Ecommerce and internet based businesses have become a major player in the world of credit card processing. Ecommerce is defined as a credit card transaction where the client checks out directly through the internet for your product or service. Ecommerce requires a gateway, such as MoneyGate or Authorize.net or others, to securely transfer the checkout information from your shopping cart to the acquiring bank. Ecommerce will as well allow you to manually input cards via your gateway terminal for those situations where someone does call in with a card number.

Online Start-ups and the “all in one” trap

Many start up internet based companies use PayPal as their primary credit card processor, simply because they are already signed up with PayPal to accept their direct payments. However, PayPal is certainly not the least expensive option out there, and there are a number of advantages to a traditional merchant account, particularly in the event of a dispute, but also in the ability to market to the customer again in the future.

As well, many companies will target online start ups with web shopping cart platform packages. While these may be a great “all in one” solution to get your business off the ground, but the credit card processing rates are often VERY high cost compared to stand alone processors! This is because the company selling you the website package as well gets a cut from the credit card processing – often times this is the most profitable part of their business. As a “one stop shop” for an online web store package, they will focus on the shopping cart features while making no mention of the processing rates. Therefore, they simply don’t have to be nearly as competitive.

Established merchants and maximizing your savings

Even established merchants will often neglect their processing rates. However, this “if its not broke dont fix it” attitude can result in significant lost income for established merchants. For instance, is your processor charging you a “gateway access fee”, but not actually providing the gateway? This is a classic way many processors will net a few extra dollars off you every month. Also, do you know the difference between your mid-qualified and non-qualified discount rates? And does your processor use an AVS and CVV code match to make sure as many of your transactions are coming in at the lowest rate possible? If your answer is “I dont know”, then you need to give us a call!

At Merchant Solutions we are well versed in the world of online payment systems and ecommerce and are happy to help you transition to a lower cost plan.