowledges the greater part of  credit cards . In any case, it isn't that simple to open a merchant account, as it incorporates numerous prerequisites and long strategies, which isn't the situation with an offshore merchant account. A large portion of the businesses maintains at them to keep up an offshore account as it gives numerous financial and legal advantages to its client. No matter how small or big business y...

This is the digital age, so most businesses know the importance of  accepting electronic payment , especially if they are leveraging the e-commerce space. PayPal is often a go-to choice, but what if a customer prefers something else? What if there is a processing solution that works better for your business than others? Here are a few payment processors that can help improve revenue and customer experiences. Stripe Stripe manages tens of billions of dollars every day, so as many as half of American residents paid via Stripe in the past year did so without knowing—they even recently partnered with Amazon. If you are a business owner looking for something flexible with carefully designed APIs (the software is easily customizable to fit your needs), Stripe is worth considering. Deluxe eChecks Deluxe eChecks are also beneficial for business payments, too. If you need to pay vendors, suppliers, or employees while simultaneously streamlining operations, electronic...

Difference between a Refund and a Chargeback Most of us often get confused between these two terms and usually think that these two are one of the same things. But that is not true. For refund, customer contacts the business where as for charge back, customer instead of going directly to the business contacts the bank that is managing the  merchant account  of that particular business and asks them to remove that charge from the merchant bank account. Further, bank enquires about the request and if found valid, removes the charge from merchant account and returns it to the customer. How Refund Can Help If a customer is not happy with the product or has received wrong product, he/she can either ask for a refund or a chargeback. In case of refund, business simple sends the money back to the customer directly to his/her bank account through which the payment was made. But that is not the case in chargeback. In chargeback, the issuer bank refunds the money to the custo...