Accepting Credit Cards Online
Accepting online credit card orders is a must for every online business. Most online businesses report that 95% of their orders are through online order forms. Accepting online credit card orders is easier than it appears. To accept online credit card orders, you need three basic things:
Merchant Account
Software
Internet Service Provider
Merchant Account:
A Merchant account is a special account that you have with a financial institution in order to accept credit cards. Credit card companies consider Internet transactions to be riskier than other standard transactions; so, not all accounts permit Internet transactions. There are many brokers available who can open a Merchant account for you. Their conditions for opening an account may vary drastically, which can make it difficult for you to decide which account is best for you.
To maintain your merchant account, you must pay the following monthly fees:
Discount fee
Transaction fee
Address Verification Fee (AVS)
Statement fee
Software:
Most brokers who open Merchant accounts offer software or hardware to process credit cards. If you want to accept credit cards over the Internet, you need a software solution, not a hardware solution. Even though a hardware solution saves you $50-$100, you will have to enter all your transactions manually. With a software solution, you will never have to enter your transactions manually. Instead of selling you processing software, you may be offered a processing software lease at a certain price per month. You don't have to lease or buy your own software if you decide to do real-time processing by plugging into an Internet Service Provider (ISP) that has the processing software on its server
Internet Service Provider:Choosing an Internet Service Provider (ISP) is not easy. Some providers will provide you full service and all of the software to process your credit card orders, while others will provide only basic services. Some providers will charge $150-200 per month, or even more, while others will charge $9.95 per month. The first thing you need is a Secure Server. The best way for you to gain access to a Secure Server is through the ISP that hosts your Web site, which is usually the least expensive; however, you may use any ISP that you want. After you have your Secure Server running, you need the software to display order forms, store orders etc. There are two methods that you can use to process credit card orders. With the first method, the credit card is authorized immediately and the customer receives an immediate answer. With the second method, the information is delivered to you, so that you can process the order later
Merchant Account
Software
Internet Service Provider
Merchant Account:
A Merchant account is a special account that you have with a financial institution in order to accept credit cards. Credit card companies consider Internet transactions to be riskier than other standard transactions; so, not all accounts permit Internet transactions. There are many brokers available who can open a Merchant account for you. Their conditions for opening an account may vary drastically, which can make it difficult for you to decide which account is best for you.
To maintain your merchant account, you must pay the following monthly fees:
Discount fee
Transaction fee
Address Verification Fee (AVS)
Statement fee
Software:
Most brokers who open Merchant accounts offer software or hardware to process credit cards. If you want to accept credit cards over the Internet, you need a software solution, not a hardware solution. Even though a hardware solution saves you $50-$100, you will have to enter all your transactions manually. With a software solution, you will never have to enter your transactions manually. Instead of selling you processing software, you may be offered a processing software lease at a certain price per month. You don't have to lease or buy your own software if you decide to do real-time processing by plugging into an Internet Service Provider (ISP) that has the processing software on its server
Internet Service Provider:Choosing an Internet Service Provider (ISP) is not easy. Some providers will provide you full service and all of the software to process your credit card orders, while others will provide only basic services. Some providers will charge $150-200 per month, or even more, while others will charge $9.95 per month. The first thing you need is a Secure Server. The best way for you to gain access to a Secure Server is through the ISP that hosts your Web site, which is usually the least expensive; however, you may use any ISP that you want. After you have your Secure Server running, you need the software to display order forms, store orders etc. There are two methods that you can use to process credit card orders. With the first method, the credit card is authorized immediately and the customer receives an immediate answer. With the second method, the information is delivered to you, so that you can process the order later
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