We provide everything you need to accept payments online! The merchant facility AND the gateway. Many companies, such as VeriSign and Protx, are actually just gateways and you will need to set-up your own merchant account from a bank. At first these companies seem like a good deal, offering charges such as 1.6% on credit cards. However once you add on the transaction charge the bank will also charge you (often around 2.1%) it doesn't look quite as attractive

How does it work and what's the process?

Do you have products or services you want to take payments for online, but you're not sure where to start, what the process is and how it all works? Well don't worry we will explain it all here (or at least try our best too)

So how does it work?

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.

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

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.

What is involved?

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).

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 Optimal Account, Premier Account or the World 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?

Optimal Account
To sign up for Optimal Account, 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

Premier Account
To sign up for Premier Account, please complete the online application form. The Premier Account online application uses the same form as the Optimal Account. However please be assured that we can easily trace which account you have applied for

Once you have completed the online application form 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

World Account
If you have decided to go with the World Account you will need to fill in the online application. The application process has been specifically designed to be quick and easy. The documentation you need for this account is sent to you in a confirmation email in PDF form. You simply need to print, sign and post back to us the documents and we will then start to process your application.

For help on understanding the documents with this account and for information on how to complete them, please click here