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Credit Card Processing With An Internet Merchant Account
Posted in Selling Online
Newcomers to internet and ecommerce businesses are often in the dark as to how they are going to be able to process their customers’ credit card orders on their website.
The processing is done through an internet merchant account, together with an online payment gateway.
The internet merchant account is a type of special bank account which is obtained via a credit card processing company. Your merchant account must be specifically set up for online transactions, as opposed to the sort of merchant account that retailers with swipe machines use.
The online payment gateway is software that allows your ecommerce shopping cart to “communicate” with the credit card processing company, in order to authorize each credit card transaction your customers submit. This communication is done online, instantly and in a manner that is completely secure.
The large majority of payment gateways for an ecommerce merchant account also come with what is known as a virtual terminal. The virtual terminal will allow you to manually key in through your computer the transaction information for any telephone and mail orders you wish to process (as opposed to orders received via your website’s shopping cart, which are processed automatically when the customer clicks the submit button).
You should be careful to choose an internet processor that can create both the online merchant account and the payment gateway. Doing so will eliminate the possibility of there being any compatibility issues between the merchant account and the gateway.
You will probably be required to submit some supporting documents in addition to the actual application form. These include:
- articles of incorporation, if your business is not a sole proprietorship or partnership
- a void check from the checking account for your business. If your business is a sole proprietorship, you can submit a personal check that shows your name printed on the check.
- documentation to prove that you are the owner of the business, such as a business name registration
The provider will ask that the application form itself be signed by the actual owner of your business. If the business in incorporated, one of the company’s signing officers must sign the application.
You should be aware that a credit check will be performed.
Generally, the processing company will be looking for a minimum score of 600 on the credit check to approve you for the internet merchant account, and if the score is less than 600, you will be asked to provide a guarantor. If your credit history or score is poor, there are quite a few credit card processing firms that may still accept you for an internet merchant account; however, they will likely charge you higher than normal fees for processing the orders of your clients.