How To Accept Credit Cards Without A Merchant Account
To increase sales on your website, you must accept credit cards. To process credit cards, you could apply for a merchant account through your bank or other financial institution. Sometimes, though, you would be further ahead to use the services of a credit card processor. This is especially true when you are first starting out and have more limited resources. In this way, you may process credit card transactions without the high front-end costs and requirements of a merchant account. Here, then, are just a few ways of accepting credit cards without a merchant account. I personally use all of these vendors and can recommend them wholeheartedly. 1. Clickbank If your product is downloadable (such as electronic books or software), you might consider ClickBank.com . For a $49.95 initial fee, you can process credit cards and on-line cheques for $1.00 per transaction plus 7.5% of sales. You receive additional exposure through free listing on their website and through the search facilities of other websites, such as CBMall.com. As an added bonus, you have your own built-in affiliate program. You decide what commission (from 1% to 75%) you would like to pay your affiliates. 2. PayPal PayPal.com has no initial fees. For just 2.9% of sales and $ .30 per transaction (and sometimes less), you can receive money from anyone. Also, you can pay others by credit card or chequing account without supplying your personal credit information to the payee. PayPal can be used to collect money from your auctions, website sales, or even from friends or clients. 3. PaySystems In the original edition of this article, I recommended PaySystems.com (also known as MyPaySystems.com). This is what I wrote about them: “PaySystems.com can handle either intangible (downloadable) or tangible (shippable) products. For an initial fee of $49.00, you can accept all major credit cards as well as online checks. Fees are just 3.95% of sales and $1.00 per transaction. Alternatively, you may pay 5.5% of sales and $ .35 per transaction.” “For this, you receive shopping cart, integration with third-party affiliate programs (such as ClixGalore.com), fraud screening, multi-currency transactions, toll-free support, marketing tools, and more.” Unfortunately, PaySystems.com has discontinued their “Internet Billing Account” for those outside the United States. 4. 2CheckOut 2CheckOut.com can handle both intangible and tangible products. For an initial fee of $49.00, you can accept all major credit cards as well as online checks. Fees are just 5.5% of sales and $0.45 per transaction. For this, you receive shopping cart, fraud detection, integration with third-party affiliate programs, multi-currency transactions, free on-line support, and more. Incidentally, 2CheckOut.com has the same policy as ClickBank.com does with regard to sales taxes. Both companies take the position that you are selling your product to them and that they resell it to the final consumer. Thus, they claim that you are not subject to sales taxes on those sales. J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over twenty-five years. To learn more about accepting credit cards and other profitable Work at Home Small Business Ideas, visit <a href="http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/creditcards.html" target="_blank">http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/creditcards.html</a>
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Choosing The Right Merchant Account Provider
As a business owner, you want to succeed. You undoubtedly want to increase your sales and make more money. The best way to do this is to offer your customers the ability to pay for merchandise with their credit cards. Whether you operate your business in a physical location or online-only, allowing customers the option of credit card payment is logical. You will increase sales because of the convenience of the payment options you offer. The vast majority of shoppers, online and in person, prefer to pay with their credit cards. Opening a merchant account is the way to give your customers more payment options. But it is important that you find out as much as you can about merchant accounts and merchant account providers. A merchant account is set up through a bank or an online merchant account provider for a retail or online organization in order to accept credit cards as payment from customers. A merchant account is not a bank account. The merchant account provider’s job is to place the money you earn from credit card sales into your bank account. It used to be that merchant accounts were only offered by banks and providers to retail businesses that were located in a physical location. But with online shopping gaining popularity over the past several years, merchant account providers have started providing accounts to online business owners as well. Even though most banks still do not provide online merchant accounts due to the constant concern over credit card fraud, there are an increasing amount of online merchant account providers that offer services especially to those merchants that market their products online. Because of the high number of merchant account providers out there, it is important that you research all aspects of them, what services they provide, and especially the costs they impose, so that you don’t lose precious profits. When looking into merchant accounts and providers, be aware that there are two types pf payment processing that they will offer. These are manual and real-time processing. Manual processing requires that the credit card number be delivered through a phone transaction, fax transaction, or an online order form. The order is processed manually by contacting the payment processing company (through an Internet connection) to verify the credit card number, or by using a point of sale machine to swipe the card at the time of purchase. This type of processing is more secure, less costly, and ideal for a low-volume merchant in a physical store location. Real-time processing is perfect for web-based merchants because the credit card is immediately processed at the time an order is placed. Pending verification and approval of the credit card, the customer receives notification (via e-mail) that his or her order is accepted and fund transfer is approved. This is the less secure of the two processing options. There are costs associated with opening and sustaining a merchant