Below
we have outlined what we feel are the most important
parts of the merchant account that you need to fully
understand.
Most important parts that you need to understand
Please also read through our website
and FAQ's as these tell you everything you need
to know - and more. Most importantly please read the
contracts, once you receive them, to fully understand
what it is you are getting. We obviously can not be
held liable once you have signed them and the account
is set-up.
Prices and transaction rates for each account
Unlike our competitors we do not promote 'Transaction
Rates From' therefore the rates offered online are
the rates you pay. Please make sure that you have
read and understood these before you apply.
To find the prices for each account please
click here
Companies incorporated in EU with business
bank accounts offshore
Due to the money laundering act, remitting funds
across international borders can sometimes be a
bit tricky i.e. they will only remit funds to accounts
in the same country as the business is based. However
if your business bank account is in exactly the
same name as the business then this will be ok.
Non EU businesses applying for EU Standard
or High-Risk Merchant Accounts
A company located outside the EU wanting to apply
for either the Standard Account (solution 1 and
2) or High-Risk Merchant Account + Gateway must
be an EU incorporated company, and not just have
an EU address. For example if your business is located
in Hong Kong you would need to have an actual EU
incorporated business. Simply having an address
here would not suffice.
Sole Traders and Individuals
With the High-Risk Merchant Account + Gateway,
in order to generate a merchant number for a Sole
Trader or an Individual and to provide a much preferred
shorter weekly settlement, we need some kind of
evidence that they are indeed registered as a company
(for example, a company doesn't necessary need to
be registered in a Commercial Register, but in most
cases we demand a Business Registration document).
Registering your business proves to companies such
as ourselves that you are taking your business seriously
and not simply setting up as a fly-by-night company
- with one main aim... to rip people off! Not only
is registering a business a great start for those
individuals just looking to secure an identity for
future trading purposes, or to block it from being
registered by a competitor, but it also means that
on a customers credit card or bank statement it
will say your company name instead of for example
'Mr Smith - Trading As / ABC Industries.' This not
only looks more professional but also reduces the
risk of chargebacks.
Business Registration can be done online for around
£70 and can usually be sorted within the day.
Please either visit www.start.biz or search online
for 'registering a business, uk'.
Please note that registering your business is different
to becoming Limited.
Accepting credit and debit cards depending
on country of incorporation
Because of the credit card rules that all online
payment serivce providers must follow, many merchants
simply assume they can accept all credit and debit
cards no matter what they are doing or where they
are located. Unfortunately this isn't the case.
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. Below is a list of cards and
the country your business must be incorporated in
to accept them.
Please also note that for Amex and Diners, these
must be obtained by Merchant.
Visa
|
Worldwide
|
Visa Electron
|
UK (Only through website, NOT telephone orders)
|
Visa Delta
|
UK
|
Maestro |
Europe Only (Not UK) |
MasterCard
|
Worldwide
|
MasterCard
Debit
|
Worldwide (with the high-risk & adult
account 3D Secure must be enabled)
|
Diners Club |
Worldwide
|
Carte Bleue
|
France
|
Dankort
|
Denmark
|
CartaSi
|
Italy
|
Laser
|
Eire
|
AMEX
|
Worldwide
|
Discover
|
Worldwide
|
JCB
|
Netherlands, Germany, Austria or Switzerland
|
Not all accounts offer the same credit and
debit cards
With our merchant facilities we give you the ability
to accept most credit and debit cards. However due
to the different banks we use, not all of them allow
you to accept the same cards. All three accounts
we offer allow you to accept Visa, MasterCard, Visa
Delta, Amex, Diners and Electron. However with some
cards certain conditions apply.
For example;
Maestro can be accepted with the Standard Account
and Gateway Only Account, but not with the High-Risk
Account. Electron can only be used for MOTO transactions
with the Gateway Only and High-Risk Account, but
can be used for eCommerce (through your website)
with the Standard Account Account.
Because of the slight differences between accounts
please read carefully which ones allow which cards.
You can do this by either viewing the prices and
costs of each account or by reading the relevant
FAQ's.
Please note that currently the High-Risk Account
does not allow Maestro cards.
Main reasons why application timescales extend
When you apply for a merchant account you need
to complete and return various documents, proof
of ID and also have your website up to scratch (unless
MOTO only). This may take an applicant a few hours
or even a few weeks to provide them. Because of
this applications can become delayed. Simply put
- for every day it takes to receive the relevant
documents back that's at least how much of a delay
there will be. For example if we provide an estimated
timescale of 14 days to process and activate an
account, but receive the documents back 10 days
after sending them, the complete process from sending
out the documents will take 24 days.
