| Optimal Account FAQ's
How much does the Optimal Account cost?
The
cost of this service is minimal. There are no upfront deposits, no minimum monthly
volumes to maintain, and no extra processing fees to pay to the bank. You simply
pay setup and monthly fees, then a small fee for processing each of your transactions.
For more detailed information and to compare the Optimal Account with the
Premier and World Account please click here
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How do I get paid? By providing your payment
information, you permit funds owing from your merchant account to be automatically
deposited, be electric funds transfer, into the bank account that you specify
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When do
I get paid? Payment is issued weekly,
5 days in arrears
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Can I use my existing merchant account with this service? No.
The Optimal Account unlike the World Account is an integrated merchant account
service. In addition to the processing of transactions, the credit card processing
tracks information to automatically record credit card payments and credit card
expenses. This means it is designed to connect exclusively to merchant accounts
issued by ourselves
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I use a Virtual Terminal without a website? Yes.
If you don't have a web site we can activate your Merchant Account for your 'traditional'
business, so you can start taking credit card payments directly from customers
or by phone, fax, mail-order etc. For more information please visit
here Top...
Do you charge an application fee? Unlike
many companies, we do not charge an application fee. This means it costs nothing,
apart from a little of your time, to apply for one of our merchant accounts. Once
you have applied and are successful in getting an account, you will then have
the associated costs to pay such as the set-up fee and monthly fee.
Providing false details and business descriptions A
number of businesses try to apply using false details and/or business descriptions
e.g selling DVD's but in fact selling medication. As you can imagine this wastes
alot of time for all parties involved, most importantly us. This practice
is illegal and is classed under UK law as 'trying to acquire products
or services under false pretenses'. For this reason, anyone caught doing
so will not only have their business details past over to the appropriate authorities,
but will also be charged a £150 + VAT Fee Any company
who changes their business model must inform us as soon as possible, otherwise
their account could be closed with immediate effect and no refund given
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What is a transaction fee? Bank card issuing
associations charge a percentage of the sale for the use of their cards and this
amount is referred to as a transaction fee. The percentage paid by the merchant
may vary depending on the monthly sales volume, the average sale size and whether
a transaction is processed with or without the card being physically present. The
Optimal Account offers a competitive transaction fee of only 2.99%. This is one
of the lowest rates available for card-not-present transaction processing (no
swipe machine). In addition, there are no upfront deposits and no minimum monthly
volume requirement
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What is a gateway fee? A gateway fee is applied
by the transaction processor to cover the costs of receiving and processing the
transaction. While a transaction fee is a contribution for the convenience of
accepting credit card payments, a gateway fee pays for the use of the infrastructure
to receive payment information, request authorisation from the customers bank,
transmit the authorisation information to the merchant and to facilitate payment
of the merchant.
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What is a rolling reserve? Many banks require
a non-interest-bearing deposit equal to 1 or 2 times the average estimated monthly
credit card sales by a merchant. This can pose a substantial barrier to accepting
credit cards for some merchants. The purpose of this deposit is to cover any purchase
refused by a customer and for which the customer's credit card issuer refuses
to pay (a chargeback). To overcome the barrier of a large cash deposit,
the Optimal Account includes a rolling reserve. This reserve, equal to 5% of each
purchase, is held for 6 months after the sale. If a purchase is charged back by
the customer's credit card issuer, the amount of the chargeback and any chargeback
fees will be deducted from the rolling reserve. After 6 months have passed, any
amount remaining in the reserve from the purchase will be paid to the merchant.
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What is a charge back? A chargeback
is a reversal of a sales transaction by the customer's credit card issuer. Chargebacks
most often occur when a cardholder disputes a transaction and you, the merchant,
cannot provide adequate proof that the transaction made to a cardholder's account
is valid. A chargeback can also result from processing errors, authorisation issues,
and/or any other transaction irregularities. When a purchase is charged
back to the merchant, a £15.00 fee and any fees charged by the customer's
credit card issuer will be deducted from your account in addition to the value
of the sale.
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How can I avoid a chargeback? It
may not be possible to prevent all chargebacks. However, the Optimal Account has
attempted to reduce the number of chargebacks. First, the merchant's business
name will appear on the customer's credit card statement. This reduces the risk
of a customer not remembering the purchase. Second, a team of chargeback analysts
review chargeback notifications and dispute a proposed chargeback where evidence
exists. As a merchant, you can help by ensuring that the name you register
for the service is the name under which your business operates. You can also help
by having your customers sign a sales receipt if they provide their credit card
to you in person. Finally, if you are shipping goods, be sure to use a shipper
that provides confirmation of delivery. A signed sales receipt or a confirmation
of delivery will assist our chargeback analysts in disputing proposed chargebacks.
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How do online payments get into my bank account? By
providing your bank account number and bank routing number, you permit funds owing
from your merchant account to be automatically deposited, by electronic funds
transfer, into the bank account that you specify.
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Can I use a PO Box or Free phone, local rate number etc? Due
to security, money laundering and privacy issues you must supply a land address
and phone number when completing the documents. You may however, use a
PO Box and a free phone or local charge number such 0845, 0800 and 0870 number
etc. on your website Top...
Can I use my
merchant account with other websites?
You
may use your merchant account with other websites as long as they are selling
similar products or services. Please note though that due to the potential risk
of chargebacks, your business name must match on each website. For example if
you have set-up an account using the business name 'DVD's R US' but also want
to sell picture frames on another website using the same account, this would cause
problems as the name would not match what appears on a customers credit card or
bank statement. Thus causing a chargeback. For this reason you would need to set-up
a second account Top...
Can I put monies owed to me into different bank accounts? If
you wish to have monies paid into seperate accounts, depending on which website
someone has paid you, you will need to have different merchant accounts. We are
unable to split monies from one merchant account into different banks accounts Top...
Is there a minimum remittence amount?
No, a minimum remittence amount for the Optimal Account
does not apply
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Do you provide secure logos for me to use?
The banks that we use for the merchant facilities are
fully PCI-compliant, including all payment pages. It
is not our policy to display security logos, and these
are not required for PCI compliance.
Many companies provide self proclaiming logos, however
this does not automatically make them trustworthy (just
ask any merchant who has used PayPal for a long time).
As long as a payment page, application form, order form
etc. has a padlock on the bottom right hand corner of
the screen (near the clock) then it is secure!
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