Merchant Account

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preciousbags

Free Member
Mar 20, 2010
694
18
  • #1
    Can anyone tell me when is it possible to get a merchant account? Do you already need to be making lots of sales on my site?

    I dont have a merchant bank account either, where can i obtain one?

    Does it cost to get a merchant account? Also where can i apply online for one?

    I think the site i have lets me use a account with sagepay, worldpay, eway, and cardsave

    Thanks
     
    F

    Faevilangel

  • #6
    Most banks will give you one, you need a business bank account, and a merchant to handle your sales to your account.

    The best known is sagepay (you just need a merchant ID from your bank) but some banks operate their own merchant system, for example rbs run the worldpay and hsbc have their own.

    You only need the above if you want to have credit card payments on your site, without the need of a payment provider like paypal or google checkout.
     
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    F

    Faevilangel

  • #8
    preciousbags said:
    I am a sole trader.

    I have a personal bank account that i am using just for the business sales.

    Is Sagepay one that charges a certain percentage per transaction and everything else is free?
    Click to expand...

    Yeah, most merchants will do this, or do a monthly fee. It's best to shop around first and work out if you really do need it. It's 100% better than paypal but it does have it's pitfalls.
     
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    F

    Faevilangel

  • #11
    preciousbags said:
    I am getting some sales but thinking that having a proper merchant service might boost sales.

    If i am a sole trader? Will a personal account do? I would prefer to use sagepay as ive heard good things about them
    Click to expand...

    I would also look at worldpay as it's backed by an international bank ;) Sagepay have been around years and are extremely reliable. Sagepay used to be called Protx.

    I am not 100% sure on the personal account, I would double check with your bank and Sagepay
     
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    F

    Faevilangel

  • #16
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    C

    crossdaz

  • #17
    preciousbags said:
    I am getting some sales but thinking that having a proper merchant service might boost sales.

    i am a sole trader? Will a personal account do? I would prefer to use sagepay as ive heard good things about them
    Click to expand...

    I'm fairly certain you'll need a business account. You'll also need to comply with certain technical and security standards which I believe are quite complex?

    Unless your sales are considerable I personally would stick with paypal and google. Amazon payment services is another option.

    Not really my area but this is what I gather to be the case from some of the businesses I deal with.
     
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    F

    Faevilangel

  • #18
    crossdaz said:
    I'm fairly certain you'll need a business account. You'll also need to comply with certain technical and security standards which I believe are quite complex?

    Unless your sales are considerable I personally would stick with paypal and google. Amazon payment services is another option.

    Not really my area but this is what I gather to be the case from some of the businesses I deal with.
    Click to expand...

    I also thought the same, but we could be wrong :p

    I would stick with Sagepay / HSBC / Worldpay for merchant services, and offer paypal too :D
     
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    lexius

    Free Member
    May 18, 2009
    70
    7
  • #19
    I did a lot of research recently into merchant accounts fees etc.

    I decided to go with netbanx, they had a some of the best transaction fees. A very flexible service, that would allow me to change providers later on.

    I don’t think you even need a merchant account - they might have had some facility where they set one up for you (I cant recall exactly, but take a look at there site or give them a call).

    As for your bank, you don’t have to have a bank that has a merchant account arm to it.
    My bank does have one, but I am not using them for my merchant account as they aren’t competitive at all. I don’t want to be stuck with them. I think generally speaking you get less competitive rates if you go with your own banks merchant provider. Unless you can negotiate the rates first - which isn’t the case when you are starting up.

    As for trading record, my merchant account has been set up for a new website - no trading history. The do credit checks on you, I assume having a trading history would help - but its not essential.
     
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    M

    MDG

    Free Member
    Jan 26, 2010
    58
    7
  • #21
    I used paypal for the first 18 months after launching my site and have just recently signed up for a merchant account. I'm using the sagepay gateway with a merchant account from Elavon.

    The actual sagepay sign up was easy although from my experience it does take a bit of time and effort to get the merchant account. I'm not sure if all have the same kind of application proces but Elavon signed up as a dummy customer, put through a test tranastion and requested a few changes to my site and my T&C's before they would accept the application. They also wanted to see some business plan type stuff as fees do seem to be based on expected average transaction values and overall volumes. It's nothing too complex but like I said it's something you'll need to put a bit of effort in to, it's a bit more involved than just opening a regular bank account.

    I mainly switched for the cheaper fees but I had also read quite a bit about how only offering paypal would be putting people off buying. To be honest I've not personally noticed any significant increased sales conversion since offering sagepay. It is still early days so maybe this will change but I'd suggest if you want something without any monthly fees and minimum hassle setup then paypal is still a pretty good place to start.

