A. An internet gateway is the means by which an online merchant processes transactions. Many times this type of account is imbedded into the website to help process orders. The gateway for online sales works much like the countertop terminal for a retail store. It verifies that your customer’s credit card is valid and that there is enough credit available to make the current purchase. The gateway will either approve the transaction if all criteria is met or decline it if not. This process is completed in seconds.

A. Most online merchants do use shopping cart software to make the sales process easier for customers. You can choose from many different shopping cart programs. Contact us to see what solution best fits your business needs.

A. You can use a virtual terminal to process credit card sales that you receive by phone or by mail. These transactions are mainly input manually through a web interface. These types of accounts are accessible anywhere you have access to the internet because they are web-based and require a username and password to login.

A. The gateway fee is charged by the real-time processor you have chosen for your account if you sign up for an Internet account.  Charges for gateways vary from $10 to $20/month depending on which gateway you are using. There are also transaction fees associated with these.

A. Recurring billing is a subscription application designed so you can charge you customers on a continual basis with either a fixed number of payments to pay off an accrued balance or on a payment schedule that proceeds until cancelled by the merchant or the customer.

A. You need to have the following clearly listed on your website so that a customer can easily access this information:
1. Privacy Policy
2. Terms of Use
3. Refund Policy (You don't have to provide refunds, however, you must state that in your policy.)
4. Shipping Policy and costs
5. Contact information including phone numbers and addresses
If these are not listed on the website, your internet merchant account may be put on a reserve until these criteria are met.

A. Internet Merchant Accounts (ecommerce) fall under the same category as MO/TO accounts. The rates typically range from 2.29% - 3.00% (plus $0.25 - $0.50 cents per transaction).

A. Typically you can be processing transactions in 1-2 business days. This is determined largely on the accuracy of the information submitted with application.

A. A merchant account is set up with a financial institution to allow you to accept credit card payments directly from your clients. Money collected through your merchant account is deposited directly into your checking account within 2 to 3 business days. You need a merchant account if you want to take credit card payments from your clients using your own business name, and having the money deposited directly into your business checking account.

A. From the time we receive your application, it generally takes 1 - 3 days to receive your approval but most times less than a day.  If you are ordering a terminal, it is shipped out upon approval, and will generally reach you within 3-5 business days.  You can begin processing as soon as you have received your designated product. If you are using an internet gateway, you can process the same day your account is setup.

A. To process transactions online, you will need an internet gateway. See the section about internet gateways to answer any questions you have about them.

A. Yes. Most retail stores use a countertop terminal to process their transactions. Online merchants use an internet gateway and MOTO merchants use a virtual terminal. However, there are other solutions that may meet your desired objectives. If you don’t know which would fit your situation best, please call.

A. We have a 98% approval rate, so it's very unlikely that you wouldn't get approved.  We will go over all the details of your business, so we will do our best to be sure that you will get approved.  There is no cost to apply for a merchant account. We have relationships with many different processors which allows us multiple options depending on your type of business. Some processors work more favorably with certain types of businesses, so if you have any concerns or questions, don’t hesitate to call. We’d be glad to discuss the different options available to you.

A. Yes. Businesses outside the United States are not allowed to apply.  We also maintain a list of unacceptable which include any adult oriented merchants, or "high-risk" and conditional merchants.  Conditional merchants may apply if they meet certain criteria.  The processor may also impose some additional holdbacks or require an up front security account to approve these merchants.  For a questions about these accounts, please call.

A. Funds are deposited directly into your checking account, within 2-4 days, depending on the time of day/day of week you close your batch.

A. The rates for merchant accounts vary based on the amount of risk involved in the transaction.  The accounts with the lowest rates will always be the ones where the customer is present and the card is swiped and a receipt signed in a face to face transaction.  The credit card companies view these types of transactions to be fairly low in risk for fraud, whereas internet transactions and transactions where orders are taken by phone or mail are generally considered higher risk since the customer is not present and the card is not in hand.

A. A chargeback occurs when a customer disputes a charge on their statement by contacting the credit card company instead of contacting you.  If a customer does not recognize the charge on their statement, or if they believe the amount was wrong, they may call their credit card company and ask them to investigate.  Thus begins the chargeback.  The merchant bank will charge you a fee for the retrieval of information, and if it is determined that the customer is right, there will be another fee for the chargeback itself.  The customer will be refunded their money directly through the credit card company and your checking account will be debited.  Eventually, if your account has excessive chargebacks, the bank may choose to cancel your account.  The more you do to protect yourself against chargebacks, the better off you'll be.  There are many ways to avoid chargebacks. If a customer is absolutely unhappy with your product or service, you can refund their money to avoid a chargeback. Communication with your customers and good customer service are key in avoiding chargebacks. There are also third party companies that help reduce and/or eliminate chargebacks. If you feel you are getting too many chargebacks, call us to discuss ways to reduce them.

A. The monthly minimum for your merchant account is derived from your processing fees.  The minimum of $25 should be collected in MC & Visa fees.  The actual amount of processing to achieve that minimum will depend upon your discount rate.  For example, if you have a discount rate of 2% and you process a transaction for $100, then $2.00 in processing fees will be taken from that transaction and applied towards your monthly minimum of $25.  If, at the end of the month, you have not processed enough transactions to cover the minimum fee, you will be charged the difference.

A. Qualified discount rate is applied for all transactions meeting the "normal" operating guidelines as outlined below:
* All Merchants
Close batches daily
 
* Retail (Terminal) Merchants
Magnetically swiped & electronically authorized charges
 
* Internet / MOTO Merchants
Electronically authorize charges using AVS and including order numbers for Visa and MasterCard transactions
Mid-Qualified discount rate is applied for all transactions meeting the operating guidelines as outlined below:
* Retail (Terminal) Merchants
Manually keyed orders using AVS & order number on Visa and MasterCard transactions.
  
* Internet / MOTO Merchants
There is no mid-qual rate for Internet / MOTO merchants.
Non-Qualified discount rate is applied for all transactions meeting the operating guidelines as outlined below:

* All Merchants
- Not Closing batches daily
- Not using AVS & providing order numbers on manually 
   keyed or Internet transactions for Visa Cards
- High Risk Merchants (Visa Transactions Only)
- Following Card Types:
     : Business and Corporate cards
     : MasterCard/Visa Business cards
     : Procurement cards (Government)
     : Visa Signature cards
     : MasterCard World cards

A. The statement fee is charged by the processor each month to process and send you your statement. 

A. The AVS fee is charged by the processor to allow you to use the Address Verification System on your Internet and MOTO charges to protect against fraudulent orders.  This is in addition to your regular merchant account fees. This does not apply to sales "swiped" through a terminal, but it does if transactions are "keyed" or typed into a terminal.

A. When you sign up for your merchant account, you are signing up to accept MasterCard and Visa transactions only unless you note on the application that you want Discover Card and AMEX as well.  Please note, they do charge different discount rates than your regular account, and they send you separate statements as well.  Please be sure to ask for more details.