posted on April 6, 2001 03:29:30 PM
To get a merchant account for my shop I had to have a credit check done first and you have to lease or buy a credit card machine. Stick with PayPal and Billpoint. With a merchants account you are still responsible for fraud or charge backs and the fees are higher than either of the online services. I lose from $1000 to $2000 a year from charge backs, I paid $2273.83 in credit card fees last year, and they charge me $120 a year for statements. When you are in business there is no such thing as "risk free". There is nothing you can do about it, it is a part of doing buisness.
Treasure Divers of Miami
[email protected]
posted on April 6, 2001 06:01:40 PM
It is not necessary to lease or buy a terminal machine if you are doing internet sales.
You can use the "virtual terminal" and do all your processing on line.
I have a merchant account for my internet transactions, I don't have a brick and mortar store.
I pay a monthly statement fee, a per transaction fee, and a percentage of sales.
Yes, chargebacks are still a risk, BUT I have more control than with third party services.
My current fees are 2.45%, plus a .30 transaction fee to the merchant provider, and a .10 fee per transaction to the virtual terminal provider.
There is a 10 day lag from when I settle my daily charges to when it is deposited into my account.
There was an application fee, a credit check and a one time set-up fee.
Unless you are a volume seller, it is not worth it. For me, it was, because it GREATLY increased my web-site sales. I dropped paypal when their fees went up, since 2.45% is not that far off from 2.2% AND I had access to the bidders address information, and the AVS system notified me directly if there was a discrepancy.
posted on April 6, 2001 07:04:10 PM
I have a merchant account in conjunction with my web site.
kidsfeet is right -- no terminal needed and it's not at all expensive to set up.
I got my account through my bank. I paid a $149.00 application fee and applied over the telephone. I was approved in one day. No set-up fee.
My per transaction fee is 2.39% plus 25 cents with a $25 monthly minimum (easily met by my web site sales after three months online, plus the minimum was waived for the first two months).
No charge for the payment gateway. No monthly statement fee -- the statement is provided online.
Every transaction goes through a five-point fraud check, including AVS, and I'm given a fraud potential "score" (from 1 to 5). Plus, I get the customer's telephone number in case I have any questions.
posted on April 8, 2001 12:24:05 PM
Can you please tell me who do you sign up on these merchant account? I need one for my website, and it's frustrating trying search for them on-line. Thanks
posted on April 8, 2001 04:21:19 PM
There is never any need to pay for a credit check or lease a terminal to get a merchant account. When that happens you have normally gone through a reseller that makes money by adding on unecessary charges and through high fees lease agreements.
try echo-inc.com
they can normally have you up and running in a few days.
We use them for one of our accounts. No app fee, no batch fee, money in your account in 2 business days. Very helpful with chargebacks.
Also do a search on the inetrnet. There are losts of reputable banks that offer service without padding fees.
[ edited by shop4shoes on Apr 8, 2001 04:26 PM ]
posted on April 8, 2001 04:39:32 PM
Do all merchant accounts make the merchant responsible for fraud? I sell fairly expensive items that are probably quite desirable for scammers. Credit card fraud is huge and it's much worse on the Internet.
YES all merchant accounts hold the merchant accountable for chargebacks. That is a risk of taking credit cards. There is NO risk free way of accepting them.
Propay is actually higher percentage wise, but if you don't have many transactions, it is probably worth it, since they limit the amount of transactions you can accept per month, and the per transaction limit is $250.00.
