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Merchant Accounts
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About 90% of purchases on the Internet are made
with a credit card so unless you want to limit your customers to only 10% of the
potential marketplace then being able to accept credit cards is
a wise idea.
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Different Processing Methods
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These are the most common methods used today. This is based on
information from these respective web sites
as of November 1, 2002. Each company may
have other conditions that may raise or
lower their fees. You need to visit each web
sites for their latest information and full
fee schedule. Pro and Con information is
entirely our opinion and may or may not
be relevant to your company.
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PayPal.com - No setup or
monthly fee, 2.9% discount,
$0.30 per transaction, requires
the customer have a PayPal account
before purchasing.
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Pro
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1) No monthly
and no setup fees
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2) Accepts International
payments from 37
countries.
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3) Has rate discount
programs.
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Con
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Requires the customer to
have a PayPal account. If the
customer does not have a PayPal account
this requirement would require
the customer to
sign up before purchasing
causing an interruption.
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2) Since mostly
small companies
and individuals
use PayPal, by only
offering PayPal
may give the customer
an impression that
your company is
a small company.
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ProPay.com - $35 annual fee,
3.5% discount , $0.35 per transaction.
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Pro
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1) No requirement
for a customer to
have a ProPay account
before purchasing.
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2) Good if you
are processing under
$1,000.00 per month
is sales volume.
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Con
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1) May require reserves
based on various
conditions. Over
$1,000 in sales
per month require
a $250 reserve. A
reserve is when
a certain amount
of your funds are
held for a certain
period of time.
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2) Has a single
transaction limit
of $250.00. Can
be higher but a
reserve is required.
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3) All ProPay
accounts must be
under the name of
an individual and not
a business name.
You can use the
account for processing
business transactions
but the name must
be an individual..
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4) Only accepts
Visa and Master
Card and not Discover
and American Express.
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Standard Merchant Account
- Has monthly fees, 2.19% discount,
$0.30 per transaction.
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Pro**
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1) No application
fee or setup fee.
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2) No requirement
for equipment or
software to be purchased
or leased. Charges
are entered from
your browser over
the Internet.
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3) Able to use
real-time processing
on orders.
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4) Accept all
credit cards, Visa,
Master Card, Discover,
American Express,
JCB.
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5) If you have
a Retail/office
location then you
can process Internet
transactions with lower
rates (1.59% discount
and $0.25 per transaction)
as long as Internet
sales are under
40% of the total
volume.
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Con
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1) More costly
if you process a
low amount of charges per
month.
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2) Requires an
application.
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** Different merchant
accounts may have different
features and costs. The features
and cost listed are for www.yourmerchantcard.com.
We recommend this program as
the best all around program.
Real-time processing on the
shopping carts are currently
only integrated
with yourmerchantcard.com and
Authorize.net.
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Recommendations: If you estimate
your sales to be under $1,000.00 per month
then sign-up for ProPay.com and PayPal.com.
If you estimate your sales to be higher than
$1,000.00 per month then apply for a Standard
Merchant Account. If you are not sure then
you may want to start with ProPay.com and
when your average sales surpass $1,000.00
per month then apply for a Standard Merchant
account.
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