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Accepting Payment through Your Website
If you're doing business on the Internet, accepting
payment through
your website is an absolute must. If you're not
processing orders
online, you're losing a great deal of money in
lost sales. Studies have
shown, you can increase your online sales by
up to 400% simply by
accepting credit cards
Preparing your website to process orders online
isn't as difficult as you
may think. There are basically two options. The
first option is to set up
a merchant account. This entails either making
arrangements with
your bank or using an online company. The second
option is to use a
third party credit card processor. This option
requires no merchant
account and usually entails setting up a form
or placing a link on your
order page.
Merchant Accounts
If you'd like to set up a merchant account, keep
in mind, you will also
need a shopping cart system and access to a secure
server. Many web
hosts will provide you with both. If yours doesn't,
this professional web
host does: http://websource.adgrafix.com
The following websites can provide you with a
merchant account:
Total Merchant Services (TMS)
http://www.marketingtips.com/creditcards/t.x/5068
This outstanding company comes highly recommended
by Corey Rudl -
- author of the #1 selling online marketing course,
"Insider Secrets to
Marketing Your Business on the Internet."
The TMS Merchant account, for Internet transactions,
will enable you
to accept Vi sa, MasterCard, American Express
and Discover. They offer
two merchant processing software packages to
choose from. The first
package is the TotalPay powered by Authorize.Net™
Vi rtual Terminal.
This package will enable you to authorize, process,
and manage credit
card transactions from any computer with an Internet
connection and
a Web browser. This package ordinarily runs $995,
but for a limited
time is being offered for only $287.
The second package is the TotalPay powered by
Authorize.Net™
Vi rtual Terminal that includes the Total Merchant
Manager Shopping
Cart. This package includes everything the first
package includes, plus
all of the following:
? Customizable Shopping Cart System
? UPS Shipping Module
? Links to Vi rtual Terminal
? F ree Initial Installation
Their discount rate is 2.4% and $0.35 per transaction
fee. Monthly
fees include a $10 monthly statement fee and
a $10 gateway fee that
includes secure, online, real-time credit card
and e-cheque processing
and only applies to merchants processing transactions
through their
Internet payment gateway.
NRWW Commerce
http://nrww.com/merchant_account.shtml
This powerful Internet-based software provides
secure, real-time
transaction credit card processing. The Vi rtual
Terminal feature
enables merchants to authorize, process, and
manage credit card
transactions from any computer with an Internet
connection and a
Web browser. This software package runs $179.95.
Their discount rate is 2.25% and $0.30 per transaction
fee. Monthly
fees include a $5 monthly statement fee and a
$15 secure gateway
fee.
Third Party Credit Card Processors
If you'd rather not have your own merchant account,
third party credit
card processors will process your credit card
orders for you. There are
usually no monthly fees. They charge a "per
transaction" fee and send
you payment for all of your orders processed,
minus their fee and a
reserve fee. A reserve fee is withheld to cover
and charge backs you
may have. If you have no charge backs within
a period of time, your
reserve will be refunded to you. Each company
has their own
guidelines in regard to reserves.
The following websites will process credit card
orders for you:
CCNow
http://www.ccnow.com
This outstanding company will enable you to accept
all major credit
cards online without a merchant account. There
are no set up or
monthly fees of any kind. They charge a 9% per
transaction fee. In
addition, their services are available for non-US
merchants. CCNow is
intended to be used for tangible merchandise
only. This means that
you must have a physical product that is shipped
to the customer's
physical address. If your product is electronic,
you may want to
consider using one of the following companies
to process your orders.
ClickBank
http://hop.clickbank.net/?wsnet
ClickBank is another outstanding company that
will enable you to
accept Vi sa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover,
Eurocard, Vi sa-
Debit, MasterCard-Debit and Novus cards. No merchant
account is
required.
They charge a one-time $49.95 activation fee,
and a $1 + 7.5% fee
per sale. There are no monthly fees. The great
thing about this
company is that over 60,000 affiliates can choose
to sell your products
for you. ClickBank enables any web seller to
automatically pay sales
commissions to affiliates. ClickBank will bill
your customers, pay you,
and pay your affiliates a commission. In other
words, they'll run your
entire affiliate program for you. In addition,
their services are available
for non-US merchants.
ClickBank is intended to be used for electronic
merchandise only. If
you ship a physical product, you may want to
consider using CCNow to
process your orders.
iBill
http://www.ibill.com
iBill will enable you to accept Vi sa, MasterCard,
American Express,
JCB, online checks or telephone billing (900
number). There are no
setup fees. However, you must maintain a minimum
sales volume of
$25 per month or the difference will be charged
to your credit card.
They charge 12% - 15% per transaction fee for
credit card and check
purchases and 20% - 30% per transaction fee for
phone purchases.
Non-US merchants are welcome.
If you're just starting out, you may want to
use one of the third party
credit card processors, as this is the easiest
route for new Internet
businesses. Each company provides you with step
by step instructions
to assist you in getting your website set up
to accept credit cards. The
great thing about third party credit card processors
is that they handle
everything for you. You don't have to hassle
with processing your
credit card payments or charge backs, as all
of this is taken care of for
you.
If you're serious about your online success,
you must have the ability
to process your orders online. With today's technology,
even the
smallest home-based business can now accept credit
credits almost
instantly. Vi sit one of the websites mentioned
above and get your
website set up today. Your success depends upon
it.
By Shelley Lowery
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