danieltenner.com - Latest Comments in danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

Tompiccolo — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 14:15:45 -0000

Was wondering about your post about Merchant Account

PCI Compliance. Is that mandatory for all business owners. Thanks

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

Bwhyte — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 14:20:03 -0000

Do you offer Recurring Payments and need to be PCI compliant and don’t have the time or money to do so? The SterlingCard Vault limits your responsibility for securing your customer’s account information and is a complement to our Recurring Payment module that allows you the ability to securely bill your customers for variable amounts at variable times using electronic checks, credit cards or debit cards for products or services whenever a payment is due - This is accomplished by utilizing cloud technology where the data is stored on a secure server in the cloud reducing technology, infrastructure, data storage costs and security risks by storing customers’ account information Anyone can sell Payment Processing, but at SterlingCard we take it a step further by Establishing and Building Great Relationships along the way! Please contact me @ bwhyte@sterlingcardps.com for more details Have a great day

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

Philly M — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:50:16 -0000

Not much its pretty simple if you need one i got my account at Merchantech they beat my old processing companies rates by 130 bucks a month. Look them up. My agents name was Jawad, Very helpfull

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

jack anderson — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 06:28:00 -0000

what is required to open the merchant account in bank... ????

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

Matt J — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 14:15:43 -0000

A good idea to is to also contact references from the companies, to see what other merchants have to say about the company's payment processing services, for example reviews and opinions http://www.pivotalpayments.... but they don't always have to be listed on the website. Ask for phone numbers and names and give them a call, so you can get the whole story. It's good to get it right on the first shot since you sign what is potentially a multi-year contract. I think due diligence is always rewarded in business, as in anything else, and this is no exception. Get all the facts before signing onto a merchant account!

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

Prepaidinc2001 — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 10:47:12 -0000

This is an excellent article on merchant accounts not to mention that with the new emerging technologies entering this market thanks to the smart phones one can easily use a trusted gateway like Authorize.net to process payments on the go secure and easy. I have been using an app called BILLING by spartadata which uses your Authorize.net account to post secure transactions instantly and plus it stores actual signature data! This is great for fighting off any pesky chargeback should there be any long term... I recommend you check this app out.

Site: http://www.spartadata.com
App link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/...

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

Foo — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 17:49:24 -0000

Yeah, that was a great time for white people.

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

Jen — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:49:48 -0000

I really recommend a place that is willing to help the merchant become 100% PCI compliant since new laws for 2010 will fine merchants a LOT (as well as the credit card processing company/bank) if they are not compliant. So it does become mutually beneficial for each to make sure the other succeeds. For domestic accounts (U.S.), I noticed http://www.groupiso.com specializes this with their merchant account processing, along with pretty reasonable rates and 24hr customer service which, imo, very helpful.

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

Daniel Tenner — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 04:46:28 -0000

Hi Dat To,

Of course, the rates might get readjusted.. but that's a very manageable risk, and even if it does happen, at least the business will have had good rates for a year or two. Basically, it's a gamble worth making, because there's potential benefits and pretty much no potential downside ("if it fails, you just get the rates you would have had without inflating your estimated volume").

Re: Service quality, absolutely, I agree. I personally prefer sticking to "proper" banks where, if something's going wrong, you can talk to a real human being (typically your account manager), who actually has the power to fix things. As for payment gateways, there again I think customer service is paramount, although it can be really difficult to tell which companies have good customer service in that area...

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

Daniel Tenner — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 04:39:44 -0000

Sounds great! Good work. This is definitely something that could use more transparency.

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

merchantmaverick — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:17:32 -0000

Daniel,

Great article. I think the "negotiation" bit is the most important of all. Most business owners are either too afraid, or don't understand that they can negotiate terms on pretty much anything. My only advice would be that those of you that setup more than one merchant account, or that choose to sit on their merchant account without processing, actually do face monthly fees. Most merchant service provider's charge a monthly minimum that will most certainly be drafted from your account and can range anywhere from $15 to $60 depending on the MSP.

