How
much does the Merchant Account + Gateway 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.
Payment is applicable once the account has
been set-up. The set-up fee and monthly charges
are taken directly from your merchant account
once you have enough to cover the amounts
owed. This means that you do not need
to pay anything until you have started
trading.
For more costs involved with this account,
including set-up charges, transaction rates
etc. 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?
-
With our Solution 1 Account payment is issued
weekly, 5 days in arrears - more
info
With our Solution 2 Account payment is issued
weekly, 28 days in arrears
With our High-Risk and Adult Account payment
is issued weekly, 7 days in arrears - more
info
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Can
I use my existing merchant account with this service?
-
No. The Merchant Account + Gateways are 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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Can
I use a Virtual Terminal or VPOS 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. - more
info
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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.
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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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Providing
true product descriptions
-
When filling in the application please make
sure that you are as precise as possible with
your product descriptions. Some customers have
unfortunately been refused an account because
they have failed to give an accurate description.
For example - someone who is selling herbal
products, may simply put 'Health care supplements'.
However this can easily be misconstrued to mean
pharmaceutical tablets, pills etc. However,
if a description of '100% herbal products such
as vitamins and protein supplements' had been
entered then it would have passed the initial
stage.
This also works in reverse. For example if
you are renting out accommodation that you own
and have control of (no third party). However
you fail to mention that you will also be supplying
flights etc. and do not have the necessary bonding,
then your application will be rejected.
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Providing
true turnover estimates
-
On the application you will be asked to give
an estimated monthly online turnover. These
will most likely be guesstimates as 90% of applicants
have not yet started to trade online. Because
of this please do not over exaggerate these
estimates as they can hinder you application
and final merchant account (if offered). Certain
applicants think by exaggerating the amounts
we will be more keen to help them. However this
is not the case whatsoever. Not only will we
help any company big or small, the fact that
you have put very large monthly turnovers may
mean you are actually deemed a higher risk.
Therefore receiving different terms to those
advertised (see disclaimer below) or not receiving
an account at all.
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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.
Our merchant accoounts start at competitive
transaction fee of only 1.89%. 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 Solution 1 account and High-Risk account
includes a rolling reserve. This reserve, equal
to either 5% or 10% 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 chargeback?
-
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.
Please click here
to learn more about chargebacks and how to help
prevent them.
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How
can I avoid a chargeback?
-
Web Merchant’s success is built on core
values of creativity, development and commitment.
By keeping our customers’ desires at the
heart of everything we do, we strive to deliver
value for money, flexible solutions and excellent
customer service.
When people come to us for their eBusiness
needs we treat them, not as a number, but as
an individual. We appreciate that each customer
has their own level of understanding when it
comes to what they are wishing to achieve, and
what everything means. As one customer recently
put it...
"Thank you very much for all your support
and help over the years. In view of our ineptitude
with all things web-related, you've really smoothed
the way for us and we've been very pleased with
the results!"
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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
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My
domain name is not registered in our company name.
Is this a problem?
-
Your web address (domain name) must be registered
in your company name. The reason for this is
that if a shopper searches your domain name,
they can see who exactly owns the website they
have spent money with. Basically everything
needs to tally up for shopper confidence. This
also helps stop fraudsters opening and closing
businesses every couple of days.
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What
sort of bank account do I need?
-
For all our merchant accounts you need to have
a business bank account set-up. Sole traders
that use their personal / current accounts must
provide a business account.
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Can
my business bank account be in a different country
to my business?
-
Yes. However due to the money laundering act,
remitting funds across international borders
can sometimes be a bit tricky i.e. they sometimes
will only remit funds to accounts in the same
country as the business is based. However if
the account is in exactly the same name as the
company’s this will be ok.
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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.
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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
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Is
there a minimum remittence amount?
-
No, a minimum remittence amount for the Merchant
Account + Gateway does not apply
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Can
I accept micro payments?
