Merchant account

Natural Elements · 05-10-2009, 01:16 PM

As many online stores established, many use a merchant account.

I have heard so much on merchant accounts that's wasn't true like:

- If you are serious about your business, you must have a merchant account
- If you don't have a merchant account you are not a professional
- A merchant account will give you a better reputation, etc

I experimented this mode of payment on my online store for 1 year. Here is the catch from the bank: setup fees, service fees, you cannot imagine how many time they increase the fees on my merchant account. Visa, MasterCard raised fees, bank raised fees, not one only one time but continuously. The only people that never raised their fees is my gateway provider Authorize.net

At one point I said stop and canceled my account, because it was too high for me and my prices suffer enormously.

We at Natural Elements try to find the right balance to make happy everybody. We decided to stay with PayPal and keep some fair prices for our customers.

Anyway, I am sure that some other online stores will have a different experience and it would be great to share that.

MyPreciousKid · 05-10-2009, 10:19 PM

My first merchant account was thru my bank. The fees were very high, like 5%.

Then I moved to concord who used authorize.net to process. I actually got them to reduce my fees several times because of the volume I do now. I simply asked after being with them over a year what I could do to decrease the fees.

Also I arranged an affilate program with them where they do not change my people a yearly fee or make them sign a contract.

I pay only a bit over 2% for standard cards ( online card not present). I was paying more for paypal.

It works well for me.

ntsf · 06-04-2009, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MyPreciousKid

My first merchant account was thru my bank. The fees were very high, like 5%.

Then I moved to concord who used authorize.net to process. I actually got them to reduce my fees several times because of the volume I do now. I simply asked after being with them over a year what I could do to decrease the fees.

Also I arranged an affilate program with them where they do not change my people a yearly fee or make them sign a contract.

I pay only a bit over 2% for standard cards ( online card not present). I was paying more for paypal.

It works well for me.

What merchant provider is concord? How are they with application approvals? I can't PM you

Thanks

Natural Elements · 05-11-2009, 12:42 AM

Well, it is interesting to share experiences.

The merchant account we had did not work for us, most of my customers pay via paypal. I tried this service for 1 year, and it was not profitable for my business.

We are in a very competitive field, and it is pretty hard to sell higher than our competitors.

simple-wonders · 05-12-2009, 09:19 PM

This is certainly an interesting thread to me since I adding my merchant account about 6 months ago and it has pretty darn high fees attached. Before that, I had only used paypal, but I many complaints about it. With paypal, if folks have had previous accounts, they tend to have some problems with checkout. I know I lost a number of large sales because I was unable to accept cc's another way.

MyPreciousKid · 05-12-2009, 10:22 PM

If your merchant fees are a higher percentage then your paypal account then you might look for another merchant.

I just checked my merchant account for April. I paid 2.5% counting all fees for Visa/MC. My paypal account is 2.9%

When looking for a merchant account carrier look for
1. no contract
2. no yearly fee
3. fees

Just my personal experience

Kay Green Child Safety & Baby Gear Store

MichelleSteiner · 05-13-2009, 06:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MyPreciousKid

When looking for a merchant account carrier look for
1. no contract
2. no yearly fee
3. fees

Kay Green Child Safety & Baby Gear Store

And just where do you find a merchant account with no fees?

I have a merchant account set up, but I also do offline events where I need to be able to take credit cards, so I also have a wireless processor. Works great, but the company has been a pain and I'll be searching for a new account soon enough.

And yes, I made the mistake of signing a 2 year contract.

MyPreciousKid · 05-13-2009, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichelleSteiner

And just where do you find a merchant account with no fees?

I have a merchant account set up, but I also do offline events where I need to be able to take credit cards, so I also have a wireless processor. Works great, but the company has been a pain and I'll be searching for a new account soon enough.

And yes, I made the mistake of signing a 2 year contract.

Sometime you just have to ask before joining them. That is what I did with connect. They wanted my business but I told them I would not pay a yearly fee. They came back and offered it to me. And they agreed to it for anyone I bring them.

I am not sure if they all offer the wireless thing. I thin most offer cellphone processing however. I do not need that so have not asked. It is a very good question.

Natural Elements · 05-13-2009, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MyPreciousKid

If your merchant fees are a higher percentage then your paypal account then you might look for another merchant.

