Questions to Ask When Choosing a Credit Card Processor

If you are running a business of sales and purchases, you need to choose a new credit card processor. But it is not as easy as it seems, it is a big decision to make. Before making the decision, you must know it includes the fee charged and contracts. Also the customer service department and cost-effective tools available. Do the comparison, study the market and then make the final decision. Let us now discuss it further. 3 questions you should ask your new credit card processor before finalizing it:

Structure of Fee Charged

When you opt for such tools, you are charged with a certain amount of fee. But it is important to know what exactly those fees are, more commonly called breakage of the fee. The fact is that most of the high-risk merchants have no idea about the process and end up paying a high amount of fee without actually knowing the hidden high markups in their pricing structure. To process the transaction, an interchange part of pricing structure is paid to the card issuer. Apart from this, there is an extra fee that they put on the top of it to gain more profit. So, when you are applying for new credit card processor/merchant payment processor, request them to separate out the interchange fee so that you can have a clear idea about how much money they are making or charging you in total.

Contract and Time Duration

Whenever a merchant wants to opt for a new credit card processor, he/she needs to sign a contract, which will lock you with them for certain period of time. It is important for high-risk merchants to check for options when shopping around for new processor and also to finalize the processor with shorter time duration instead of multi-year contracts. The advantage of choosing a short-term contract is:

• They will work hard for your business to impress you so that you renew the contract instead of shopping for new credit card processor or merchant payment processor once the contract expires. If you end up signing a multi-year contract, you will soon be forgotten and ignored and service quality provided may deteriorate.
• In case of serious trouble when you have a short-term contract or non-existing contract, immediate help will be provided. Everything to resolve the issue so as to retain you as a customer. Whereas, if you have a long-term contract, it might take longer to resolve the issue you are facing.
• When you are not happy with the services provided by your current credit card processor, you can try out the new processor. They can meet your needs, but if you have a long-term contract, you only stick with the same provider till the contract expires.

Customer Service Department

Efficient and knowledgeable customer service department is like icing on the cake. Get the opinion of the current customers of the credit card processor. Also, find out about their experiences with the customer service department.Look for the processor whose,

• Support representatives are knowledgeable and can tackle any kind of issue if arises.
• Call waiting time is minimum
• Support representative should be able to resolve issues in the first call and in shortest time duration.
  

If you are lucky enough and end up buying a credit card processor or merchant payment processor for your high-risk business that fulfills all your needs and the fee charged is worth every single penny you pay, hold on tight to it and never let it go. If you are happy with the services provided and a fee charged, it would be a good decision to renew the contract with the same provider than starting the process all over again.

How to Accept Credit Cards with an Online High Risk Merchant Account

Regardless of the size of your business, your goal must be to increase annual sales revenue. For this, you must give your customers more alternative mode of payments. It includes credit card payment, debit card payment, net banking and others.

A Study to know

According to studies, business accepting credit card payment is likely to generate more revenue as compared to others. The main purpose of you being in the industry is to earn profit and credit card is a great mode of payment. So, it is better to get a reliable credit card processing before starting off.

There are many third-party service providers with payment solutions for credit card processing like PayPal, but it comes with shortcomings. But special measures must be taken to provide a secure environment to conduct transactions. Else customers will either drift away or will not come back for another sale, and this will increase abandonment rate and funds paid through check or direct deposit will take days to get transferred. Payment solutions like PayPal are good if merchant needs to handle low-volume sales. But if you are looking for growth, the merchant has to look for alternatives.

What do Business Owners need?

If you want to accept payments through credit card, the first thing that is must is Merchant Account. To carry out online transactions and validate credit card acceptance, a merchant account is mandatory. A merchant account is like any other bank account with a slight difference; it enables merchant/business to accept payment through various means like credit and debit cards. If the merchant has an online merchant account, so this will eliminate the need for credit card processing machine or terminals to accept payments.

Parties involved in merchant account set up process are: 

• The Retailer
• Payment Processor
• Merchant Bank

Three things that every merchant should be aware of when accepting credit card with an online merchant account are discussed below in detail:

ONLINE PAYMENT GATEWAY

A payment gateway is a merchant service provided by e-commerce provider responsible for carrying out transactions or direct payment processing for e-business or retailers. E-commerce transactions (online transactions) are authorized by this e-commerce service (payment gateway). E-commerce service provider can be: 

• Bank
• Specialized financial service provider.

