What To Consider When Opening A Merchant Gateway Account

A merchant gateway account gives you a fully integrated online payment solution, together with your storefront and shopping cart software. The ability to take credit card payments online is no longer an optional benefit, it is now a total necessity. The days of website owners asking people to mail paper checks to pay for products and services are virtually over, and it rare now to even see check payments being offered as an alternative. Setting up your website to take credit card payments need not be difficult or time consuming, depending on the complexity of the solution you need.

If you are in business selling purely on the Internet, you can start without a merchant account. Services such as PayPal, 2Checkout and ClickBank give you the chance to sell online, although each of these has some kind of restriction. ClickBank is purely for sellers of digital download items, and is restrictive for small growing businesses in that you are only paid from your account on a monthly basis. PayPal gives you a lot more freedom, but PayPal accounts are often limited and even suspended when there is unusual activity, even though that activity may have a perfectly sound reason.

PayPal is also restrictive in the countries which are able to use it fully. 2Checkout is a lot more international friendly. In many cases, you will be able to accept PayPal payments through 2Checkout when you would not be able to accept them directly. These solutions are all that many online retailers feel they need in order to start and build up their business. Of course, having a fully fledged merchant account creates the image of being a legitimate, established business, because most customers know that these accounts are not easy to get.

It can be difficult to qualify for a bank merchant account, and even if you do qualify you may be subject to very high transaction fees as the bank will view Internet commerce as a high-risk activity. It is often better to work with a company which is a specialist in online card processing. In many cases, you can get the shopping cart software and the gateway service as an integrated package. This avoids any compatibility issues, even though it is usually possible to get shopping cart software packages to support the gateway you are using.

It is important to ensure that the merchant gateway account you are using has a high enough degree of security to protect against fraudulent transactions. While total protection is impossible, there are steps which can be taken to vastly reduce the potential problems you may face. The first of these is to make sure that the CVV number is required on all transactions where the customer is not present. Address Verification System will also help to reduce fraud. You are taking a big step, so make sure you are as well protected as possible when you apply for your merchant gateway account.






 

Credit Card Processing News:

 

JHA Payment Processing Solutions Adds 16 New Credit Union Clients in Six Months - Sacramento Bee

JHA Payment Processing Solutions Adds 16 New Credit Union Clients in Six Months
Sacramento Bee
PPS enables credit unions to consolidate credit, debit, and ATM card processing services which provides a single point of contact for settlements, adjustments, and reconciliations. PPS also offers an array of complementary products and value-add .

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Thomas McCole Joins Heartland Payment Systems(R) as Executive Director of . - MarketWatch (press release)

Thomas McCole Joins Heartland Payment Systems(R) as Executive Director of .
MarketWatch (press release)
About Heartland Payment Systems Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. /quotes/zigman/381218/quotes/nls/hpy HPY -1.44% , the fifth largest payments processor in the United States, delivers credit/debit/prepaid card processing, gift marketing and loyalty .

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IRS Clarifies 1099-K Reporting for 2011 Taxes - Reuters

Forbes

IRS Clarifies 1099-K Reporting for 2011 Taxes
Reuters
Business merchants who use third-party payment-processing companies for credit-card and e-commerce transactions should have received a Form 1099-K from each of those processing companies by Jan. 31. (This is only required for merchants with at least .
File simple tax returns onlinePacific Daily News

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Wireless Credit Card Processing - Survival Guide for Small Business

Wireless Credit Card Processing
Survival Guide for Small Business
New wireless credit card processing devices and services are making it easier for mobile businesses to quickly accept payments. Mobile payment terminals are becoming more common, and the number of available devices and services available can make a .

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Consumers and Merchants to Get More Bang out of Buck's New Mobile Payments Service - MarketWatch (press release)

Consumers and Merchants to Get More Bang out of Buck's New Mobile Payments Service
MarketWatch (press release)
15, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Buck, the company delivering mobile credit card payments without limits, today announced the launch of its new single-click credit card checkout for goods on the go. In conjunction with today's launch, .

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Mobile credit card processing made easy
William Lewis highlights two easy options for getting started in the credit card game and staying mobile in the process: Square and GoPayment...


The Best Credit Card Processors Ranked by topcreditcardprocessors.com for February 2012
topcreditcardprocessors.com, the independent authority on credit card processors, has released their list of the best credit card processing companies for the month of February 2012.(PRWEB) February 08, 2012 The independent authority on credit card processors, topcreditcardprocessors.com, has named their list of the best credit card processing companies in the merchant services industry for the ...


Bucks Blog: Cash-Back Credit Card Rewards Offers Going Strong
More credit card issuers offer cash-back rewards of at least 1 percent of spending...


JHA Payment Processing Solutions Adds 16 New Credit Union Clients in Six Months
MONETT, Mo., Feb. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ: JKHY - News) is a leading provider of technology solutions and payment processing services primarily for the financial services ...


Merchant e-Solutions Named Finalist for Customer Service Team of the Year in . - MarketWatch (press release)

Merchant e-Solutions Named Finalist for Customer Service Team of the Year in .
MarketWatch (press release)
15, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Merchant e-Solutions, a global leader in the credit card processing industry, has been named a finalist for a Stevie Award for Sales & Customer Service in the category of "Front-Line Customer Service Team of the .

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The small business mobile credit card processing competition heats up - Going Cellular

The small business mobile credit card processing competition heats up
Going Cellular
The Square Credit Card Reader is a smartphone accessory available on the Apple iOS and Android platforms that plugs into the headphone jack of your device and allows you to accept mobile credit card payments anywhere, charging a 2.75% processing fee .

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2012 Credit Card Processing Trend Predictions Released by CardPaymentOptions.com
CardPaymentOptions.com has released its 2012 predictions for the payment industry and the focus for this upcoming year is mobile processing.Santa Monica, CA (PRWEB) February 07, 2012 CardPaymentOptions.com has released its 2012 predictions for the payment industry and the focus for this upcoming year is mobile processing. With the boom of near field communication, mobile payment systems, as well ...


Cash-Back Credit Card Rewards Offers Going Strong - New York Times (blog)

New York Times (blog)

Cash-Back Credit Card Rewards Offers Going Strong
New York Times (blog)
What's behind the better credit-card deals? Banks have scaled back debit-card rewards programs in response to the Durbin amendment, part of federal legislation that restricts the EURswipeEUR fees banks can charge merchants for processing purchases made .

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