Setting Up a Merchant Account for Credit Card Processing

When setting up your website to take credit cards, you have different options as to what credit card you want to accept. You also have different ways of getting a merchant account. Here are four ways you can get a merchant account for your website:

·        User your local bank: If you have a long standing relationship with your bank, you can request a merchant account by means of them. The only downside to this is if the bank you use will accept all credit cards. If they do, you’re all set, if not, you may have to go with another bank.

·        User a broker: This is a personal preference. You may find applying for a merchant account and getting approved easier. Plus they may give you a great discount rate. For more information about brokers take a look here - http://www.marketingtips.com/creditcards/.

·        Use a fulfillment house: A fulfillment house takes your orders through an 800 hundred number with live operators. They will also keep track of your customer base, provide customer service, process credit cards, and ship orders. These companies have their own merchant company so you don’t have to worry about that part.

·        Use a third party: You can also go with a third party like iBill, PayPal, or 2Checkout. You can set up your website to take credit cards in minutes. The only bad part of using them is they charge a large processing fee of from 5% to 15% of the selling price. If you want to go this route you can check out PayPal by going to http://www.paypal.com. If you want to use 2Checkout just go to their website at http://www.2checkout.com/. And of course if you rather go with iBill just go here to read more about them - http://www.ibill.com/.