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...

Merchant Account Processing :  There are many misconceptions about Merchant Accounts and their service providers. In this blog, we will try to reveal some of the facts about the Merchant Account Processing. While opting out for a merchant account, and choosing a  payment gateway , businesses usually make mistakes some way or another. Whether you are new to the business or have lots of experience, you still might have some misconceptions about it. Not Worth the Time  – Firstly, entrepreneurs find that they have the best payment processing with the banks, some businessmen don’t care about the ease they get while doing the transactions through a merchant account. Expensive Affair  – Yes, the  merchant accounts  don’t come cheap, but they are not costly either. They just tell you the fees in a package where all the things are segregated and revealed as one. As well as the providers tell you the fees in percentage so, you have a clearer pers...

It is difficult to start a business, as well as applying for a merchant account. The merchant accounts get approval or disapprove from the risk departments. While considering the business to be high-risk business or Low-risk. There are few reasons why any business can be in  high-risk business . Risk factors that make a business HIGH RISK You have lost your previous merchant account due to high chargeback ratio. Questionable sales and marketing tactics. Potential legal and financial liability. Your credit is really bad. Industries with excessive chargebacks or fraud incidents. Trial continuity business. Previous credit card processing is not good enough. You’ve been branded as a terminated merchant (TMF). The  high-risk merchant account  categorization depends on your business’ industry. Regardless of your individual businesses’ track record. In addition, the high-risk category includes businesses that are declined by a previous credit card process...

In this article, we have covered a few of the strategies with which a merchant can get his funds quickly. An Omission of Chargebacks: A business should be customer-centric and should always provide good if not the best customer service. Still, it is not necessary to have a chargeback-proof business. Always try to minimize the chargebacks. It would not only help your business in getting funds faster but also reduce the chances of getting under the TMF ( Terminated Merchant File ). Documentation of Larger tickets: Just like any unusual high overall volumes will draw the attention of your merchant account provider , so will an unusual large individual transaction. The third-party processors hold the funds until you provide the documentation, or until the closing of the chargeback window. Most merchant accounts have the policy of holding the amount of the transaction exceeds the specified value. However, it’s usually a good idea for a large transaction (over $500) to have a...

Online Payment Risk :  Payment risk is considered as a loss if a merchant or a company handles a high volume of payments and they fail to comply with the contract. The blockage of the payments as a source of fraud can be bounced back on the company. The truth is that every payment method involves risk. If you run an online business and process payments on your website, there is a risk involved. The major ones are fraud and operational risks. There are many types of operational risks: Inadequate and Failed Information Systems Fraud and Chargebacks Processing Errors Breaches in Internal Sources and Control Commercial Disputes Unforeseen Calamity. Since the online payments form the foundation for digital foundation services, an approach to managing and regulating their risk is the first step. A company should work for an approach for assessing the economic impact of risk from the perspectives of customers, providers, and self. A high level of transactional risk ex...

Merchant Account and Payment Gateway :  The Basic requirement for starting up and running a business is having a Merchant Account and a Payment gateway. Both have an equivalent ratio for the smooth and balanced working of the business.  A businessman who has really started up with new e-commerce venture requires a point from where he can connect to the customers. Now we need to figure out how? The foremost thing to run an e-commerce site is to have a proper cash flow in it. Hence, where do we need that money from; from the customer? Any entrepreneur running a High or Low-Risk business requires a Merchant Account and a Payment Gateway. Merchant Account: A type of an account that allows accepting online payment from the customers through many ways under legal wings of the  payment service provider . Merchant Account is created under the mutual agreement between a merchant and merchant’s acquiring bank, so to further proceed with future online payment. ...

During the last numerous years, escort services have become one of the quickest growing industries. Having the abilities of credit card processing to your escort commercial enterprise will offer the first-class comfort for your customers. By allowing  credit card payments , you can grow sales. Merchant Stronghold offers escort merchant accounts which are specially designed for online, in-app. Get in touch with Merchant Stronghold to manage your escort merchant account today. MERCHANT STRONGHOLD WILL HELP YOU TO APPROVE ESCORT MERCHANT ACCOUNTS Signing up for an escort service merchant account at Merchant Stronghold is straightforward. you may rest confident that your prices will never boom for the whole lifetime of your partnership at Merchant Stronghold with our  Lifetime price Lock assure. Get custom-designed credit card processing solutions especially to meet your enterprise needs. help reduce the risk of chargebacks on your escort organization with secure and...