One tip to speed up the time it takes to process
an application is to get all the relevant ID ready
while we process your initial application. That
way you will only need to complete the relevant
documents sent to you, if we can indeed help, and
not have to suddenly run around looking for ID,
utility bills etc. slowing down the process.
What ID Documents do I need
to supply?
Due to money laundering regulations 1993, fraud
and obvious ID theft, we will need the following
from you once you have applied and been initially
accepted. Please note that you will be notified
via email of what exactly you need to supply and
when.
- Scan of valid ID of company's
owners/director(s). Preferably Passport or National
ID
- Original utility bill
or bank statement 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.
- Voided cheque (or a copy
of a recent Bank Statement)
- Certificate of Incorporation
(and related documents)
- A copy of the Terms &
Conditions as listed on website
- Domain name must be registered
in the applicants company (legal) name
Checks preformed as part of the application
process
As part of the application process, only done once
we have received all the relevant documentation
back, we perform two main checks.
- MATCH Database - The MATCH
File is maintained by MasterCard International
and is the way by which MasterCard and Visa acquiring
banks identify merchants, and the principals,
which have been terminated for specific reasons.
These check find information such as when a merchant
has been convicted of credit card fraud, deposited
sales that were not authorized by cardholders,
deposited transaction that were for sales generated
by another business (known as laundering.)
- Credit Checks - During
our assessment of your application, we will use
the services of credit reference agencies to confirm
your home address and calculate your personal
credit score. Information held by the credit reference
agencies is used by us and others to help verify
the identity of customers and to assess their
ability to meet financial commitments. This enables
accounts to be opened more quickly and reduces
the need to obtain third-party references.
To enable us to form an accurate view of the
existing financial commitments of customers,
credit reference agencies may link the records
of “financial associates” (such
as spouses, family members, or cohabiters) who
have entered into joint financial obligations.
Once linked, this association means that each
of the records will be taken into account in
all future applications for credit by either
financial associate and will continue until
one of them successfully files a “disassociation”
with the credit reference agencies by establishing
that this financial link no longer exists. Information
held about you by the credit reference agencies
may already be linked to records relating to
one or more of your “financial associates”.
If so, for the purposes of any application to
us for services you may be treated as financially
linked and if so your application will be assessed
with reference to any associated records. Further
details about “financial association”,
“disassociation”, and credit reference
agencies are available by contacting the credit
reference agencies directly.
We may make periodic searches of our records,
credit reference agencies, and fraud prevention
agencies to manage your account, and to take
decisions regarding your account and the terms
under which we have opened it, including whether
or not to confirm or extend your account.
You have the right of access to your personal
records held by credit reference and fraud prevention
agencies. We will supply the names and addresses
of the agencies we use upon request.
By submitting the application documents you
confirm that you have read the foregoing and
agree to us obtaining the aforementioned information
during our assessment of your application for
payment processing services
Settlement Periods and Rolling Reserves may
be increased
In order to increase the merchant's chance of obtaining
a merchant facility with one of our sponsor banks
due to an applicants status and/or business model
and following a full risk assessment of an application,
we very occasionally need to increase or place two
specific elements: the settlement period and the
rolling reserve. Indeed a longer settlement period
and a larger rolling reserve (normally 14 - 28 days
and 10%) are more likely to reassure our processing
bank that we have taken sufficient steps to mitigate
the risk exposure on an account.
Please be assured that you will be notified of
this prior to going live, and if not happy can reject
the new terms without any risk of being liable for
payment. However once you have agreed the new terms
and signed the agreements you would then be liable.
How to reduce or even eliminate a rolling
reserve
With the Standard Account (and High-Risk account
if one has been placed) we would, on occasion, be
able to consider 0% reserves, however before we
would make this offer we would need to see the latest
set of financials for the company to make sure that
the health of the business is sound. This will help
us to get a better picture and alleviate the need
of a rolling reserve. To do this we would look at
the financials on the public database through Companies
House, however if these are not filed there then
you will need to supply these to us.
High-Risk
and Adult Registration Fees for downloadable
adult videos
Due to certain 'Adult' businesses e.g. downloadable
videos and photos (NOT physical hard goods), needing
a different kind of merchant account, they are subject
to additional “High Risk Registration Fees”
from VISA ($500 per year) and MasterCard ($1000
per year). We would like to make it clear that this
is not an extra charge incurred by us!
High-Risk and Adult Merchant Account + Gateway
Annual Fees
Only the High-Risk Merchant Account + Gateway has
an annual fee. Depending on your business depends
on the annual fee. This is either £85 (98
EUR) or £858 (950 EUR). A company classed
as low-risk would be £85 while a high-risk
company would be on £858. We will inform you
of the annual fee following a full assessment.
Categories which fall under the £858 mark.
