Gateways and Virtual Terminals – Your Online Cash Register

Just a few short years ago, gateways and virtual terminals were little more than a “go between” service for E-commerce merchants, linking their online shopping cart to their merchant account. Innovation

Today, a virtual terminal / gateway service opens a world of possibilities, and not just for online merchants.

Manufacturers and wholesalers, medical billing offices, utilities services are utilizing electronic bill presentment, recurring billing options for regular services or clients on payment plans, and retained card numbers to more efficiently bill their clients, saving time, labor costs while increase cash flow vs. traditional paper invoicing.
Mobile entrepreneurs and “house call” merchants such as plumbers, electricians and lock smiths are utilizing gateway services to turn their cell phones into fully function credit card terminals, capable of swiped transactions and inventory management.
Mail order / Telephone order (MOTO) merchants who traditionally would key their transactions in to a terminal are utilizing the ease and convenience of accessing their account online from anywhere in the world to process transactions, set up payment plans, and retain card numbers in a fully encrypted, PCI compliant manner.
Even Brick and Mortar Retail locations are finding gateway services useful as an inexpensive, easy to maintain replacement for expensive point of sale (POS) systems by incorporating services such as inventory control modules, PIN debit, and gift and loyalty card integration.

At Merchant Solutions, we provide a variety of services to help your business grow and expand beyond just credit card acceptance. Below are some specific services we offer.

Or if you prefer, you can email us at contact@merchantsolutionsllc.com or call at us toll free at (866) 326-3480 and one of our knowledgeable account reps will be able to walk you through your options and design a package suited for you!

Step 1: Select a Gateway or Virtual Terminal

First, you’ll need a virtual terminal or gateway service, the differences and pricing described below.

Virtual Terminal: a secure website you can log in to from anywhere and manually key in credit card numbers. Includes the ability to store card numbers in an encrypted manner and basic account reporting:

$25 set up cost
$.05 per transaction
$5 monthly service charge

*Note: above virtual terminal pricing is available only for qualified merchants. If not qualified, then $29 set up cost, $5 per month and $.05 per transaction would apply.

Gateway Service: A gateway service allows you to map your processing account to an ecommerce shopping cart, mobile phone, QuickBooks, or other point of sale device or service. A gateway service automatically includes a virtual terminal service and retained card numbers. A gateway service is required for any of the more advanced features noted below.

$39 set up cost
$10 per month (includes 250 monthly transactions)
$.05 per transaction beyond 250 monthly transaction allowance

Step 2: Select your services

Services for all merchant types

The below services are applicable for all merchant types.

QuickBooks Integration: love the speed and convenience of processing and settling transactions in QuickBooks, but hate the overpriced Intuit processor and slow funding timeframes? We can set up a seamless integration, replacing the Intuit processor with our services.

Gateway service required
$85 one time license fee per account

Mobile phone applications: turn your iPhone, Droid, Blackberry or other Smartphone device with internet access into a fully function wireless credit card terminal! You can enter keyed transactions with a basic virtual terminal service, or add the ability to take swiped transactions. For swiped transactions, add as follows

Droid / Blackberry users:

$39 one time set up fee per unit
$10 per month
First 250 monthly transactions at no charge, $.05 per additonal transaction

Requires card reader (varies by model, generally $80 or less)

SPECIAL DEAL FOR qualified iPhone Users!!!!!

No gateway required!
$4.99 set up cost!
$9.95 monthly service charge!

Store and Forward – Store and forward is a great way for you to get the security and low rates of swiped transactions in situations that would otherwise require you to key in a transaction. Ideal for merchants with outside sales reps goods or services are not delivered immediately on the spot. A store and forward device will capture the swipe in the field. Once you are in front of a computer, the card reader plugs into your USB drive, and the transaction is uploaded to the gateway service to process. Advantages are the security of a fully encrypted swiped transaction, and a low qualified rate instead of higher mid or non qualified rates applied to keyed transactions. For big ticket sales, the difference can be significant!

Requires gateway service
Requires store and forward device (Magtek M20 card reader – $139)

Card Not Present Merchant Services

The following are services generally geared toward “card not present” merchants, for whom a gateway or virtual terminal would primarily be used as an invoicing tool. These services would as well be applicable for certain retail businesses as well.

Internet Shopping carts –If you need an internet shopping cart, we’ve got you covered. While we are compatible with any existing non-customized shopping cart you may have, we can offer an in house solution. An internet shopping cart allows your buyers to purchase products directly off your E-commerce store.

Gateway service required
$69 one time set up charge

Shipping Calculator – You’ve got your site live and your products online. Great! Now what it going to cost to get the products from your warehouse or fulfillment center to your customers door? That’s the million dollar question. Thankfully, we’ve got a $29 answer. Our integrated shipping calculator allows you to determine USPS and Fed Ex shipping to anywhere, worldwide! You just populate the weights and sizes of your goods, you customer enters their shipping info, and the shipping calculator does the rest. Works for all ground, 3^rd day, 2^nd day and overnight shipping options.