There are many misconceptions about  Merchant Accounts  and their service providers. In this blog, we will try to reveal some of the facts about the Merchant Account Processing. You are new to the business or have lots of experience, you still might have some misconceptions about it. Not Worth the Time  – Firstly, entrepreneurs find that they have the best  payment processing  with the banks, some businessmen don’t care about the ease they get while doing the transactions through a merchant account. Expensive Affair  – Yes, the merchant accounts don’t come cheap, but they are not costly either. They just tell you the fees in a package where all the things are segregated and revealed as one. As well as the providers tell you the fees in percentage so, you have a clearer perspective on the rates. Misleading Promotion  – The misconception is that the service providers prevent the facts and sell the merchant accounts in higher percentag...

WHY DO YOU NEED A MERCHANT SERVICE PROVIDER ? A Merchant service provider is also known as a credit card processor. They offer services to the merchant to accept the credit card, debit card, and other electronic modes of money transactions. An MSP is responsible to move the money from the customer’s account to the merchant when the customer swipes the card. Also, a business that accepts the card and other electronic means of the payment can expand their business easily, as more customers are using the card instead of the cash in today’s economy. Most MSP’s are providing a wide range of methods to accept payment to make the customer feel comfortable while choosing the service or product a merchant has to offer. HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST MERCHANT SERVICE PROVIDER? Go for the Track record of various Merchant Service Providers. Before subscribing to the merchant service , you must check the previous records and reviews of that provider. If they have a positive record...

In order to reduce the risk, you need to add more secure online payment services to your system. Here are some security measures that you must add to your payment services : SSL Protocol SSL Protocol ensures the security of your website. This means, each and every data experiencing your website is encrypted. As a merchant, you need to purchase the SSL Certificate for the website so that when customers visit your website, they see that your website is safe to use. Not just that, SSL Protocol helps you grow your online reputation as well. A website will SSL has a padlock icon along with the URL of the website. This padlock icon gives customer relief that the website is safe to use. Tokenization It is a popular data security method used to transfer sensitive data. Payment methods are generally equipped with their system with tokenization. Using tokenization, the customers data and information remains safe even in case of the data breach. In tokenization, the sens...

It allows you to market your product directly either over phone or web conferencing, which is on a call. In this marketing method, the salesperson tries to convince prospective customers to buy a product or service. Services are given over the phone or during a conference. For operating such type of business and carry out financial transactions (where most of the transactions are through credit card), business or merchant needs a  merchant account . High-Risk Merchant Account  Next thing that comes to our mind is what is the meaning of a high-risk merchant. Issuer bank defines whether a merchant account or the business is high risk or not. It depends on the number of chargebacks and the type of industry. High-risk merchant in telemarketing business faces a lot of struggle in getting approval for a merchant account. But if they succeed in getting one, it will enhance the sales, as they will be able to  accept credit card  payment from their customers p...

Account Hold When the banks withhold some of the money from the merchant account is called Merchant holds. The merchant account remains active and the account holds money that acts as a deposit for doing business. Furthermore, in case of any fraudulent activity or chargeback issues, this money can be used. However, the Merchant Account is not standard practice for both banks and the merchant especially in the case of low-risk merchants . Account Freeze If the Merchant is suspected to be involved in a suspicious activity then the Merchant Account is subjected to freeze. During the freeze, the merchant is not allowed to make any transaction using that Merchant Account. Then the Bank investigates the issues and unfreezes the account if no solid evidence is found against the Merchant. The merchant should understand the reason behind the Account Freeze. This can help to avoid Merchant account hold or freeze in future . What Causes Merchant Account Hold or F...

Open Merchant Bank Account You can open a Business Bank Account anytime just by visiting the nearest branch. It takes hardly a few minutes to open a merchant bank account if your documents are ready and appropriate. Even if you are the sole proprietor of the business, you need to create a Business Bank Account. Now, your business transaction can be carried out using this bank account. All you need is your merchant license or business license and EIN (Employer Identification Number). Also, make sure you keep a certain amount in the account for processing fees and software fees. How to Get the Business License? The business license is a permit from the government or the responsible organization that allows you to sell goods and services. Depending on your geographical location, you can get a business license by providing the required documents. You need to provide the documents that validate your business. An underwriting and review of the business also need...

