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How to accept credit card payments on your website
So you’ve decided that you would like to start accepting credit card payments for products and/or services offered on your Web site. Traditionally, you have two basic choices -- set up your own merchant account with a bank or sign an agreement with a third-party credit card payment facility.
The big advantage of setting up your own merchant account is that you will pay a lower Credit Card Fee for each credit card transaction you process -- ranging from 1.5% to 4% depending on the issuer of the credit card. Visa and MasterCard typically charge less than Discover and American Express. The downside is that setting up a merchant account will cost you up to $1500 upfront for the fees, equipment and software for dialup and processing via your computer.
Your alternative is to process your payments through a third-party payment facility which will charge you anywhere from 6% to 15% per transaction. Depending upon the dollar amount and number of transactions you will be handling, setting up your own merchant account may make more sense since it could pay for itself fairly quickly in saved transaction fees.
In addition to the Credit Card Fee, there can also be other fees associated with your merchant account, so be sure you understand exactly what you will be charged by your merchant provider. Often there is a Transaction Fee charged by the merchant provider to cover their costs of network usage, equipment, etc. A Transaction Fee can add as much as $1.00 to each transaction on top of the percentage charged on each sale by the credit card issuer. There may also be additional fees associated with your account depending on the provider you sign up with -- such as monthly statement fees, minimum traffic fees, charge-back fees, and more. Always ask for a complete list of features and fees before signing up.
Today, you have another alternative thanks to Web hosting companies that specialize in helping you accept credit card payments on-line, also known as E-commerce. There are many advantages to setting up your Merchant Account through an E-commerce Web hosting. company. By shopping and comparing E-commerce hosting products advertised on CompareWebHosts.com, you can find a turnkey hosting solution that includes everything you need to accept credit card payments on your Web site plus a whole lot more. Here are some of the attractive features you can look for from an E-commerce Web host:
- Free Instant Set-up
- Miva Merchant Account*
- Shopping Cart Software
- Real-time Credit Card Processing
- Web Site Statistics Software
- Import/Export Data To Your Accounting Software
- Cardservice International
- Secure Payment Gateway
- Secure Server Certificate
- Web Control Panel with Security Controls
- 24/7 E-commerce Support
- Support For Authorize.net, PayPal, VeriSign and more
- Web Site Design Tools
- Web Marketing Tools For Your On-line Store
- Banner Ad, Promotion and Coupon Support
- Unlimited Products In Your On-line Store
- Automated Shipping Calculation through FedEx, UPS and USPS
- Real-time Shipping System
- Up to 90-day Money Back Guarantee
* Note: If you are not familiar with a Miva Merchant Account, the Miva Merchant software is a browser-based Storefront Development and Management System. It integrates cataloging, product, fulfillment, maintenance, category management, shopping basket, order and credit card processing. Multiple stores can be maintained by one central administrator or specific store functions can be delegated to sub-administrators.