A payment gateway transfers the information between a payment portal and acquiring the bank, where payment portal can be any of the following: 

• Website
• Mobile phone
• IVR machine (Interactive Voice Response)

MERCHANT DISCOUNT RATE

For every payment processing service on debit/credit card transactions, the merchant has to pay. It is a fee imposed on the merchant that he/she must consider while managing overall costing of the business. Merchant must discuss the fee for this service before starting to accept debit/credit card payment. It is basically a card-processing fee that is charged to the merchant. Discount rate includes the following:

• Card processing fee
• Dues
• Assessments
• Markup and network charges

ADDITIONAL FEE

Hence, along with the merchant discount rate, an additional fee is there to the merchant when conducting transactions through an online merchant account. These fees are:

• Statement fee
• Monthly minimum fee
• Authorization fee
• Annual fee
• Chargeback Fee
• Early termination fee
• Customer service fee
• Batch fee (charged when settling a terminal)

13 Tips For Merchants To Avoid High Risk Credit Card Chargebacks

For many small businesses that accept credit cards, chargeback is way costlier but there are ways where you can protect your business against those unfair chargebacks. Before going further, let us understand what is a ‘Chargeback’?

Chargeback

Chargeback happens when a customer after purchasing a product, contact to his/her card issuer to dispute the charges. In simple words, when a customer purchases a product and due to some reason disputes a charge with his/her bank, the money is returned to that customer as well as he/she gets to keep the product. But the bank charges the business owner, from whom the product was purchased. This payment, which the business owner gets to pay to the bank, is called the chargeback.

Here are few tips that can help you prevent chargeback and minimize the time and money spent while dealing with it. Being business owner you should understand that disputes could be considered valid due to many reasons. Customer may dispute charges if:

1. A hacker using the customer’s identity made the purchase illegally.
2. The wrong item was received.
3. The product was adulterated
4. The customer does not recognize the charge on his credit card statement.
5. The customer was billed incorrectly.

LET US NOW DISCUSS FEW TIPS WHICH CAN HELP YOU IN PREVENTING A CHARGEBACK.

DECLINED AUTHORIZATION

If the authorization request is declined once, do not go ahead with that particular transaction instead ask customers to opt for different payment method. Also, keep in mind not to request multiple authorizations for a particular transaction.

AUTHORIZATION CODE

There will be cases when word “Call” is displayed on your terminal while authorization is being checked. At this point call the credit card company right away. The representative will ask you a few questions and may speak to its customer as well. After that he/she may or may not provide you with an authorization code. If the authorization code is provided, record it else request the customer to try a different card.

System not working

There can be cases where a system is not functioning properly or the card is worn out. At this point, you should key-enter the credit card number, and also remember to make an impression of the card for keeping the record. This is important because a customer’s signature is not enough to protect you from a chargeback.

GIFT CARD

Gift cards are unembossed cards and there is no way to take a manual imprint of it. In case customer wishes to pay by gift card it is advisable to ask the customer for a different payment method.

SIGNATURE 

Regardless of the type of the card used for the payment processing, the signature of the cardholder on the receipt is mandatory. This can be used as a proof that the customer made the purchase himself.

SWIPE ONLY ONCE

You should swipe the card only once to avoid duplicate transactions, which can lead to a major chargeback. If such situation arises, write “VOID” in bold letters on the customer’s receipt and tear it in front of the cardholder.

Record keeping: To avoid duplicate transaction chargeback, make sure that you deposit only one copy of sales receipt. Be cautious about recording sales; do not record the same transaction more than once.

CLEAR COMMUNICATION 

Clearer is the refund and returns policy, better will be the communication and it will protect you from chargeback as well. As far as refund policy is concerned, it is better to print it on the receipt directly. If not possible, stamp it near customer’s signature.

Receipt deposit: To avoid chargeback, deposit receipts as soon as possible. Make it a point that all the receipts are deposited within a day or two.