    Once your sales grow paying sagepay £20 a month will be insignificant compared to what you can save with cheaper transaction fees from a merchant account. I was at paypal's 3rd tier merchant rates and going to a merchant account still represented a decent saving over them.
     
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    timbrennan

    Free Member
    May 7, 2010
    1
    0
  • #22
    Hi

    I was in the same situation I needed to get a proper merchant account as Paypal were charging me too much to accept payments

    1 A merchant bank can only issue you with this

    2 A lot of providers wont help you and you have to go to the bank yourself

    3 The rates to accept payments are expensive - they can range from 2% to 5%

    I found a company who have a rate of 1.24% and will help you get your merchant account also

    Its called Lucey technology - dug out their no !! its 44 20 71932890

    I set up with them this year after i ditched paypal and a friend reffered them to me

    I accept payments via my webshop and over the phone at the moment.
     
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    N

    NetwiseHosting

  • #23
    Hi Guys,

    We are in the process of exploring Merchant Accounts as we also believe PayPal is overcharging and holding our sales back slightly. I have looked in to SagePay and was just wondering if any of you had information or experience on their 'Direct Integration' method? And any further info an PCI DSS Compliant regulations would also be appreicated.

    Thanks in advance and have a good weekend.
     
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    F

    Faevilangel

  • #24
    caeteez said:
    Hi Guys,

    We are in the process of exploring Merchant Accounts as we also believe PayPal is overcharging and holding our sales back slightly. I have looked in to SagePay and was just wondering if any of you had information or experience on their 'Direct Integration' method? And any further info an PCI DSS Compliant regulations would also be appreicated.

    Thanks in advance and have a good weekend.
    Click to expand...

    I am no expert but for the DSS you need to be on a dedicated server,

    more info here

    Paypal is a good tool, as it's a well known merchant and would instill some form of confidence in your brand but it is expensive and has it's flaws. Offer it as an alternative to credit / debit cards, the best of both worlds :D
     
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    B

    brownie

  • #25
    caeteez said:
    I have looked in to SagePay and was just wondering if any of you had information or experience on their 'Direct Integration' method? And any further info an PCI DSS Compliant regulations would also be appreicated.
    Click to expand...

    Sagepays Direct Integration means you host the payment pages hence you carry the responsibility of maintaining PCI compliance, this would also be dependent on the number of transaction you process in a 12 month period.

    I guess you will self certify at level 4 and my advice would be to host with a hosting company who can provide you with a PCI Compliant infrastructure and engage someone like Trustwave to perform regular scans.

    With you being a web hosting company, surely you are aware of this?
     
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    G

    GeeWizz_Designs

  • #26
    Check out Sagepay.

    They provide a full solution from terminal services, online payments and gateways and full merchant accounts.

    They aim to get the money off your customers card and into your nominated bank account within 3 working days.

    Its worth giving them a call as their website is a little vague on the details but the peope at their call centre are very helpful.
     
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    envnet

    Free Member
    Jul 6, 2010
    6
    0
  • #27
    Merchant accounts are only really worthwhile to have if you are already making a lot of sales. There are a few different reasons for this. Firstly they have quite high setup costs.

    They also create some problems with cashflow because the payments are only transferred every month with some providers.

    Another major problem is the security deposit. This is a certain amount of money which is withheld from your payments depending on the risk of your business. Until you earn more than this through your security deposit you will not receive any payments.

    Hope this was a help

    Andrew
     
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    M

    MDG

    Free Member
    Jan 26, 2010
    58
    7
  • #28
    I'm not sure that's completely true, I guess it depends on your business and industry you're in but mine cost next to nothing to set up, money is transferred every few days and they don't hold any security deposit. I'm using sagepay to process payments via elavon merchant services.

    It's cheaper than paypal and I get the money into my bank account quicker as I don't have to manually go in and transfer funds then wait 3 days for transfers to clear.
     
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    envnet

    Free Member
    Jul 6, 2010
    6
    0
  • #29
    Yes, I guess it depends on your business and trading history.

    You probably already built up a good reputation over the first 18 months with paypal. I use RBS Worldpay which transfers funds every week (but only if you request it otherwise it's every month). Cost a few hundred to set up and has a security deposit of £2500.

    Andrew
     
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    M

    MDG

    Free Member
    Jan 26, 2010
    58
    7
  • #30
    I think that definately makes a difference, they do usually want to know a fair bit about your trading history, sales volumes, etc before you get a merchant account so I guess perceived risk is a big factor.

    When I first started looking for a merchant account I was surprised how much difference there was betwen providers in terms of rates, payment timescales and reserves witheld so it's worth shopping around for the best deal.
     
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