I think it's very important for more articles like this one to help level the playing field for merchant's. We all know that there are some shady characters in this business. I personally created http://www.merchantmaverick... as a review and information site for exactly this topic because frankly, I got a little tired of all the secrecy, misinformation, and BS in the industry.

Best of luck to you Daniel and take care,
The Merchant Maverick. :)

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

Dat To — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:30:35 -0000

Good starter info. Your #3 point can be a problem. I'm glad that you said 'don't lie'. If they give you a good deal because your estimated volume is high, but then don't end up making any money on you because the gross margins are too thin and your not making up for it in volume, they your rates WILL GET READJUSTED. They are not looking to invest in your company.

Business owners must take payment processing/acceptance more seriously. If you don't ask the right questions, then any answer you get will do and won't matter. Once you find out the right questions to ask, start avoiding Sales Reps/Companies who give you no answer, evasive answers, or 'smart' sounding answers that further confuse you. If the beginning of the business relationship does not fit, then it won't get better by adding time and especially being locked up in multi-year contracts.
Also, don't get bullied by high pressure sales tactics because a good deal today will be a good deal next week.
Also, do they have any happy customers? Dozens and dozens of Customer Reviews/ Tesitmonials?

Always look for SERVICE QUALITY. If you save $20/mth compared to Provider B, but then have a problem and no one is helping you to fix it. The headaches will destroy any savings you negotiated.

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

David Mytton — Wed, 20 May 2009 08:05:06 -0000

I have just written a followup post to this with fee details for the best UK merchant banks and payment processors - http://blog.boxedice.com/20...

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:33:09 -0000

Serously? Kick them out. Each person show was overweight, the one 'main' person could find enough money for internet? Seriously? Thats between 10-60 a month. Get a job. Go to McDonalds, Burger King, or anywhere really. If you have a computer to connect to the internet type up a resume and start job searching. Selling tie dye shirts, really? Having an adult son who lives with you and they can't rent an apartment? I am tired of this pitty me i can't afford stuff because of the economy stuff. I had to go without the internet because i was paying my rent for months until i got a better job. Now the poor have the internet and don't have to pay rent? She should be banking money not having to, and be able to get a deposit and rent payments for months. At some point we have to tell these people grow up, get a job, and stop being a bum. My step-brother has to carry a weapon when going into foreclosed houses because crack addicts have started to dwell in them as well. He was assaulted by three men in a pitch black basement trying to fix a water heater in one of these homes and was beaten pretty badly. Don't start casting a pleasant light on the 'poor' when some light just illuminates the 'victim mentality' of those who are too lazy to better themselves or too mentally impaired to know better. These are the same 47% who probably think socialism is better than capitalism because they'd get to do what they want paid by the rest of us. I didn't live it but i miss the post WW2 America mentality.

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

peter — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:20:57 -0000

Merchant account companies are shady, especially companies like CommercePaymentSystems... it's very difficult to reach the account manager, and good luck trying to end things smoothly with them. United Bank Card is also shady because they'll bill you w/o ever sending you a bill and you won't know exactly what they're billing you for. And when you cancel, it'll take them over 2 weeks to cancel your account (and you have to keep calling to make sure everything is done properly or else it takes longer).

If I were a new merchant, I'd go with PayPal. It's so much easier and the terms are clear.

Don't go with UnitedBankCard & CommercePaymentSystems (and other merchant account companies).

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

Andrew — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:59:25 -0000

No wisdom to add, but this is a great post & the same goes for the comments.

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

Daniel Tenner — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:13:04 -0000

I agree, absolutely. These are great comments. In a few days, I'll add an update to the article to include the best bits, so that people don't miss them.

The HN comments are good too, btw (click the orange Y at the bottom of the article).

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

Jacques Chester — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 07:33:51 -0000

The comments on this article are pure, pure gold. Platinum. Diamonds. Flawless pearls. etc etc

I guess what I'm saying is, I'm going through this trauma right now and I've just gotten another 3 services to look at. Which is a helluva bonus.

