Seeking Merchant Account

[exoticpublishing]

Hi there,

I'm seeking a new merchant account & am looking for a reputible company.

Also, does anyone know of any message boards that deal with merchant accounts?

Thanks


Michelle

[Corey Bryant]

The few boards that I have found that 'try' to deal with only merchant accounts are either mainly pushing their company or have so much spam and other useless information on there that I would not even bother

[SEOmoz]

Michelle, here is the quickest way to get a merchant account.

1. Incorporate - merchant account providers are very reluctant to offer merchant accounts to individuals. However, they are eager to offer merchant accounts to corporations.

2. After the corporation has been formed, and after you receive the corporate papers, open a business bank account with a nationally established online bank which offers merchant accounts.

[Juls]

You can contact CardService International directly to inquire about openning up an account. You can also speak with your bank to setup you up an account as they normally have deals. Alternatively, I have seen some merchant account offers through costco that is meant to have good deals.

;-) good luck

[www.AmCy.org]

Incorporate - merchant account providers are very reluctant to offer merchant accounts to individuals. However, they are eager to offer merchant accounts to corporations.


Just wanted to add that a sole proprietorship registered with your local county clerk will work just as well. Incorparating has its benefits but I personally don't like the tax situation with incorporating.


2. After the corporation has been formed, and after you receive the corporate papers, open a business bank account with a nationally established online bank which offers merchant accounts.

When I first applied (and got rejected!) for a merchant account 5 years ago the big national banks offered some of the best rates around. Nowadays, there's lots of high quality competition. Problem is how to sift through all the crappy deals out there to find the gems. I have an excellent deal now and I am very happy. PM me if you want details.

AmCy

[Cartman]

My bank actually referred me to Card Services, but their rates weren't even as competitive as the rates Card Services direct mailed me themselves.. When I formed my LLC, I was FLOODED with merchant account info within a month.

That said, be careful and read the documents carefully.. I've gotten hit with all kinds of hidden charges and stuff, the whole merchant services arena is pretty ugly, worse than used car salesmen.

I'm trying to find a web-based merchant service I can use. Since I process all my orders by hand, I'd much rather key in the CC info into a website and save the $$ I curently spend on the credit card machine lease and insurance. (And hopefully get better rates and lower monthly minimums to boot).

If anyone knows such a company, hit me up with a PM.

[Corey Bryant]

Yeah a lot of resellers were just selling merchant accounts to people at what they thought they could get away with. CSI seems to have finally cut that down a lot. No more are people spending $1,200 or so for a United States merchant account

With a virtual merchant account, you might be looking at a discount rate of about 2.39-2.47% and transaction fees in the range of $.25-$.40. Plus if you get a gateway (which you will need) some of them charge for transactions as well.

[exoticpublishing]

Yup, it's bad news.

You better be careful b/c you aren't supposed to key in the transactions by hand.

In fact I think it's against the law & if a merchant account finds out you are doing that, they will shut you down.

The bank that closed my merchant acct. (not for that reason) stated on their statement that you must only know the last digits of the card.

Good luck :)


Michelle


My bank actually referred me to Card Services, but their rates weren't even as competitive as the rates Card Services direct mailed me themselves.. When I formed my LLC, I was FLOODED with merchant account info within a month.

That said, be careful and read the documents carefully.. I've gotten hit with all kinds of hidden charges and stuff, the whole merchant services arena is pretty ugly, worse than used car salesmen.

I'm trying to find a web-based merchant service I can use. Since I process all my orders by hand, I'd much rather key in the CC info into a website and save the $$ I curently spend on the credit card machine lease and insurance. (And hopefully get better rates and lower monthly minimums to boot).

If anyone knows such a company, hit me up with a PM.

[exoticpublishing]

Everyone pray for me LOL I think the people who originally got me the merchant account can get me another one & I just found out they had told them I was Canadian so that's all good :)


Michelle

[Corey Bryant]

Yup, it's bad news.

You better be careful b/c you aren't supposed to key in the transactions by hand.

In fact I think it's against the law & if a merchant account finds out you are doing that, they will shut you down.

The bank that closed my merchant acct. (not for that reason) stated on their statement that you must only know the last digits of the card.

Good luck :)


Michelle
Actually you can key in transactions by hand if you have an internet merchant account. You are given a virtual terminal actually for this specific purpose. it is for third party processors that you cannot do this.

[Bazkaz]

I highly recomend the good people over at Advanced Credit Systems. Their rates are very competitive and you see everything up front.

Check them out at:
http://www.acs-cvp.com

They've been very reliable and helpful with any questions. Customer Service has just been fantastic.

[Corey Bryant]

Do you know who the acquiring bank is? For any MAP selling US merchant accounts, Visa requires that the website display this on the website but it does not seem to be on their website

[www.AmCy.org]

I highly recomend the good people over at Advanced Credit Systems. Their rates are very competitive and you see everything up front.

Check them out at:
http://www.acs-cvp.com

They've been very reliable and helpful with any questions. Customer Service has just been fantastic.

Advanced Credit Systems has too many fees.

