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Frequently Asked Merchant Account Questions

What is a Merchant Account?

Your Merchant Account is an account that a business owner has with the bank in order to accept credit card payments from customers. The bank collects funds from the credit card purchasers and deposits the funds in the merchant's bank account. Once you get your merchant account set up, you can start to accept credit cards from your customers.

How does it work?

To be competitive in today's marketplace, your business needs a merchant account to accept and process credit card or debit card transactions. This process authenticates a valid card, authorizes the funds’ availability, and then the settlement secures the transfer of funds from your customer’s account to your account. These merchant services incur a monthly fee and a transaction fee, which are standard throughout the industry. The Merchant Resource Kit™ with terminal supplies you with the hardware and support you need to set up your merchant account. With a 98% approval rate, the best transaction rates and a low monthly fee, you'll be accepting credit cards in no time.

Why should I accept Credit Cards?

TO INCREASE YOUR SALES!

• Credit card customers will purchase more merchandise
• You will sell more higher priced items
• You will increase impulse buying
• You never have to turn customers away to your competition

What is Required?

Legal Requirements:

• US Bank Account
• US Physical Address
• US Tax ID / SS#
• Must be 18 or older

Can I reprogram my existing equipment?

Absolutely! We will evaluate your current rates and fees and show you how you can save money while gaining the most reputable service in the industry.

How should I select a merchant account provider?

There are millions of processors to choose from. However, you have to know what to look for so you don't get taken advantage of. Costs to ask about include, set-up fees, application fees, equipment costs, transaction fees, monthly customer service fees, statement fees, monthly minimums and discount rates.

Your costs will depend on several factors:

• How are you processing cards: swiping, keying?
• What is your business type?
• How much do you process monthly?
• How much is your average purchase price?

Make sure you are not getting placed in the wrong classification; you could be spending more money than you have to.

What do all these fees and rates mean to me?

Discount Rate - A fixed percentage taken from every transaction. Swiping a card will incur a lower rate than keying because you are capturing the physical data on the card and seeing your customer in person; both help to prevent fraud.

Transaction Fee - A fixed charge incurred any time you run a transaction (including batches). If you sell a lot of low priced items, you will need a lower transaction fee.

Monthly Fees - There is always a monthly fee incurred—usually called a customer service fee. However, you can sometimes be charged a statement fee as well if you get your statements mailed to you.

Monthly Minimum - If you do not process any transactions, you will incur a monthly minimum. If your fees in discount rates don't add up to the minimum, you will be charged the difference. If you process over the minimum, you won't have to pay any extra fees.

What is a chargeback?

A chargeback occurs when a transaction is billed back to the merchant after the sale has been settled. Chargebacks are initiated by the card issuer on behalf of the cardholder. Typical cardholder disputes involve product delivery failure or product/service dissatisfaction. Cardholders are urged to try to obtain satisfaction from the merchant before disputing the bill with the merchant.

What is a secure payment gateway and a secure socket layer?

Secure Payment Gateway - Companies help other processors conduct secure business on the Internet using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology. They provide a system that passes credit card data, authorization requests, and authorization responses over the Internet, using encryption technology. The transaction information is sent by the payment gateway secure server via leased line to the credit card network where the validity of the card is checked and the availability of funds on that account is verified. An authorization code is returned via leased line to the payment gateway; the authorization is encrypted by the payment gateway and is transmitted in encrypted form to the web server of the merchant, which triggers fulfillment of the order. Rather than trying to create their own secure web systems, many banks and bank/processor alliances will use a secure payment gateway provider to perform this task for them.

What is the difference between real-time processing and offline processing?

Real-time processing means that when a website's customer conducts an online purchase, the check or credit card information is conveyed to the processor at that exact time so that an authorization can be requested and received at that moment. Real-time processing always implies that a Secure Payment Gateway is being utilized, whether proprietary or third party. Offline processing means that the check or credit card information is verified after the transaction has been entered.

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