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

Zachary Smith — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:54:59 -0000

As an acquirer for merchant processing accounts, I found this interesting but not entirely accurate, specifically the financial underwriting recommendations:

1) Do give realistic volumes on what you're processing. Remember that large volumes may help you get a better rate, but they also represent a large (potential) risk for the underwriting bank. From my years of approving nearly 5,000 Internet Merchant Accounts, the best bet is to be realistic and transparent on what you think your sales are going to be over the next 6-12 months.

2) Merchant processors do check credit on every applicant. As such, we can easily see if you're applying to 5 banks at one time and that generally does not lend a good feeling to the underwriter (who may, incorrectly, assume that you've been turned down by the other 4). However, it is always a good idea to get quotes from multiple vendors and negotiate before you sign an application.

Also, something that is very useful to know is how the industry works on the backend. Rick Strahl, developer of a solid .NET shopping cart, did a great article on a tech guy's view of how the merchant industry functions. It'll help put the different players in perspective, if nothing else: http://www.west-wind.com/pr...

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

dasickis — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:42:08 -0000

Has anyone here tried Amazon's payment method: http://aws.amazon.com/fps/. Seems like it's mostly for their cloud supported applications but still a solution to evaluate. If you're a startup you should definitely outsource the credit card process to someone else. It gets very difficult to DIY and it's a resource blackhole once you get involved.

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

Daniel — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:32:27 -0000

It's been a year since we implemented PayPal payments directly on our site, so some rules may have loosened, but here's what I know:
1) The API was easy to use and allows you to accept credit cards via a form on your own site. The form posts to a page on your site as well, so the user never leaves. The payment shows up in your PayPal account just like other payments.
2) PayPal required that we also offer a "Pay with PayPal" button on the page to allow existing PayPal users to pay the old way.
3) When we implemented it, the web form only worked for US residents. Non-US payments had to be handled the old way (this may have changed)
4) Currently 80% of our purchases go through the form and the other 20% of users opt to use their own PayPal accounts.
5) The difference between allowing users to purchase directly on your site vs. having to go to another website (like PayPal) was about 4% (as in, sales went up 4% when we added this form and they drop 4% if we take it away and force people to go to PayPal). We also tested with Google Checkout (which requires creating a Google Account) and found the same thing
6) We have had zero problems with PayPal. They are cheap (we pay $0.30+2.5% per transaction) and they handle chargebacks, refunds, complaints etc.
7) I don't believe that the website form works with subscriptions

That's all I can think of.

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

maccman — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:29:27 -0000

A vote for Braintree - they're very up front with all the costs, and they have a 'Vault' service (with the corresponding ActiveMerchant libs).
www.braintreepaymentsolutio...

I've also just added Amazon FPS support to my app - the caveats to their system are:
* People are redirected away from your site
* The subscription amount is fixed - so you can't change it without getting the user to re-authorize

So, for the moment, I'm going with Braintree.

I'd also like to plug a open source SaaS Rails app called Sassy - http://github.com/maccman/s...

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

thesujective — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:13:21 -0000

Another vote for Authorize.net. Great customer service. Used them for both merchant and gateway services. Taking Discover card hard though. International payments a whole other issue.....required to have "domicile" within a EU country in order to utilize services like Global Collect. If your site is popular in say SEA those are all considered "exotic" currencies and prove very challenging. Anyone figure out a great micro-payment solution say sub $2 that didn't break the bank?

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

Bubbo — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:21:45 -0000

PayPal for direct credit card payment works great if you are using a cart that supports it or a web-based payment services provider (which is what I do, but I am not listing links here).

As an alternative, I also use Authorize.net with an actual merchant account to ensure I have payment redundancy and to keep my options open. Allowing users to pay with PayPal (millions of members) has turned out to be a great addition, as approximately 35% of consumer buyers are opting for PayPal.

I actually utilize two different payment providers to connect directly with the Authorize.net API and PayPal API, which means I am not storing or sending CC info and do not have to worry about being PCI Compliant or setting up SSL certs.

Michael

Re: danieltenner.com — How to get a merchant account

Daniel Tenner — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:49:26 -0000

Definitely agree. PCI-DSS compliance can be extremely tricky to implement on your own servers. I don't recommend handling credit card numbers directly if you can avoid it.