Gateway and internet shopping cart required
$25 set up cost
$9.95 monthly service charge

Card Authentication – Having issues with fraud? Or are you interested in taking ecommerce transactions, but worried about losing products to unverified buyers? Or do you sell a high ticket item online, and need to be sure you’re buyers are who they say they are prior to shipping? Then you need Card Authentication. This service combines Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode technology to verify your buyers are who they say they are prior to purchasing!

Gateway service required
$65 one time set up cost
$15 per month
$.10 per transaction

Automated Recurring Transactions – does your business charge for monthly service fees? Or do you offer payment plan options to finance large purchases? If so, then automated recurring billing is the service for you! Simply set the amount to bill and the date to bill and the billing service does the rest. If your clients card rejects, both you and the client will receive an email notification. Or if you offer financing on larger purchases, set the payment amount and number of months to bill and day on which to bill, and automated recurring billing does the rest.

Works with gateway or virtual terminal service
$19 set up cost
$5 per month

Customer initiated recurring transactions – does your business type allow your clients to opt in to your services? Then customer initiated recurring billing is what you need! Ideal for subscription based services.

Gateway service required
$39 set up charge
$15 per month

Electronic Invoice Presentment - does your business still issue paper invoices? Replace this burdensome and inefficient task with electronic invoice presentment! Instead of generating lists, printing, stuffing, mailing and then hoping to get a reply (let allow following up on slow pays and defaults), and paying for all the labor to do so, you can now modernize with electronic invoice presentment. Not only does it save the hassle and costs of typical invoicing, it increases cash flow – you no longer have to wait on outbound mail, inbound mail, deposit lags, and checks clearing. Funds are in your account with your credit card batch!

Gateway service required
$39 set up cost
$15 per month

Brick and Mortar Retail services

The following services are geared more toward the brick and mortar / retail merchant, that plans to use a gateway service in place of a traditional Point of Sale (POS) system. You would need a computer at the point of sale, and the below features and equipment can be added as desired.

jPOS Point of Sale (POS) System – No matter how fancy a POS system is, it is essentially nothing more than a computer, printer and a couple peripherals running a software program. You’ve got a computer, right? Then we’ve got the rest.

The product is downloaded and installed in a matter of seconds. Configuration is a snap – enter your gateway ID, and the basic payment receipt functions are operational.

This is SOFTWARE, not web based. So if you lose your internet connection, you don’t lose your business! jPOS requires IP access, not internet access. This means you can run it on a computer without worrying about your clerks goofing around online.

Our Virtual Point of Sale product allows you to:

Accept Cash, Credit, and check sales
Manually key in or swipe credit card transactions
Customize receipts
Add logos, coupons and promos to your receipts
Email receipts
Replace your terminal and free up counter space
Manger / clerk level controls
Track sales by clerk
Limit ability to accept refunds or voids
Multi-MID capabilities (ideal for doctors offices, hair salons, etc)
Provides sales reporting
Use existing internet connection – no phone line required
Combine with other features above and below for a fully customized service!
Requires PC computer and internet connection
Works with gateway or virtual terminal service

All this for a ONE TIME $49 set up cost per license!!!!

A la carte pricing for additional features:

Add PIN Debit acceptance: one time $39 license charge, requires PIN pad (see below)

Check 21 Direct remote check deposit: on time $39 license charge, requires check reader (see below)

Signature Capture: $99 license charge + $.05 per transaction, signature capture device required (see below)

Gift and Loyalty Card module: $39 set up cost and $9.95 per month, gift / loyalty card program required

Inventory Control –allows you to track outgoing inventory to ensure your records match and your stock isn’t “disappearing”. Also, set up inventory alerts to advise when its time to reorder, based on minimum on stock levels which you define on a per product basis. Never get caught short again! THIS PRODUCT CAN BE USED WITH THE POS SYSTEM OR ON ITS OWN VIA A GATEWAY SERVICE:

$39 set up cost
Tier 1: up to 500 products – $15 per month
Tier II: up to 2500 products- $29 per month
Tier III: up to 10,000 products – $49 per month

Transaction charges:

<500 per month – no charge
501-2500 – $.2 per transaction
2500-10,000 – $.03 per transaction
10,000+ – call for pricing

Inventory order builder – Use your POS system to create purchase orders to send to your vendors for resupply.

$69 on time license charge

Inventory receive plug in – Receive the purchase orders you create in bulk. No need to manually adjust inventory, just click “received” on the purchase order you’ve crated, and inventory levels are updated automatically!

$49 on time license charge

Point of Sale Equipment pricing (Bundle and save!):

POS Bundle 1- Receipt printer, cash drawer, bar code scanner: $515 (save $50!)
POS Bundle 2 – Receipt Printer, Cash Drawer: $390 (save $30!)

A la carte pricing:

Magtek USB card reader – $89
Cash Drawers – Model M-S-N-CR6210B. Receipt printer required: $125
Barcode Scanners – ID Tech Versa ScanII: $145
Receipt Printer – Epson model TM-T88 – $295
ReadyPrint T20 – $295
PIN pad – Verifone 1000SE with USB adaptor and power supply: $119
PIN pad with signature capture – Igenico i6550 – please contact for price, varies by application
Check Readers – Please contact for price, varies by application