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In this article we will answer the most common merchant account questions.

What is a Merchant Account and why do I need one?
A Merchant Account is a bank account established with a Merchant Account Provider to enable you to process credit card transactions online. All merchants need a Merchant Account to be able to accept and process credit card transactions. Your bank or Merchant Account Provider will process the credit cards through their credit card processor and deposit the money into your merchant account. There are fees associated with processing credit cards. First, there are Merchant Account setup fees, and there are also Discount Rates and per Transaction fees. Please contact your Merchant Account Provider for more information on their rates and fees.

There are many different merchant account providers you can choose from. The easiest way to find them is to do a quick search on google.com. The most popular search terms are: merchant account, credit card processing, merchant account provider, and accept credit cards. Check out the sites of several different providers. You will quickly see the wide range of offerings available. From here you will need to weed through the pretenders and find yourself a reputable merchant account processing company.

Once you have established a Merchant Account with the Merchant Account Provider of your choice, you will be ready to setup your web hosting account. This in itself is also not an easy task.

How to choose an e-commerce web host?
Ten key issues should be uppermost as you select your e-commerce host:
- Bandwidth
- Proximity to Backbone
- Server Setup
- Redundancy and Reliability
- Disk Space
- Site Creation and Commerce Tool
- Security
- Payment Processing
- Back-End Integration
- Cost.

What is a Payment Gateway?
The Payment Gateway will pick up your transactions online over a secure Internet connection and will process the transactions. You can find a lot of payment gateways on the internet, but you must make sure it’s compatible with your merchant account. It should be certified by the majority of the US Banks. Gateway service prices vary depending on the number of transactions per month. When choosing a payment gateway, check which credit cards it can process.

Why Set Up an online Storefront?
Presentation is a big part of building trust with your customers. The very fact that they are browsing your online store is a good indicator that they are familiar with the possibilities of online shopping, and are prepared to consider buying. Building a storefront compatible with your customers expectations is one of the more obviously beneficial features of using an e-commerce software product such as those provided by Miva (Miva.com), BizCrafter (BizCrafterCorp.com) or eCartSoft (eCartSoft.com) to build your site. Most of these programs will help you build a simple, effective and familiar shopping interface that can include pictures, shopping cart functions and a number of useful security features.

What is a ‘High-Risk’ merchant account?
A high risk merchant account is required for running a high risk business. Examples of such high risk business include telemarketers, gambling, adult, mlm, downloadables, and the travel industry.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 20th, 2007 at 12:49 pm and is filed under Manufacturing products. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.