Low-Risk Merchant Prior to applying for a merchant account, you must know if your business comes under low-risk. Reason being, merchants in our payment processing world come under low-risk, medium-risk, and high-risk categories. various factors collectively decide the risk category for a particular business. For an example, while reviewing the business it is reviewed that how much risk is involved in the business, what is their risk level, which is the country wherein they got incorporated and their processing history and so on. The following criterion is a perfect match for any business that falls within the low-risk category – Monthly Processing amount lower than $20,000 is processed by you. The average size of the ticket that you possess is lower than $50. Your chargeback ratio is quite low. The industry that you cater to reflects a lower risk. The country of your incorporation falls within a low-risk category. Common Low-Risk Industries When you ch...

You’ve opened your debt consulting business. First things first you must have a merchant account. A credit card processor will be an integral part of keeping your business functional. It may take your business to new heights. It would allow you to generate payments and to get more and more clients. In simple terms, we can say, if you are doing business with merchant account then you will be able to get payments from your customer and clients through your merchant account. Your business can run smoothly. How To Get a Merchant Account? Be aware of fraud or scam. Be assured for the type of accepting payments through credit cards. Search for merchant account providers and compare charges of each of them. Check if the merchant service provider giving the payment gateway or not (if they do then, we recommend you to go with them without any second thought.) Prepare an application and attach all the documents along in an impressive way. Now you see how simple it is to crea...

The market is filled with the payment processors, who “claim” to offer the best  recurring payment management services . As a merchant who should compare this service before landing to one, this article can help you with your decision. WHAT ARE RECURRING PAYMENTS? After the customer’s approval, the merchant is allowed to deduct/collect a fixed amount of money after a fixed time interval (every month) for a specific product or service and is called recurring payments. For example, if you are using a Netflix then you have entered your credit/debit card details while setting up the payment. Now, every month, Netflix deducts a fixed amount from your card to offer you the services. There are two important aspects of recurring payments: Processing – The modes both customer and merchant are using to complete a transaction. For instance, the customer can use the Visa Credit Card and Merchant uses Authorize.net as a  payment gateway  for the transaction. ...

Here are the generally detailed documentation(irrespective of any country) that are required for the  merchant account  is: To prove that the applicant is the legal resident of the country he/she should have these documents to initiate the application process: Legal presence in the country: The merchant should have a registered legal name and address and a Doing Business As the name. Physical presence: The merchant should have a physical presence of the business place. This physical presence can be the applicant’s home or an office from where the business is being incorporated. An existing personal or business bank account in the country where the applicant is applying for the merchant account. The documentation that will be required while filing the application form and get the approval as soon as possible: Applicant’s form: This is typically provided by the bank or processor to get filled by the applicant that acts as the resume of the applicant which will cont...

Personal Credit History  – Your personal credit history plays a large part in your application. If you have a good history, it will lead you to get a  merchant account  easily. Tax Issues  – Make sure that you have resolved all your tax issues, submitted your annual declarations, and that there are no tax liens on your account or property. High-Risk Business Types  – Most acquiring banks maintain a list of industries that they generally will not service due to their traditionally high-risk nature in order to protect their interests. Merchant Stronghold always plays a very important role and partnered only with the top tier banks that accept applications easily. Processing Volumes Should Remain Within the ‘Norm’  – Your expected volumes are based on past processing and expected growth in the near future. To improve the odds for getting approved, show processing amounts within the “norm” for your industry. Avoid being on the TMF (Termina...

As technology is advancing, the internet has decreased the geographical distance and brought the global market in one place. Through online businesses, merchants can provide their services to customers all around the world. Irrespective of the size of business you own, to run it successfully online, merchants need to have two things: 1. Merchant Account 2. Credit Card Processing Facility An offshore merchant account is the most common account out of all the options available in the market. The offshore account does not require a huge cost for the initial setup. This type of account is more popular among small businesses that operate online. Benefits of Offshore Merchant Account 1. Some offshore account providers may charge you but there are a few that do not charge a penny for initial setup, which is a beneficial deal for merchants running small online businesses. 2. Offshore Merchant account provider takes care to protect their clients (small business merchants, having...

Merchant Stronghold is in the market since long and has maintained good repo by providing best services to our clients. Our commitment to excellence drives our interactions with clients, customers and each other which helped us in attaining 100% customer satisfaction rate. Following are the things that make our service better than the other players in the market: INTEGRITY Integrity, trust, and honesty are the foundation of everything we do as a company. We look for health and long-term relationship with our clients and not just looking for one time sale. TEAMWORK We operate as a team, sharing experiences, resources, and opportunities. We help others when they need it and ask for help when needed. As a team, we along with our clients, workout for best solution which not only meets all the current needs but also meets the need of the near future. INNOVATION We make every effort to translate creative and unique ideas into services, products, or processes that cre...