I just checked my merchant account for April. I paid 2.5% counting all fees for Visa/MC. My paypal account is 2.9%

When looking for a merchant account carrier look for
1. no contract
2. no yearly fee
3. fees

Just my personal experience

Kay Green Child Safety & Baby Gear Store

From my personal e-commerce experience, Merchant fees include for Visa/Mastercard ( I don't even talk about AMEX or Discover):

From the Bank:
- Setup fees (couple hundred dollars)
- Monthly fees
- Monthly support service fees (which you never use, but you have to pay)
- 2%- 4% fees on each transaction
- Valpos authorization fees

From the Gateway:
- Setup fees ($100)
- Monthly fees
- Transaction fees
- Batch fees (Even if you only have transactions that were denied, you still have to pay the Batch fees)

I did not have any contract, and will never sign one for this.

Anyway compared to Paypal, go figure which one to use...

MyPreciousKid · 05-13-2009, 09:00 AM

Wow you really did have an expensive one. I can see why you quit it.

If you WANT a merchant account then shop around. It is a personal choice for each business.

The 2.5% I quoted above was all the fees including the gateway fee (which is optional but I use).

And if you rarely use them then the percentages would be more because the gateway fee (and monthly fee if there is one) are stable so a bigger percentage for a smaller account.

Yes Amex and Discover is more if you want to take those.

And you are right you need to ask what the percentages are for midlevel cards and reward cards and business cards are. They are usually a bit higher.

I use Connect and have a special deal with them. They offer no contract and no yearly fee to anyone who I send them. I heard Costco was very reasonable too.

But it really pays to shop around. My first account was with the bank and it was 5% per transaction UGH

And absolutely it is a decision that every business has to make for themselves.

Kay Green
http://www.MyPreciousKid.com
Child Safety & Baby Gear Store

Natural Elements · 05-13-2009, 09:08 AM

Now you understand why I am quiting these services

I will probably take another Merchant service when the economy will recover and when I will have a decent volume of sales.

MichelleSteiner · 05-13-2009, 12:19 PM

I'm thinking I'm going to be looking that will work with a cell phone, as I will be upgrading to a better phone next year, something is that is easier for me to work with. Nathan thinks I'm nuts for wanting something I can use "apps" on, but he doesn't think about what all I already carry with me to my events. Just one more step for making things simpler for me.

MyPreciousKid · 05-13-2009, 01:35 PM

That sounds like a great idea.

I just got my first Blackberry Curve. I love having the ability to see emails on my phone. When I am away from the office I know I have not missed anything important.

My hubby was not sure the data package things was needed either.

Kay Green
Child Safety & Baby Gear Stroe

WebTrafficSeller · 06-13-2009, 01:38 AM

I only use a Paypal merchant account, but now i'm thinking about a change. paypal is very easy and convenient, but it seems to me that Paypal always support buyers when there's a case.

I sell socalled "intangible goods" or services (website traffic) and i dont print a shipping label and send physical goods. There has been som cases where buyers claim that someone else used their Paypal accounts and paid for my services.

A few hours later i get an email from Paypal telling me that a payment is under investigation cos the owner of the account says the account has been hacked or something.

If i've already started the traffic campaign, i cannot reverse it. If i stop the campaign, i loose the money. Even if i prove (screen shots from my server) that the traffic has been started, Paypal will support the buyer.

This has happened 2-3 times and i have lost money on it. Not much but my margins are very small.

In a way its ok that Paypal supports buyers, i can understand them. But i feel that they sometimes do it without checking all of the evidence.

Right now i'm evaluating Moneybookers. Does anybody have some experience with Moneybookers?

Or maybe a suggestion for a better payment processor for intangible goods/services?

firecat · 06-14-2009, 09:10 PM

Since I had a "brick and mortar" store long before I started trying to sell online, I already had a merchant account. When I first started out though, I had an account through my bank and boy was that a mistake! Fees through the roof and on top of that, the bank had just started offering this service and didn't really seem to know what they were doing.

After all this time I know that there are loads of processors out there looking for new business. Whatever you do, don't let anyone talk you into signing anything immediately. If they don't want you to check out their services and compare with others before deciding, they probably have something to hide. This advice goes double (or triple) for the companies who want you to lease equipment. Worst business mistake I ever made!

getreffs · 08-28-2009, 03:31 PM

Sory for un related post but can we open two paypal accounts

thewebhostingdir · 08-29-2009, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by getreffs

Sory for un related post but can we open two paypal accounts

You will get the answer of your query by following below mentioned thread:

http://www.v7n.com/forums/online-pay...-accounts.html

sam40 · 10-06-2009, 09:23 PM

I am really impressed with customer service of merchantexpress.com. I've worked with a different Authorizenet reseller at a different company and I don't think they ever cared how we were doing. I tried calling them for help a few times and never got through. This is a much better experience.