An Introduction To Accepting Credit Card Payments On The Internet

You’ve just opened your new online shop selling the best hand-made souvenirs from all over the world, and you’re eagerly waiting for your first customers’ Not as easy as you thought it would have been, is it? 98% of today’s online shoppers use credit cards, and being cardholders they will never send any checks or do bank wire transfers. That is why your eCommerce will never be a real eCommerce business without an eCommerce merchant service which will in turn service your credit card holding customers bringing you profits. By now you must be wondering where, how, and which eCommerce merchant service you, as an eCommerce merchant, should get. And that’s where we start off, introducing new (and not so new) eCommerce business owners to accepting credit card payments on the internet, and making sure that everything is crystal clear when it comes to online credit card processing. It is recommended to have our ’eCommerce Terminology’ article at hand, which can be found on our website in the Articles Section.

You must have surely understood why credit card processing is indispensable in today’s world of eCommerce and online shopping: it is secure, stable, rapid and international. So, how does an eCommerce merchant start to accept credit card payments online? What you need is: a) an eCommerce merchant account, which can be either be acquired from a merchant bank or from a merchant account provider, and b) a shopping cart script.

If you choose to apply for an eCommerce merchant account at a merchant bank you’ll have to face several problems and many disadvantages. First of all, the choice of merchant banks at your disposal is too narrow because only your domestic/local merchant banks will be ready to somehow cooperate with you and review your eCommerce merchant account application. The wider the choice the better chance of finding the right thing. Most, if not all, domestic eCommerce merchant banks will not grant you a merchant account service because, as a new eCommerce merchant you probably have no credit card history, no monthly turnover statistics, no feedback, nothing. Domestic merchant banks (and offshore merchant banks too) need a guarantee that your eCommerce business will not go bankrupt because of, for example, a massive amount of chargebacks due to fraud or returns. Direct merchant banks are certainly not for those who have just entered the world of eCommerce. Moreover, there are not many eCommerce merchant account types to choose from, proving our point of ’a better chance to find the right thing’.

Second option: eCommerce merchant account provider. Merchant account providers substitute all the hassle of communicating and applying for an eCommerce merchant account for a simple form which can be filled out in a few minutes. Merchant account providers operate online and have large databases with affiliated merchant banks from all over the world. This means that the eCommerce merchant account provider will approve your eCommerce business for a merchant account in a maximum of 24 hours. The choice of eCommerce merchant account types is wide: high-risk merchant accounts, offshore merchant accounts, international merchant accounts, third-party merchant accounts, direct merchant accounts and others.

Taking GSPay.com as an example you can clearly see that the services provided by the company are many. What if you don’t know which type of eCommerce merchant account you should get? Let GSPay.com handle the ’hard stuff’ ’ you will simply need to fill in a few fields in the form and click submit. GSPay.com’s credit card processing specialists will contact you shortly with all the possible and convenient eCommerce merchant accounts for you. Consulting is free of charge, and, speaking of fees: there are none hidden. GSPay.com offers free setup, free support, it’s so easy to start accepting credit card payments online with GSPay. Of course, there are so many other eCommerce merchant account providers out there, but few can guarantee as much stability, versatility, security and safety.

There are many articles in our Articles section providing guidance to choosing and applying for eCommerce merchant accounts, what to look out for and what to look for; our Top-10 eCommerce Merchant Providers article will prove to be of much help when comparing and reviewing providers.

So you’ve made up your mind and chose a provider, with low credit card processing rates, low monthly fees, and free support and so on. Are you 100% sure that the eCommerce merchant account that you’ve chosen is the best account for you and your online business? Analyzing an eCommerce business is not an easy task, if the eCommerce merchant account provider hasn’t advised you on the best type of account for you then don’t lose your time, and in the future, money. The wrong eCommerce merchant account solution could lead to devastating conclusions. For example, taking your still fresh online souvenir store, we would expect that your monthly turnover will not meet the minimum volume requirements of direct merchant accounts. A third-party merchant account would be a great way to start as there are no volume caps and minimums. A high risk merchant account would not suit you as your eCommerce business is not a high-risk business, thus, you’ll end up paying much more for the guarantees the provider gives to the merchant bank. Offshore eCommerce merchant accounts might, and most probably will, be good enough after you start generating enough revenue. GSPay.com specializes in offshore and third-party merchant accounts for any type of eCommerce business and for all eCommerce merchants from any location.

The second ’ingredient’ for online credit card processing is a good shopping cart script. Shopping cart scripts come in many shapes and sizes’ ’at many prices, too. Free shopping cart scripts, which can be downloaded separately from most PHP script websites, are NOT recommended. A good shopping cart script will guarantee security and stability at any stage of a transaction, handling the complex data encryption processing while providing an easy-to-use shopping cart interface for your customers. GSPay.com will install a shopping cart of your choice free of charge.

So, hopefully, we have covered the basics of accepting credit card payments on the internet, without using too much jargon and terminology, and without going in deep the complex technology behind credit card processing’ eCommerce merchant accounts, payment gateways and shopping cart script security. For more in-depth information on credit card processing visit our Articles section. GSPay’ eCommerce your way!