I've been through the them all and I can tell you that PayQuake (http://www.amcy.org/get_ima.htm) is the best if you need a low volume Internet Merchant Account (http://www.amcy.org/get_ima.htm):


NO Set-up and Application Fees
NO Statement Fee
NO Gateway Fee
NO Monthly Service Charge
$49.00 Annual Fee
Manually type in transactions anywhere in the world using Authorize.net (free!)
Acquiring Bank is HSBC Bank USA.


I've been so pleased with PayQuake (http://www.amcy.org/get_ima.htm) that I've partnered with them and have become quite the evangelist!

Check out this Internet Merchant Account comparison chart (http://www.merchantaccountusa.us/) for more research:

http://www.merchantaccountusa.us/

PM me if you have any questions.

AmCy

[Corey Bryant]

That would be good for some as well. As far as the comarison site though - there really is no comparison that truly offers an unbiased opinion on merchant accounts. They all have underlying objectives

[yfs1]

Thats the problem..Threads everywhere get everyone saying so and so is the best and you never know what to believe. Thanks for the links Amy by when you have you're affiliate link in there it makes it look like you are being a salesperson rather than a happy customer.

You would do better to at least state that you are getting paid to refer people rather than just say "I like them so much Im their evangalist".

In the end people need to make sure to do their own research

[www.AmCy.org]

They all have underlying objectives

Not sure what you mean.

Are you looking for a not-for-profit provider?

All merchant account provides are looking to make a profit. Very few offer truly fair deals. If you compare most plans out there, you'll see that many providers have exorbitant fees.

AmCy

[www.AmCy.org]

You would do better to at least state that you are getting paid to refer people rather than just say "I like them so much Im their evangalist".


I am in no way trying to hide the fact that I am affiliated with PayQuake. That's why I wrote "I am partnered with them" in my post. Was that not clear enough? :D


AmCy

[Corey Bryant]

Well for example - you chave CSI & charge.com. CSI actually pushes all of its merchants thru to resellers (like charge.com). And those resellers can give different rates actually - maybe up the discount rate & lower the transaction fee.

And then you have Verisign which is not a MAP, but an electronic payment gateway. You still need a MAP (like CSI) to actually have a merchant account.

Your research is good but there is still a lot of information that needs to still be there. Like customer service fees, gateway fees, gateway transaction costs, length of contracts etc. And those will always vary per agent / per MAP

[www.AmCy.org]

Your research is good but there is still a lot of information that needs to still be there. Like customer service fees, gateway fees, gateway transaction costs, length of contracts etc. And those will always vary per agent / per MAP

True, I don't provide all the details of the competitors' offers. FYI : many of them have hidden costs and fees that aren't available to everyone. I'm just doing my best so that those interested in what I am offering can make an informed decision.

AmCy

[Bazkaz]

Advanced Credit Systems has too many fees.
AmCy

Oddly enough they don't. I actually went to the site you recomended and used their plan calculator found here: Plan Calculator (http://www.usms.com/payquake/compare/calculator.asp?SourceEntityID=13318)

According to their calculator I definitely made the right choice.

================

Corey - I don't know who the aquiring bank is. I'll check and let you know.

[www.AmCy.org]

Oddly enough they don't. I actually went to the site you recomended and used their plan calculator found here: Plan Calculator (http://www.usms.com/payquake/compare/calculator.asp?SourceEntityID=13318)

According to their calculator I definitely made the right choice.

================

Corey - I don't know who the aquiring bank is. I'll check and let you know.

As long as you are happy with your plan then that's all that matters.

I thought I had finally found a home with my last provider: Certified Merchant Services located in Texas. Turns out that I was getting charged all kinds of hidden fees, and the VeriSign PayFlow Link fees made matters much, much worse. After 6 months, I realized that I was in fact funneling all my profits to Certified Merchant Services in fees! Outrageous! An extraordinarily aggravating experience to say the least.

In the end, Certified Merchant Services was sued by the FTC for their funny business:

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/01/cmsjudgment.htm

I am not saying that your experience will be terrible. I'm just coming from a perspective of real experience with merchant accounts and I can tell you that PayQuake is the best I've found and I'll probably be with them for a long time.

Do us all a favor and let us know how things progress with your provider.

AmCy

[baretd]

Is it better to go through a bank for a merchant account and payment gateway and just deal with one company? Or should I go searching around for seperate components?

[Corey Bryant]

Is it better to go through a bank for a merchant account and payment gateway and just deal with one company? Or should I go searching around for seperate components?
Well most banks (except for a few like Chase who have a partnership with First Data to co-brand merchant account processing) actually outsource the processing.

And some banks actually require three-year contract. This can be good for established businesses but for someone who is just starting out - might be a little scary.

Most MAPs will provide everything to you, but most MAPs also actually outsource the gateway to another company (like Verisign / Authorizenet.com) because operating a gateway is a very difficult job. First Data is one of the few companies that has the gateway and merchant account processing. They are actually used by hundreds of other processors / gateways (like Yahoo / Authorizenet.com) to help verify transactions. First data has scores of smaller companies that they filter everything thru (like Cardservice, Western Union, Telecheck).