For businesses operating on the internet or over the phone like high volume general ecommerce, travel, mail order & telephone order, a high amount of credit card transactions is natural. However it can lead to a higher risk of chargeback’s and credit card fraud. This leads to the high risk classification, and consequently, leaving the merchant with difficulty obtaining and maintaining a suitable merchant account. For many of these businesses, their online or MOTO presence is not just the key to their growth, but their very survival. In order to grow their business they must consider opening an international merchant account.

With heavy growth of online businesses and increase in online shopping consistently over the years, e-commerce has spread to every corner of the world, not just in terms of customers, but in terms of retailers as well. An international merchant account will allow the merchant the ability to accept foreign payments in the currency of where their customer is located without the high currency conversion rates to their customer.

With a domestic merchant account, there are usually extensive security deposits and screening requirements. Additionally, for a high volume merchant, a domestic bank will not be interested in providing credit card processing services without a security deposit. The other option is to go offshore to find a provider who specializes in high risk merchant accounts. However, with the offshore merchant service provider, there is usually a monthly minimum value required each calendar period, and processing rates may be substantially higher than in the case of a domestic provider.

International merchant accounts provide multi-currency processing capabilities along with unlimited processing limits.  They usually will require a minimum transaction value and are not suitable for newer businesses that are not going to be able to meet the minimum processing volume.  

The key advantage of an international merchant account is the ability to cater to a certain geographical market. International merchant accounts work through a merchant account provider who has relationships with banks in the region of interest. The processor will proceed to apply for and obtain a merchant account (enabled with multiple currencies as per the need of the merchant). Once the merchant account is approved, the credit card processor can then move forward with the finalizing of the merchant account opening.