Merchant Accounts & Credit Card Processing

Merchant accounts are primarily used by businesses to accept and receive payments from various telecommunication sources. These include: online credit/check processing, mobile credit processing, telephone transactions and storefront credit card terminals. As you can imagine there are plenty of different types of merchant accounts serving small to large business. Here are a couple of the different account options: Internet, High Risk, Retail, Offshore and High Volume accounts. Each serves a distinct purpose and will be covered in the following paragraph:

Internet Merchant Accounts- One of the more popular alternatives in Merchant Accounts, Internet Merchants are able to accept payments for the goods or services sold online.

There are various different options when setting up Internet Merchant Accounts. One popular website to host Internet Merchant Accounts is PayPal. They’ve been the leader in credit card processing online for the past decade.

High Risk Merchant Accounts- Defined as potentially risky business models that cater towards travel, adult, loan, offshore, telemarketing services and other lowly regulated services. High Risk Merchant Accounts tend to constantly be under scrutiny by the banks. Chargeback’s are often and expected along with excessive returns that lessen the quality of the product.

Retail Merchant Accounts- These types of accounts are often used strictly for credit card processing. Depending on the size of the retail business and operating procedures, most accounts utilize wireless machines. If you’ve ever been to a shopping mall, grocery store or any establishment with VISA, American Express, MasterCard etc… on the door, you may have noticed the machine that you swipe your card into. These are the most common Retail Merchant Account devices that send your information to the bank allowing that business to withdraw the funds you approved from your bank account.

Offshore Merchant Accounts- Due to globalization and the immense growth in worldwide consumer trade, Offshore Merchant Accounts allow seamless interaction with overseas consumers. The international market online is growing exponentially with sites like eBay and Amazon.com making it possible to buy and sell goods from all over the country. Online retail shop sales are also on the rise, especially with the expansion of mobile shopping. It is becoming more important now, than ever to have the correct Offshore Merchant Accounts in effect. As offshore accounts continue to grow in small businesses, we’ll see an even higher international growth rate.

High Volume Merchant Accounts As sales increase in merchant accounts, high volume considerations take precedent over most necessities. In which case, companies that handle large amounts of credit card transactions need the resources to sustain themselves.

Opening another offshore account is a considerable when dealing with high volumes of customer information. By spreading data into a couple of different accounts, the company becomes more flexible and the overall structure adheres to their most applicable goals. When merchant accounts reach their max, immediate attention is given and the appropriate measures are put in place to deal with it. Each of the aforementioned accounts holds important attributes in respect to merchant accounts and credit card processing. Although they may not experience the exact same problems or services, they’re all interrelated and indirectly influence one another. Retail Merchant Accounts are still leading the consumer side of credit card processing, but Internet and offshore accounts are slowly gaining. This can be credited to the vast expansion of globalization, as mentioned in one of the previous paragraphs. Consumer world trade has finally come into fruition and is able to expand accordingly. These technologies allow the constant trade of goods and services 24/7. As technology continues to advance we’ll see new forms of merchant accounts. Mobile web we’ll likely be the next to evolve into high volume merchant accounts. Smartphones already have the capability to utilize Internet merchant accounts and sales have proven successful in this realm. Merchants are even more excited about the opportunity for mobile because it gives them another outlet to pursue. Still in its infancy, mobile merchants are experimenting with the best ways to process consumer transactions through Smartphones. One of the most popular mobile merchant processes is through an app called “Square.” Available in both the Android and Apple app store, Square made headlines last year with their tiny dongle that attaches to Smartphones and reads credit cards. It has yet to really take off, but the idea is highly praised.

Fraud: One of the most sensitive issues regarding merchant accounts and credit card processing is fraud. In order to prevent any fraud cases in consumer information, the proper security measures need to be taken by the merchant. Hundreds of different online security applications and software’s are available for e-commerce sites and used on a daily basis. The idea is to make sure the site is secure and able to protect against would-be hackers. The difficult notion in protecting site security is that you never know when you’ll be attacked. The element of surprise is used to early and often by hackers. So what are the preventive measures merchants can take before signing on new costumers. It would probably make sense to enlist the services of a trusted security software, already being used by other top online retailers. Positioning your security as the “best online” is key to driving consumers because this solidifies your brand, as credible and secure. Research is truly important when finding the right security for your site. Make sure it is easy to understand, credible and used throughout the industry. Merchant Accounts and Credit Card Processing have made their mark in trade both domestic and international. As new technologies form, we’ll begin to the advancement of merchant accounts and how they interact with the new products and services available. Mobile commerce is quickly becoming a new source for merchants and exemplifies what the future may look like for credit card processing. The 5 major accounts outlined earlier in the post will also grow and develop into more strategic options for merchants. They offer the flexibility for hundreds of thousands of different business models utilizing their functions.