Merchant
Account - Accepting Payment Online
If
you're doing business on the Internet, accepting payment through
your website is an absolute must. If you're not processing orders
online, you're losing a great deal of money in lost sales. Studies
have shown, you can increase your online sales up to 400% simply
by accepting credit cards. With today's advanced technology, processing
orders online can be as simple as pasting a code within your web
page HTML.
Preparing your website to process orders online isn't as difficult
as you may think. There are basically two options. The first option
is to set up a merchant account. This entails either making arrangements
with your bank or using an online company. The second option is
to use a third party credit card processor. This option requires
no merchant account and usually entails setting up a form or placing
a link on your order page.
Don't
let this process intimidate you, as it is much easier than you
may think. There are many professional companies on the Internet
that will assist you.
Merchant
Accounts
If
you decide to get your own merchant account, you will also need
access to a secure server and a shopping cart system. A secure
server will protect your customers' information. A shopping cart
system will provide your customer with a running total of what
they've ordered and the total cost.
The
following website can provide you with a merchant account:
Total
Merchant Services(TMS)
This
outstanding company comes highly recommended by Corey Rudl --
author of the #1 selling online marketing course, "Insider
Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet."
The
TMS Merchant account, for Internet transactions, will enable you
to accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. They
offer two merchant processing software packages to choose from.
The first package is the TotalPay powered by Authorize.Net Virtual
Terminal. This package will enable you to authorize, process,
and manage credit card transactions from any computer with a Internet
connection and a Web browser. This package ordinarily runs $995,
but for a limited time is being offered for only $397. The second
package is the TotalPay powered by Authorize.Net Virtual Terminal
that includes the Total Merchant Manager Shopping Cart. This package
includes everything the first package includes, and more:
- Customizable Shopping Cart System - UPS Shipping Module - Links
to Virtual Terminal - Free Initial Installation
Their
discount rate is 2.4% and $0.35 per transaction fee. Monthly fees
include a $10 monthly statement fee and a $10 gateway fee that
includes secure, online, real-time credit card and e-cheque processing
and only applies to merchants processing transactions through
their Internet payment gateway.
Third
Party Credit Card Processors
If
you'd rather not have your own merchant account, third party credit
card processors will process your credit card orders for you.
There are usually no monthly fees. They charge a "per transaction"
fee and send you payment for all your orders processed, minus
their fee and a reserve fee.
A
reserve fee is withheld to cover any charge backs you may have.
If you have no charge backs within a period of time, your reserve
will be refunded to you. Each company has their own guidelines
in regard to reserves.
The
following websites will process credit cards for you:
1ShoppingCart
- Highly Recommended
1ShoppingCart
is a remotely-hosted, shopping cart system, that includes credit
card processing, merchant account, digital product delivery, newsletter
manager, email marketing autoresponders, pop-up wizard, ad tracking,
and two-tier affiliate program marketing system.
iBill
This
outstanding company is a complete ecommerce solution that will
enable you to process transactions through your website via credit
card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, and JCB),
online checks, or through their telephone billing service (900
toll phone number). There are no setup fees. They charge 12% -
15% per transaction fee for credit card and check purchases and
20% - 30% per transaction fee for phone purchases. Non-US merchants
are welcome.
PayPal
Another
outstanding company that enables any business or consumer with
an email address to securely, conveniently, and cost-effectively
send and receive payments online. You can sell with PayPal through
an online auction, on your own website, or as part of an online
marketplace. There are no setup fees. They charge 2.9% + 30"
per transaction.
ClickBank
ClickBank
is another outstanding company that will enable you to accept
Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, Eurocard, Visa-Debit,
MasterCard-Debit and Novus cards. No merchant account is required.
They
charge a one-time $49.95 activation fee, and a $1 + 7.5% fee per
sale. There are no monthly fees. The great thing about this company
is that over 60,000 affiliates can choose to sell your products
for you. ClickBank enables any web seller to automatically pay
sales commissions to affiliates. They will bill your customers,
pay you, and pay your affiliates a commission. In other words,
they'll run your entire affiliate program for you. In addition,
their services are available for non-US merchants.
ClickBank
is intended to be used for electronic merchandise only. If you
ship a physical product, you may want to consider using iBill
to process your orders.
If
you're just starting out, you may want to use one of the third
party credit card processors, as this is the easiest route. Each
company provides you with step by step instructions to assist
you in getting your website set up to accept credit cards. The
great thing about third party credit card processors is that they
handle everything for you. You don't have to hassle with processing
your credit card payments or charge backs, as everything is taken
care of for you.
In
order to be successful on the Internet, you must accept credit
cards. In addition, you must make the ordering process as simple
as possible. With today's technology, even the smallest homebased
business can now accept credit credits almost instantly. Visit
one of the websites mentioned above and get your website set up
today. Your success depends on it.
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