How To Guide : UK Merchant Accounts

LOL Ben. Never been a secret at all. If I post on the Iridiumcorp account I do so as nuetral and trying to help out peps here. However I do enjoy engaging the UKBF community in topics that have nothing to do with my job hence having another account.

This is an old thread but I read through my original post and actually have not much to add to it and it is all still pretty relevant.

What I will be adding to it though is PCI "dos and donts" and why you need to do what you need to do as a merchant regardless of size.

 

This throws up a question. We had our merchant account through Natwest Streamline, this has now been sold to Worldpay, does that our trading history now counts for nothing ?

 

No. I think the point in the original article was if you were using a bureau service then move on to a merchant account it may not count towards your trading history.

It seems that you already have a merchant account that was bought by a different company. The main point is that it's a merchant account you already have, so you're already on the credit 'food chain'.

 

Charity Clear - When this was originally written Worldpay were a predominatly bureau service. Other names are master merchant, merchant of record and some others depending on which global region you are in.

During the banking crises of 2008 RBS was forced to sell Streamline. I am not sure of the actual sell date just that they were mandated to sell off Streamline. They went to a private equity firm who bought in a bunch of names including Cardsave and Worldpay as the two primary UK names people on this forum will recognise and be using.

Bill1954 - If your contract has Streamline written on it then you have a direct credit relationship with the acquirer. Worldpay is just now their owners. In fact that is not technically right. The hedge fund behind them are the owners and they have chosen the name Worldpay as the name which eventually soak up all the companies they bought.

 

Can't rate the FSB service highly enough (Streamline). I no longer use it but still a fab deal for those that do.

Something that amused me about the FSB though: a few years ago FSB were offering NatWest merchant accounts cheaper than NatWest themselves.

 

Do merchant account allows t charge customer and also allow customer to deposit funds to his/her credit card online ?
I am thinking about paypal like service in local currency with in my country.

 

LAST UPDATED : 26/03/2014

Fixed some formatting and other errors - 26/03/2014
Added the website compliance check list guide - 26/03/2014

 

Hi there. I was unfortunately made bankrupt last year and i am due for discharge in June this year. I want to set up a company (i was a sole trader last time) selling goods online. My question is.. Am i likely to get a merchant account? Getting a bank account i am sure will be difficult but if i did get an account would i pass the credit checks for a merchant account? Would it be possible to have a fellow director who has a clean credit file apply for the account or would my history have an adverse effect on his application? I was also thinking of having a director apply for the Bank and merchant accounts and then adding myself afterwards as a director, would this be frowned upon?? Thanks.

 

Sean, thanks for this useful guide. Do you have it available as a PDF or in some other format? I'd like to share much of this and a link to a document would be more helpful than sending them to scroll through a long forum thread.

I'm also writing a piece about e-commerce and your posts above have been helpful with my research. And now I'll know where to come if I have any questions.

 

Pls PM me, we might be able to help, but no promises..
Mark

 

My Merchant account was set up within 3 days via Barclays... brilliant and no need for P&L or balance sheet.

 

Hello thank you very much for all the good information you provided . Would please let me know if it is possible to open A Merchant Account from foreign country or do I have to be in UK to do so.
Thanks in advance

 

As an alternative to this you could always use Pay Pal

 

Really good!

 

Great article. Answered lots of questions I had in my head. Thanks

Gulet Escapes | Boat Holidays in Turkey and Croatia

 

I spoke to lots of places about this and there seems to be a huge price discrepancy between different companies. Does this reflect on the quality of the service you get or is it just that they exploit people's lack of knowledge on this.

What could be the hidden costs? Someone mentioned PCI complience being a must. I' ve never heard of this. Any advice?

Gulet Escapes | Boat Holidays in Turkey and Croatia

 

I am surprised Stripe hasn't been mentioned here, it saves a lot of hassle and is likely to be cheaper than all the merchant accounts out there.

Their are now POS devices as well and sign up and set up is near immediate for online businesses.

 

Very useful, thanks!

 

All good advice. One point I would like to add is that there are a number of independent agents who make their living making sure they know the rates across the market so can advise which is the best deal for you (they get a commission from the provider so don't charge the merchant anything). They also have a human voice rather than just a web interface so can answer any questions you may have. However, beware that some of them are in bed with a single card provider so they may not be working in your interest - make sure you probe them on that.

You can find them by searching for "merchant services advice" or something along those lines.

 

Hi, when will you update this again? thank you