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Credit Card Processing Services: Easy, Cheap and Necessary
Your online business needs to accept credit cards. That's true
whether your business is the next ebay or you're just selling
your old collectibles on ebay. You're simply holding your
business back if you don't accept the payment method of choice
of the internet. Sadly, many people think they won't qualify for
a new merchant account to accept credit cards, or that it will
be too expensive or complicated. That might have been true a few
years ago, but not anymore.
Why Anyone Can Accept Credit Cards
* Low cost. In the US, the cost of accepting credit cards is
around $10-$20/month in flat fees, plus a small percentage of
your sales, called a discount rate. For an offline business, the
discount rate is as low as 1.69% (lower for debit cards). For an
online business, discount rates are as low as 2.19%. Yes, online
businesses are considered riskier and therefore are charged
more. Still, 2.19% is much less than even many offline
businesses were paying just five years ago. Non-US business will
likely pay significantly more, but likely not more than a few
hundred dollars a month and maybe a 6% discount rate. That's
still a small price to pay to build a thriving online business.
* No upfront fees. There are now merchant account providers that
charge nothing upfront-no application fee, no deposit. (For US
businesses only.) * No minimum number of sales. If you sell
nothing in a given month, that's fine. Your account won't be
cancelled so long as you pay a small minimum fee in lieu of
transactions (usually around $25-$35/month). * Low credit
threshold. Believe it or not, qualifying for a merchant account
to accept credit card payments is easier than qualifying for a
credit card account. Even people who have a bankruptcy on their
credit report may qualify for a merchant account (though they'll
be in a more expensive higher-risk category). The credit check
only takes a few minutes. Just give the representative your
Social Security number or EIN and you're done. For non-US
businesses, the credit check might be a little more in-depth,
but not impossibly so.
Why You Need to Accept Credit Cards
1. Prestige. Admit it: you can't be a real business if you
don't take credit cards. At least, that's how the average
consumer or entrepreneur sees it. 2. Trust. Accepting credit
cards means your name, address, and social security numbers are
on file somewhere with a bank, so you're a lot less likely to be
a crook. It also means that your customers can dispute the
transaction if you don't put out the goods. 3. Sales. Online
customers make the vast majority of their purchases with a
credit
card. They are not going to change their ways for you. 4.
Western Union isn't enough. Bank wires offer very little
consumer protection, so no one trusts them for paying online.
Besides, most people have never used it before, and again,
they're not going to change their ways for you. 5. PayPal isn't
enough. Some people simply don't trust it. There are entire
websites devoted to horror stories with PayPal. Other
prospective customers worry about having to set up a PayPal
account to make payment. Even a slight doubt is enough to send
many visitors to the "back" button. Don't leave room for doubt.
Why Accepting Payments Online Is Easy
* Easy-to-use gateway websites. With most merchant accounts,
you get a login on a website of a "gateway" which lets you
manage your entire account with up-to-the-minute information.
It's very similar to online banking. * Technical support. Most
merchant account providers offer telephone and email technical
support to help you figure out how to use your account,
including how to integrate it with your website. Tip: choose a
provider with 24/7/365 technical support over the phone-and that
doesn't charge an additional fee. * Preconfigured shopping carts
and web payment forms. You won't have to do anything to your
website if you opt to use a shopping cart of payment form that's
already been set up by your payment processor. Just link to it
from your website and you're done.
Why Applying to Accept Credit Cards Is Easy
* Online and telephone applications. You don't have to mail
anything. * Fast. You can apply for a merchant account to accept
credit cards in the morning and be taking payments in the
afternoon. * No contract. Some credit card merchant account
providers do not require an annual contract (for US businesses).
The arrangement is strictly month-to-month. Of course, there are
still companies that will try to lock you into a year-long
contract, so be careful.
See how easy it is to take credit card payments? Don't wait any
longer. Apply for a credit card merchant gateway today. It's
easy to do, and your business needs it. Once you're taking
credit card payments, you won't be be just like a real
business-you will be a real business.
About the author:
About the author:
Joel Walsh is owner of the website
UpMarketMerchant.com. Get more information about credit card
processing services: http://www.UpMarketMerchant.com [Publish
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