account. Not all of the fees are necessary, and not all merchant account providers will charge them. One type of cost is the application fee, which covers the costs of processing your application, whether you open an account or not. A number of merchant account providers will waive the fee if you decide to open an account. And some merchant account providers do not charge this fee at all. There is often an annual fee associated with a merchant account as well. Merchant account providers charge this fee simply for holding an account with them. Another common fee is the statement fee, a monthly fee that can be as much as $25 per month, and is supposedly imposed by the account providers in order to cover their own costs. Yet another fee is the discount rate, which the merchant account provider earns from each of your sales, usually between 2 and 4 percent. The fixed transaction fee, like the discount fee, is also based on each sale, but the provider takes the same amount regardless of the cost of the product purchased, usually .20-.30. Usually, buried in the fine print of your agreement with your provider is a termination fee. Because some providers require a lengthy commitment period more than 2 years, this fee applies if you cancel your account early. There are also various miscellaneous fees that are levied on your account. Often, these charges are withdrawn if a customer requests a refund, and wants the amount credited back to their card. There are many costs associated with an online merchant account, and it can cut into your profits. It is important that you evaluate different the merchant account providers you are interested in so that you save yourself money down the line. You can also use your current sales information to guesstimate the costs of your merchant account. More than likely, you will have a long relationship with your merchant account provider. Therefore, you should have the utmost trust and confidence in them. Your provider should offer various services that will give you options in making your business transactions run smoothly. They should be able to accommodate several brands of credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, etc.), in addition to providing other payment alternatives, such as PayPal. They should have a record of impeccable service and reliability. They should also be first-rate customer service providers. Any problems should be handled discreetly and quickly. Despite the seeming necessity of having a merchant account provider, it can make or break your business with its fees and service. That is why it is important to know the ins and outs of a merchant account provider, and to choose one carefully. Learn the essential information for picking the right merchant account services at <a href="http://www.merchants-account-services.com/merchant-account-provider.html">Merchant Account Provider</a>
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An Ecommerce Internet Merchant Account
Small business owners and home based entrepreneurs sometimes reach the point where they realize their company is ready to grow, and then they begin to consider the advantages of an ecommerce Internet merchant account. Those who accept merely cash or check payments may decide to increase the ways in which a customer can pay for goods or services. A merchant account will let business owners accept credit card payments in many different ways. That is why so many business people opt to apply for an Internet merchant account. If you do not already have an Internet Website to promote your business, this would be a good time to put one in place by opening an Ecommerce Internet Merchant account. More and more, consumers are looking to the Internet to find companies that offer the products and terms they want. Conducting business on the Internet or through technological means is called “ecommerce,” sometimes spelled as “e-commerce,” and it is growing at a tremendously rapid rate. Once your Website is operational, you will want to update it often with your latest product lines and descriptions and price lists. Once customers from any other computer in the world know where to find you, chances are they will return time and again if they like your site; they might even bookmark it. To keep customers coming back, get an Ecommerce Internet merchant account that will let you accept credit card payments. That way, customers can buy things at your store locations, whether online or at a physical site, and pay for them instantly. You won’t have to send out statements or wait for checks to arrive in the mail. Instead, your credit-processing feature will let them pay with a credit card, and your underwriter can facilitate the payment by converting currency and deposit profits in your account, using real time. An ecommerce Internet merchant account can put you leagues ahead of other companies in your industry. While they still take just check or cash payments, you can be busy processing credit card payments that could push your sales volume to new record heights. Naturally, you will want to keep your store looking attractive, and your Website should offer helpful information that will make guests want to return and possibly even bookmark your site for frequent reference. When the word gets out that you are accepting credit payments, more customers may browse your Website to check out your wares and plunk down a credit card in payment. One of the nice things about using credit is its convenience. Customers don’t have to worry about carrying enough cash or making an account deposit before going shopping. They can browse spontaneously, and when they find something they want to buy, they need not be constrained by a lack of cash on hand or forgetting to order new checks for the checkbook. Why not apply for your merchant account services account soon so that you can enjoy the status and benefits of attracting customers who prefer using credit when they hear about your ecommerce Internet merchant account. Shane Penrod is the founder of <a href="http://www.Merchant-Account-Quotes.com" target="_blank">http://www.Merchant-Account-Quotes.com</a> Specializing in allowing merchants the ability to shop and compare multiple quotes from national merchant account providers. For free quotes on merchant account rates and fees, please go to <a href="http://www.merchant-account-quotes.com" target="_blank">http://www.merchant-account-quotes.com</a>
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