Merchant Accounts for Ecommerce Business

Every business small, medium or large needs a merchant account. Today, it really doesn’t matter what your individual business is, if you are in retail or even low volume wholesale, then you can enjoy increased profits from the ability to accept credit cards. Markets change, however they may grow, and the internet has been hailed as the biggest contributor to their expansion. To say that the success that credit card processors and banks have had a fair shot at traditional, brick and mortar businesses is a fair assumption based on the thirty years that credit card processing has been available to businesses in the United States. The internet has made the transition for those businesses as well as new internet based businesses to thrive in international markets. Whether your business is product or service based, there is a market; in fact, some industries rely on the internet for their entire market. These types of businesses have bridged gaps between international and domestic business in that they have forced consumers to cross borders for their products and services.

The unfortunate reality of ecommerce is that while the businesses may be completely legitimate, they pay rates generally reserved for truly high risk businesses by banks and processors, daily. Domestic banks see ecommerce as high risk; their customers, a mystery and the business transcendent. The regulations’ that rule and preside over merchants and their credit card processing capabilities are antiquated to say the least. To say more is not necessary. Merchants have found ways to keep their processing fees low, or lower than traditional methods. Just as the internet brought together merchants and their customers, it has connected the very same merchants with international banks and processors that offer competitive rates while letting them enjoy higher volume limits and less restrictive regulations. Merchant service providers are a great resource when it comes to acquiring an international merchant account. Unlike many domestic banks and processors, they foster many relationships with banks worldwide with the ultimate goal of successful integration for each and every business that shows interest in their processing solutions. One of the keys to their success is no secret. With that much versatility, merchants can actually have a custom tailored credit card processing solution just for their business. They can offer full integration with the processor through them within seven days and services such as virtual terminals, third party fraud scrubbing, 3D secure processing and real-time reporting. With so many options out there, it will benefit the merchant the most by contacting a few merchant service providers and choosing the one that best fits your business and works within a time zone that you can live with. Another factor that separates certain brokers from others is that some specialize in certain industries and even businesses. For specialized industries, finding a merchant service provider that works your busy hours, can identify, help resolve and even protect your business against chargebacks is one of the greatest assets you can have as a merchant.

About Stradafee:

Stradafee Limited is a leading international merchant service provider located in New York. Stradafee specializes in placing high volume global eCommerce companies. Internet merchant accounts makes it possible for online stores to accept credit cards as a form of payment for goods sold. For information on credit card processing for card present and card-not-present transactions please visit our corporate website at www.stradafee.com.

About the author:

Sager G. Loganathan is a freelance Search Engine Optimization writer specializing in the banking and finance industry. Sager Loganathan, a United States Marine Corp Veteran, has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

High Volume Merchant Account Set Up 7 Days or Less

Many businesses in the United States and abroad have applied for merchant accounts within the last three to five years due, mostly in part by the inundation of new ecommerce businesses. With these new businesses starting up and performing maintenance on banks and processors current customers, set up and integration lead times have become longer. High volume, high capacity merchant accounts have become very popular among ecommerce merchants, especially; the internet boom sees no slow down in sight and the ability to get big and very quickly leaves new merchants with little choice but to apply for these high volume accounts from the inception of their business. The thought of a new business being granted a high volume merchant account is a new concept. Traditionally, businesses need to show an upward trend in sales, along with a proven track record of stability and low chargeback’s to be granted a processing limit increase. Today, many merchants are turning to banks and processors overseas for their credit card processing needs. International banks in recent years have become aggressive to gain business by offering high volume merchant accounts to new and young companies that wish to achieve high volume status from inception. The term seven days or less is a reality; processors and merchant service providers or brokers see the opportunity to enable new and young merchants to achieve high volume processing status and fill the gaps that a lot of banks cannot by funneling in business to their banks. This new way of setting up merchant accounts is proving itself to be a win win situation for the banks, processors and merchant service providers. Essentially, using a broker to prequalify customers and handle the brunt of the paperwork takes a tremendous load off of the processors and banks by handing them a willing and competent merchant. From the time a new customer’s application and documents are processed, integration and processing can take about three or four days; making a seven day window absolutely feasible. From the time a new customer is integrated, their merchant service provider’s job isn’t done. Through a merchant’s processing cycle, questions and issues always rear their heads; while they don’t offer all of the answers, a merchant service provider is a great tool and definitely the right, “first call” for a merchant to make, especially when dealing with chargeback’s. Having a high volume merchant account doesn’t mean that your account will always have a high limit. This is a little known fact that most banks and processors don’t disclose. Domestic banks offer high limit accounts and will even raise limits under the right circumstances; however if they see a lot of chargeback’s or the merchant isn’t using their account to the limit, that limit will decrease. Offshore banks typically won’t be so quick to judge an account in the short term. There is no proper or better protocol when dealing with these types account issues, just different rules for different banks. If you do have or wish to know more about how to obtain a high volume merchant account, contact a merchant service provider.

