How can my business accept Credit Card Payments?
Many things have become easier to do thanks to the access to the internet. Experiences as a shopper have evolved because almost everything you need is now available for you online. You are not limited to buying only from your local store and you don’t need to travel long distances in order to purchase what you want. There are tons of online stores that ship anywhere in the country; there are also stores that offer international shipping meaning that you can practically buy anything from anywhere.
How do these stores take payments? The easiest way to pay is by credit or debit card. There are two ways to make your website able to take credit cards and that is by opening a merchant account or by accepting payment through a third party merchant. In order to open and use a merchant account you have to go to your bank and ask them to open one for you. And in order to accept payment through a third party merchant you must contact them and inquire about their fees.
When you contact your bank or your financial institution you must prove to them that you are a real business and you are providing legitimate products or services. The requisites depend on the institution but expect them to ask you for an open checking account, articles of incorporation, and they will most likely run a business credit check. By opening the merchant account doesn’t automatically allow you take all types of credit cards, be sure to clarify this with your bank.
If you do not want to open a merchant account then you can set up the payment portal through a third party processor. They will process the credit card orders and they usually do not charge you any fees per month. To give you a better idea we’ll set PayPal as an example. You have seen in other website whenever you’re going to check out there is a PayPal payment option. It means PayPal will take the payment and they will charge their fee per every transaction, then they will charge a reserve fee (which they charge to cover any charge backs) and then they will send you your payment.
In order to incorporate these options into your website you must contact your web developer. For example every website that sells something has the option of a shopping cart where the buyer adds the products that they want to purchase. This should have the ability to give the customer the total bill plus the shipping and any sales taxes when applicable.