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How can Web-Merchant help?
By choosing to take advantage of the Web-Merchant
service, any would-be merchant will save
on charges, have a considerably simpler
application process than that offered by the High
Street acquiring banks, and have made available to
them added value services specially developed by Web-Merchant
So what is involved?
Traditionally, to be allowed to accept credit cards
you must be granted Merchant Status by a major bank
and obtain a Merchant ID from them.
All major high street banks have what is known as
an acquiring bank e.g. NatWest has 'Streamline', LloydsTSB
has 'Cardnet', Barclays has 'Barclays Merchant Services',
HSBC has 'HSBC Merchant Services' and so on.
All these acquiring banks are able to issue a Merchant
ID and allow you to start
taking credit cards in your business. They will
authorise or decline each customer transaction, collect
any payments on your behalf and pay the money into
your bank account.
There are obviously costs involved - typically the
bank will include setup charges, monthly or annual
fees, monthly rental of a terminal
for you to process card details, and maybe insist
on a dedicated telephone line for the terminal. You
will also be charged a percentage of each transaction
which they process, you may have a minimum monthly
volume of business imposed, and in some cases you
will have to provide a substantial bond or deposit
as extra security.
Unfortunately that's the good news! - before you
can even start you will have to satisfy the bank that
you are worthy of their trust in the first place,
and you will usually have to provide two years audited
accounts and demonstrate a sound business track record
in order for your application
to proceed. (Which is why some banks also require
a cash bond and an extensive business plan if you
cannot satisfy all that, for whatever reason)
Even if you achieve all that you will then be able
to accept card payments in your 'traditional business'
only. If you want to set up a web site to accept card
payments you will find that the acquiring banks will
not accept any information coming from you via the
Internet. The banks will only accept information from
a web site which has been processed by an approved
Payment Service Provider (PSP).
But I'm already bank acquired?
If you already have a merchant facility set-up from
your bank and are taking credit cards through your
high-street shop, but want to start taking payments
online, our Gateway Only simply ties into your exisiting
relationship. click here for more information and
for bank acquired pricing - click
here for more information
What's a Payment Service Provider?
In order to have payments from your web site processed
by the credit card networks you will have to apply
to an approved Payment Service Provider,
known as a 'PSP'. Their function is to integrate your
e-commerce enabled web site with the international
credit card networks so that orders generated by your
chosen 'shopping cart' software can be authorised
and payment collected for you. This payment will be
transferred to your Merchant
Account for payment into your bank account.
As you might expect you will have to go through an
application process
in order to get your agreement in place with a PSP.
Their terms and conditions and charges vary enormously
from one PSP to another and it is very difficult to
make exact comparisons. You need to be aware, however,
that whatever charges
your PSP makes will be added to those charges
which are levied by the bank providing your Merchant
Account. This means you may well end up paying two
lots of set-up charges, monthly/annual fees, and,
worst of all, two lots of percentages on every transaction.
Finally - once you have dealt with the application
process for your selected PSP, you will need to
confirm with your bank that they will accept Internet
generated transactions, because even if you have a
Merchant ID it does not guarantee that you will be
allowed to use it for sales
from your web site.
Let Web Merchant Services take
care of this for you!
As previously stated Web-Merchant
has brought together the elements needed to obtain
merchant status allowing your business
to accept credit card orders from your customers.
We have designed the application
process to be as simple as possible, with 95%
of all applications being accepted
What do I need to
do now and what's the process?
What you need to do now is decide which account is
best for you. Either the Merchant Account + Gateway
Solution 1 or 2, High-Risk Merchant account or
the Adult Account. Each
account has pros and cons depending on your business,
country of incorporation
and financial situation
so please compare
products and services before applying
Once you have decided which account is best for you
simply go to the relevant application page and 'Apply'.
What happens next?
To sign up please complete the online application
form. Once you have completed the online
application you will receive an email with the relevant
documentation. For help in understanding the documents
and for information on how to complete them, please
click here
To sign up for High-Risk
Merchant Account + Gateway, please complete
the online application
form. When you apply online you will receive an
email normally within 1 - 2 business days informing
you if you have passed the initial stage or not. If
so, you will receive an email with a list of supporting
documents to return. Once all forms and supporting
documents have been received, your
application will be assessed, then you will be
contacted with a decision. You will also be contacted
if any questions regarding your application arise
Once the merchant account application has been received
and approved, the account can be up
and running in less than 48 hours. If there are
problems with the paperwork submitted, such as incomplete
data or inconsistencies, those issues will delay account
approval. During busy periods the application
process may take 5 days (from the time of receiving
your documents).
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