Internet merchant account guide and information
Being able to accept credit cards on your website isn't all that difficult or expensive anymore unless you have bad credit or have previously declared bankruptcy. The costs involved in being able to accept credit cards vary from source to source.
The Pieces of the Puzzle
There are 3 things that you will need to accept credit cards on your website.
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A bank account - This is the account where you want the money paid to you by your customers for your products or services to be deposited.
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An Internet merchant account - This is what gives you the authorization to collect funds from your customer's credit card account.
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A payment gateway - This is the secure network that transmits the payment information from your secure server (where your customers information is collected) to your merchant account. You also use it to issue refunds and to process any offline transactions.
Now that you know the components needed to accept credit cards on your website, you need to understand what an Internet merchant account and payment gateway are going to cost you and how to get them. Each of those 2 components are usually provided and operated by separate companies.
When shopping around for a provider who can set you up to accept credit cards, make sure that you understand what it is the company is going to provide you with. Is it just the gateway, just the merchant account, or both? Make sure that you are comparing "apples to apples" when you are looking for the best price. Also, be sure to ask if the Internet merchant account will show your company name on your customer's credit card statement or if it will be somebody else's.
There are some free or very cheap processing solutions that can cost anywhere from $0 to $50 to acquire. However, you get what you pay for and in many cases you have to jump through alot of hoops to get approved. Many of those solutions also won't allow you to integrate them into your website. The transaction fees can also be significantly higher. To take your customer's payment you will have to send them to a secure page on the provider's website that may not match the design of your site. That's not the best way to instill trust about yourself in the mind of your customer. Sending them off of your site doesn't look very professional either unless it is to a well-known, reputable location like Western Union online payment options. Also, many free or cheap processing solutions will hold your money in reserve for up to 3 weeks or require you to maintain a large deposit with them.
To have a complete credit card processing solution that will seamlessly integrate with your website is going to cost you between $100 and $400 depending on the provider you get it from. (Our Internet merchant account and payment gateway package is less than $150! Use the form above to get setup in as little as 48 hours.) On the brighter side though, you're transaction fees will be about half of what they would be if you used a free or really cheap setup. In the long run the setup costs balance out because you'll keep more funds from every transaction and you'll end up with a much more professional image.
The Internet merchant account and payment gateway packages we offer includes a gateway that our site builder is already pre-programmed to seamlessly integrate with. The Internet merchant account is in your name and comes from the #1 issuing merchant account provider in the U.S for the last 10 years. Your company name and phone number will appear on your customer's credit card statement and your money will be deposited into your bank account within 3 business days.