-
Unfortunately we are no longer able to provide
accounts for merchants wishing to accept payments
of £1.00 or less (micro payments). In
fact, the banks are starting to only allow payments
of £5.00 or more. This is one reason why
companies such as the National Lottery will
now only allow you to add £5.00 or more
to your account or force you to set-up a monthly
direct debit.
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What
appears on a customers credit card statement?
-
With our merchant account Solution 1 and 2
Merchant Account your trading name appears on
the card statement. Please be advised that if
you are a sole trader it will be your personal
name trading as i.e. W Merchant t/a ABC Industries.
With our High-Risk and Adult Merchant Account
the message that appears on the cardholder's
credit card statement is always the descriptor
which the merchant mentions in the application.
It doesn't have to be the trading name and can
be something different. If you (the merchant)
would like to have discreteness then you could
for example also use a support website as the
descriptor. On the support website managed by
the you, cardholders for example are able to
ask questions by emailing or calling the merchant
using the details on the support website.
As long as the descriptor has some sort of
connection with your business then it should
be fine. Also some issuing banks show the second
line of the descriptor on the cardholder's statement.
On the second line the merchant's city of where
they're based will be mentioned.
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What
requirements must my website comply with?
-
If you are selling online you must comply with
certain website requirements. Once the website
is compliant along with all the remaining documents
the application will be passed to the bank for
approval. For more information on what requirements
are needed please
click here.
The above requirements do not apply to MOTO
(virtual terminal) only merchants (unless a
website is used in conjunction).
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What
credit and debit cards can I accept?
-
You can accept the following cards automatically:
Visa, Mastercard, Electron, Visa Debit, Delta,
JCB, Laser (Eire only), JB (Pre Paid). You can
also accept the following cards, however you
must apply direct to the Card Scheme: American
Express, Diners Club.
Please note that to be able to accept Visa,
MasterCard and Amex you can be incorporated
anywhere (within reason). However to accept
debit cards you must be incorporated in the
country the debit card originates, normally
the UK and Europe.
Credit/Debit card logos need to be as prominant
as possible throughout the website. For the
rules regarding this and for the logos available,
please click here
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What
application documents and ID do I need to supply?
-
Due to money laundering regulations 1993 we
are required to see different Proof of Identity
and address in order to process your application.
Once you apply you will receive an email with
a list of supporting documents to return. These
are stated below:
Identification Documents
- A photocopy of your
passport or photocard driving licence, to
confirm your identity.
- An original utility
bill or bank statement, (Photocopies will
not be accepted) to confirm your current home
address. This must be recent, i.e. dated from
within the last three months, and for a service
provided directly to your home. Acceptable
examples are bank statements, gas, water,
electricity, or landline telephone bills.
- An original voided
cheque, to confirm the bank account details
of the business. The cheque must show the
name of the business to which the merchant
account will be issued. A used cheque is not
acceptable or original letter from bank to
confirm business bank account details.
Application Documents
- A Completed and signed
Direct Debit Form
- Signed Schedule of
fees agreement
- If the business currently
accepts or recently accepted card payments,
you must supply photocopies of the last 3
months card processing statements, . The statements
must clearly show sales, refunds, and chargeback’s
For help
in completing the documents please click here
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How
do I check my account to see who has bought from
me, make refunds etc?
-
Each account is provided with a customer mangement
system (CMS). The CMS is a central resource
that provides information, support and facilities
to help you manage your accounts. From here
you can make full or partial refunds, change
login and passwords, primary e-mail addresses
and other account information, view statements,
and a whole lot more. Please
click here for more information
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How
do we feed the information from our shopping system
to the payment page?
-
A variety of methods could be used, each of
which is described in our integration guides
and depends on the shopping cart you wish to
use. See shopping
cart integration's
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What
technical support will be available?
-
FREE Integration documentation and technical
support are both provided by telephone and E-mail
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Can
I be a sole trader or an individual?
-
Yes we can provide merchant accounts for sole
traders or individuals. However you must have
a business bank account set-up