About Stradafee:

Stradafee Limited is a leading international merchant service provider located in New York. Stradafee specializes in placing high volume global eCommerce companies. Internet merchant accounts makes it possible for online stores to accept credit cards as a form of payment for goods sold. For information on credit card processing for card present and card-not-present transactions please visit our corporate website at www.stradafee.com.

About the author:

Sager G. Loganathan is a freelance Search Engine Optimization writer specializing in the banking and finance industry. Sager Loganathan, a United States Marine Corp Veteran, has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

High Risk Merchant Account Offshore or Not Offshore

Like many industries today, the internet has affected banking in a profound way, both good and bad. A bold statement like that is arguably vague and challenging for the individuals that make up those two capitalistic icons of our time. The ability to integrate the two, both banking and internet has brought up new challenges each day on both sides of the table. With no template to go off of, innovations are calculated and the territory is uncharted, which can be both expensive and half the fun at the same time.
It’s no secret that a lot of businesses have sprung up simply because of the internet. Ecommerce is fairly anonymous, inexpensive and can be lucrative; these characteristics can be both a boon and the bane of virtual business owners as they describe most industries within ecommerce but leave the daily rigmarole up them. Due to the fact that much of the banking industry places much of the ecommerce industry in the high risk file, many business owners struggle with their ability to accept credit cards. This has become a serious and frustrating problem as the ability to accept credit cards is a hinge point for the online world. Daily issues that online business owners face deal with high discount rates, numerous fees and having a portion of their funds held in lieu of impending chargebacks. If you’re doing business online, then you face these and many other challenges every day or if you’re lucky, week. Many think it is simply unfair treatment and that honest businesses are paying the price for a few bad eggs; the bad eggs being scammers and bad business people that use the internet as a way of making quick money carelessly. As it would be great to say that there’s a solution and that banks and processors can be leveraged, they can’t and it would be unfair on them to do so. For merchants today, their processing options are more vast than ever before. Many merchants are turning to offshore banks for their credit card processing; this is an evolution brought upon by strict guidelines and outdated rules being enforced. Merchants going offshore can expect higher volume account limits, secure processing and online virtual terminals; however, payouts may take a few days longer due to time zone differences and that the money has to be wire transferred. Merchant service providers or processing brokers are experts in drawing the line between their clients going offshore and processing domestically. With bank and processing contacts all over the world, their motivations are really quite clear and transparency is easy to maintain.

Every industry is different; while an offshore may seem to be attractive for some businesses, a domestic account may be the right long term fit. Understanding their client’s business is essential to the success of both parties. Finding the right processing broker is important; brokers with experience in your specific industry or a portfolio that contains similar businesses may save you a lot of lost sleep. Knowing your businesses busy times, working similar hours and being able to effectively handling chargebacks makes it all worth it in the end.

About Stradafee:

Stradafee is a leading international payments advisor based in New York. Stradafee is a retail and ecommerce credit card processing provider specializing in global retail and internet merchant account solutions. Stradafee also offers check processing, multi-currency processing, high risk merchant account and offshore merchant account options. Stradafee can help businesses of almost all industries and sizes. For more information on check and credit card processing please visit www.stradafee.com

Written By: Sager G. Loganathan