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The recent years have seen a huge explosion in ecommerce and volumes of internet sales. Any company which sells direct to the consumer will undoubtedly make taking advantage of this millions-strong army of potential customers top priority. Getting an ecommerce website is a great start, but to truly tap the potential revenue streams of internet based selling you’ll need an internet merchant account.
Providing your customers with a secure, reliable and convenient payment gateway not only adds to the customer experience but also maximises the number of visits to your site which convert into sales. Internet merchant accounts provide just such a gateway and minimise your costs too.
Internet Merchant Accounts: How Do They Work?
An internet merchant account is provided by a bank or dedicated merchant account company. They consist of two elements: the merchant account itself and the payment gateway. The merchant account is a special type of bank account that allows you to accept credit and debit card payments. The payment gateway provides the software which processes card transactions by collecting the card holder’s data and communicating with the card issuer to authenticate and authorise the transaction.
Internet merchant account providers usually provide both the merchant account and payment gateway for securely processing credit and debit card transactions. The internet merchant account provider will pay the resultant funds from these transactions into your business bank account, less the payment processing fees, after a suitable holding period during which the payment is verified. Most internet merchant account providers will also provide a web based control panel so you can monitor transactions and generate comprehensive reports.
Internet Merchant Accounts: The Benefits
As well as cutting down the time and administrative burden of taking payments by cheque or bank transfer, internet merchant accounts also offer the following benefits:
- Multi-currency payments: Take card payments from anywhere in the world with currencies automatically converted
- Security: Anti-fraud measures and encrypted connections not only minimise your chances of being a victim of crime but also give your customers peace of mind, increasing the chance of sale completion.
- Process direct debits: Service providers have the option to set up customer direct debits through their website.
- Reporting tools: Get all your online sales data at the click of a mouse through account management software.
- Integrate with MOTO: Combine your internet merchant account with mail order and telephone sales to maximise your potential customer base.
Internet Merchant Accounts: What to Look For
Different internet merchant account providers obviously differ in the services they provide. When looking to obtain an internet merchant account consider the following:
- Standing charges: Most internet merchant account providers will charge a monthly fee for the provision of a payment gateway (separate from and in addition to transactional charges applied by card associations like Mastercard, Visa etc)
- PCI DSS Compliance: This is the industry standard for internet merchant account providers, ensuring high data protection and security standards
- High risk provision: Some businesses such as online dating, travel agencies or high volume ecommerce are considered as being high risk by some internet merchant account providers who consequently charge more. Check whether a particular provider considers your business to be high risk.
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