- Vitamins/Supplements
- Adult (mainstream)
- Dating Services
- Escort Agencies
- Travel/Tour/Entertainment
- Credit Repair Companies
- Skill Gaming
- Gambling
We would like to make it clear that this
is not an extra charge incurred by us but
by VISA and MasterCard. This means that even if
you decide not to use us, you will still need to
pay regardless of what PSP you use.
PCI Compliance - are you compliant?
From February 2010 PCI DSS became compulsory for
processing card payments.
PCI Compliance is the Payment Card Industry Data
Security Standard mandated by the card schemes for
the protection of cardholders and transaction details.
According to payment brand rules, all merchants
accepting credit card payments are required to comply
with the PCI Data Security Standard in its entirety.
This includes online and offline.
Please click here for
more information and to learn how to become compliant
Virtual Terminal and VPOS - There is a difference!
The Virtual Terminal is a secure browser based
interface that will enable your business to process
mail order, telephone order (MOTO) credit card transactions,
It eliminates the difficulty and additional hardware
expenses normally related to manual credit and debit
card processing. Access your Virtual Terminal from
any Internet connection to process card payments.
The VPOS (Virtual Point Of Sale) is a Windows-based
software application that provides all the necessary
features required for processing credit and debit
card transactions quickly and easily in situations
where cards are not present.
If using a call centre please check with them whether
or not they allow the use of Virtual Terminals or
VPOS systems.
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 a lot of time for all parties
involved, chiefly us. For this reason, anyone who
knowingly provides wrong business information will
be charged a £150 + VAT Fee.
More importantly this practice is illegal and is
classed under UK law as 'trying to acquire products
or services under false pretenses'. As you can imagine
we take this very seriously and anyone caught doing
so will have their business details past over to
the appropriate authorities
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.
Important Mandatory Website Requirements
If you are using a website to sell online you must
comply with certain website requirements. These
are mandatory and must be complied with before an
application can be fully approved. If you have not
developed a live website then a test (BETA) site
will be adequate.
Please click
here for much more information
If using a website please make sure the following
points are met:
Please note that the below requirements do not
apply to 100% Virtual Terminal (MOTO) only merchants.
However if a website is used in conjunction then
these rules apply.
- Clear posting of the company's
legal name on the website
- Clear posting of the Customer
Service telephone number or email address
- Clear posting of the Refund
and Return Policy
- Clear posting of delivery
methods and timing
- Listing of products with
pricing stated in the settlement currency
- Website order page needs
to be secure/SSL
- PCI Compliant [more]
- Domain name must be registered
in the company's name
Please click
here for much more information
Applying for different accounts at once
Sometimes a merchant will apply for different accounts
at once, not always with the same company, in the
hope that this will get them a merchant account
more quickly. As you can imagine this not only causes
extra work for everyone concerned, it also means
that if we provide you with an account, regardless
of whether or not you have been accepted elsewhere,
you will be liable for payment - please see below
for more information.
Please also note that as part of the application
process we need to do checks on you and your business.
One of these includes a credit check. Therefore
by applying for several accounts at once you will
adversely effect your credit score.
If you are simply wanting to see which account
we could offer, then it would be best to apply for
one, see if you are rejected or the terms are changed,
and then apply for the other one. Please note that
it only takes a 2 - 3 working days to receive an
initial answer for each account.
When will I be liable for payment for the
merchant account?
Payment Solution 1 and High-Risk Merchant
account: 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.
Payment Solution 2: At time
of application you must provide a payment method
(credit or debit card details). However the fees
are not taken until all the relevant paperwork
has been returned and your application processed.
On certain occasions the
accounts that we provide are not used by the merchant.
This could be because they have taken longer to
set-up the rest of their business, not taking
as many online payments as expected or have decided
not to use it. Whatever the reason we are unable
to issue a refund as this in not due to a problem
caused by us.
Are the prices you advertise really the prices
I will pay?
YES! However certain high-risk merchants may have
slightly different terms...
In order to increase a merchant's chance of obtaining
a merchant facility with one of our sponsor banks
due to an applicants status and/or business model
and following a full risk assessment of an application,
we may need to increase certain elements: mainly
the settlement period and the rolling reserve (other
terms may be effected depending on the risk sector
you operate in and your company’s credit rating).
Indeed a longer settlement period and a larger rolling
reserve are more likely to reassure our processing
bank that we have taken sufficient steps to mitigate
the risk exposure on an account.
As you can imagine we are unable to tell who will
have their terms increased until an application
has been put in and is being processed. Please be
reassured that you are under no obligation to continue
with the application if the new terms offered no
longer meet your requirements. If this is the case
than simply reply to the relevant email and your
application will be terminated
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