posted on January 10, 2002 04:34:30 PM new
hey,
i was wondering how i could be able to allow people to buy items off my storefront or ebay using a credit card
once they give me their number what would i do?
i heard something about a merchant account could someone please explain...
thanx alot
-visit my storefront at: http://shop.auctionwatch.com/YasserRahal/home.html
and please give me suggestions
that would be greatly appreciated
-thanx alot
The only times you would indicate that you can accept manual credit card orders, would be if you personally could accept them. You would need to have your own credit card processing system if you indicate you acccept them manually.
posted on January 12, 2002 01:34:50 AM new
yasserrahal,
If you do a search on-line you'll find countless companies that will set you up with a merchant account. It can be difficult to qualify for this ability as it is a huge security concern for all these companies (imagine a merchant account getting into the wrong hands and the damage that could be done to credit card #'s gotten either legitamately (prior sales) or illegitamately (stolen) because once you have the #'s, you can run huge amounts thru to your own bank and the card holder wouldn't even know till their next statement.
If you do manage to qualify, you'll also need to either buy ($600.00 and up) or rent/lease (don't know the rental fees if offered for rent at all) an electronic processing machine that plugs into your phone line from which you get authorizations and also input the actual card #'s and amounts. Then the money gets electronically sent to your bank. Your bank account will need to be a business account which is usually more expensive than a personal checking account and you'll also probably pay a monthly fee for the merchant account to the company that you have the account with and ontop of that a percentage of each amount charged. It's not worth it unless you're doing a ton of business. That's why Paypal and other online payment services are so cool - you don't have to do any of that, just sign up and link a checking account and you can (essentially) accept credit cards.
If you're trying to avoid the Paypal fees by getting your own merchant account, more than likely, Paypal will be cheaper for you and definitely less hassle.
