High Risk Payment Processing and Reserves

Processing of high-risk paymentsAs a merchant, high risk payment processing can allow you to accept credit and debit card payments, even though the category of your business is typically denied access to these services. There is generally a higher rate associated with usage of this service when compared to merchants in other categories of businesses. A high-risk merchant account from a company like High Risk Experts can be the solution to your difficulties with payment processing, and your reserves are perhaps one of the most important components of this decision. As a seller online, you are well aware that the anonymity associated with online purchases when compared to traditional retail transactions results in a higher rate of instances of fraud, and online payment processing services typically deny payment processing to providers of certain types of businesses.

Capped Reserve

One method of ensuring protection against loss employed by banks doing high risk payment processing is the capped reserve, in which a percentage of your sales revenues are withheld in order to provide a cushion for the bank in case of loss. The capped aspect of this refers to the withholding of this sales percentage until a certain amount of your revenues for (more…)

Obtaining a Merchant Account While Having Bad Credit

Merchant account when having bad creditIn today’s commercial business market it appears to be essential to have a merchant account service or other type of commercial ability to receive credit cards online and perform essential financial transactions online. A competitive edge is gained through customer-friendly online financial services. Consumers are more and more depending on the internet for their daily shopping needs and immediate payment is essential for a merchant in order not to lose that sale to a competitor that may have a faster check-out and payment system. If a merchant and company owner however is plagued with poor credit for some unforeseen reason or unavoidable circumstance the company will suffer more if a merchant account is denied because of the owner’s poor credit.

E-Commerce in Today’s Economy

Co-signorA secure payment gateway may be obtained through available means that include using an ACH delay agreement with the banker or perhaps even using a co-signor to bring a good credit rating to the negotiating table with the banking services representative. An ACH delay means that the deposit of processing funds to the bank account involved will be withheld for a few extra days as a (more…)

E-Commerce Exchange on How Merchant Accounts Work

Credit cards for merchant accounts

A business owner who needs a merchant account will be able to obtain one from a company that represents the credit card issuers. In order to set up these business accounts, both the merchant and the credit card payment processor will need to draw up a contract detailing the services that the processor will provide and for what price. Then, the merchants will be able to accept credit cards as payment in their businesses.

Business owners can only accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express if they have a merchant account. Only banks that have a relationship with Visa and MasterCard can set up these accounts because these banks have obtained the certification necessary in order to offer the services that business owners need to accept credit cards as payment. After business owners have purchased their merchant accounts and they are authorized to begin accepting credit cards, they will be able to begin allowing their customers to pay by credit card as described below.

An Example

1) As customers begin to pay for their merchandise, they swipe their cards on the store’s terminal or they enter their card’s information where it is stored in the software.

2) The sales associate electronically asks for permission (more…)

Accepting Credit Cards with an iPhone: Is it Safe?

Credit card reader for iPhoneIf your business requires door-to-door sales, such as lawn care services or pet sitting, you likely spend much of your time driving from place to place. When you need to accept a credit card payment, you are either forced to wait till you are in front of your computer or credit terminal, or you can just choose not to accept cards as a form of payment. Both of these scenarios can cost your business customers and lost sales. By now you’ve likely heard of the credit card app for iPhones, which allow you to process credit card transactions with your cell phone, but you may be wondering how safe they are.

Keeping the Business Owner Safe

A safety feature of iPhone credit card payments, which is also convenient, is that you will know right away if the transaction is approved or declined. This cuts back on any lost sales that could result from customer error or fraudulent credit cards. As well, the transaction processes immediately, and the payment deposited into your merchant account is immediate, which gives you quicker access to your funds. You have the option of (more…)

Merchant Account Comparison: ProPay vs Paypal

Businesses selling merchandise or receiving online payments need a way to collect and accept money. Merchant accounts are one option for people or businesses wanting to process payments such as credit and debit cards. Many companies offer merchant accounts. However, there are two popular merchant accounts, PayPal and ProPay. Both ProPay and PayPal have things in common. For instance, they are both third-party merchant services. Yet these third-party services differ.

ProPay

ProPay logoA ProPay merchant account processes credit and debit card payments. The merchant doesn’t require businesses to create a ProPay account to receive payments. Thus, sellers can receive money faster. The downside, however, of using ProPay is that it doesn’t have a uniform protection policy. Instead, the merchant is bound by the individual terms of protection policies provided by buyers’ credit and debit cards. Another difference between the two merchants is fees.

ProPay does charge fees. For example, the merchant charges an annual fee for using its service and per-transaction fees. The per-transaction fee may include a percentage as well as the fee. The annual fee, however, may include a refund if businesses process a certain dollar amount in approximately six months. The fee scale can be a sliding (more…)