Cancellation request: It is a good practice to honor all customer requests to cancel recurring billing and provide them with a written statement for the same with a date on it. Delay on it can put you at risk for a chargeback.

Unexpected Delay

If, due to any reason, there is a gap between the time payment was made and the time when the product was delivered, it is advisable to inform the customer about the same in written and if possible, also let the customer know the new expected date.

Out of stock: If in case, the product is out of stock or unavailable due to any reason, it is important to intimate the customer about the same and ask them whether they would like to cancel the order or would like to purchase another item instead. Keep in mind that without customer’s permission do not send any substitute product. This will help in reducing chargeback risk.

SHIPMENT

Never deposit the money you have charged from the customer before product being shipped to the customer. Streamline shipping process in order to get the product out to the customer as quickly as possible. There are chances of a customer getting upset about paying before receiving the product.

Avoid High Risk Credit Card Processing Scams with Merchant Stronghold

‘FRAUD’, the word itself generates a warning sign to both customers as well as the merchant. According to recent studies, every fraud valued 1 dollar, costs merchant $2.40. The amount may seem less but has a huge impact on annual revenue.One of the main reasons for these frauds is the credit card processing scams. Credit card payment processing companies have noticed a significant growth of such scams among small or medium-sized businesses as compared to large industries. And, if these SMBs do not have sufficient resources to handle them, the impact of scams are much more significant. A major retail can bare the impact of the loss of a couple of dollars but it is not the case with small or medium-sized businesses.

Most Common Credit Card Processing Scams

Let us discuss in detail about the most common credit card processing scams and a few tips to avoid them.

Forced Authorization Scam

To complete the transaction when customer’s credit card is declined, the merchant can perform forced authorization. Now, to finalize the sale, where the merchant already remits good, forced authorization is conducted. To do so, merchant calls the issuing bank directly to obtain the authorization code when a card is declined and overrides it. Few things to remember while conducting forced authorization are:

• The customer might provide you with an alphanumeric code, which is not valid to override.
• If the authorization code is not valid or fraudulent, the merchant cannot file a dispute.
• In this case, the merchant will be subjected to chargebacks and a fine.
• Always allow card processing terminal to get an approval code.

Wire Scam

If the order placed by a customer is much larger than what merchant processes, beware, as wire scam might occur. It is a scam where customer overpays for the orders he/she has placed and asks the merchant to wire the exceeding amount to a third party. This third party is responsible for picking up ordered product from the merchant and delivering it to the customer who ordered it. To avoid wired scam, always remember two things:

1) Never accept excess money to be wired to a third party, no matter what reason may customer give.

2) Doing so can cost the merchant a fine and a fee for conducting fraudulent transactions.

Gift Card Scams

This is the most common scam and according to a recent study, 13% of the gift card frauds are by store employees and usually, they steal from already load cards. In totality, retails lose almost $70k annually from gift card scams. This includes:

• Skimming card number to create a fake card
• Returning stolen goods in exchange for gift cards.

TIPS TO AVOID CREDIT CARD PROCESSING SCAMS

1) To protect cards from theft and unauthorized use, implement security measures.

2) For all returns, request receipt and ID.

3) If it happens, refund the transaction immediately and do not give away the product.

4) For assistance on any suspicious activity, contact your payment processor’s risk department.

HOW CAN WE HELP?

Merchant Stronghold provides a payment processor for high risk merchants and has a well-qualified payment processor risk department, which can help you resolve issues with high accuracy and within time. Our experts are available 24*7, 365 days to take any credit card processor query. Just give us a call on +1(888) 622-6875

Offshore High Risk Merchant Accounts for Nutraceutical Products

For any E-commerce site, to accept payment by multiple means you need a proper payment gateway and a merchant account that supports your needs. Without a merchant account, you will not be able to accept payment via credit card or debit card. If you are finally looking forward to spreading your business worldwide, it is important to have the capacity to process such payments.

Nutraceutical products (commonly known as Nutra products) have formed a billion dollar market. Business dealing in such products is categorized as high-risk business and therefore most conventional banks and merchant processors will not provide services to companies like this.

Why considered as high risk

Nutra products include weight reduction remedies, anti-aging, and sexual enhancement products. Although it is a prize-winning industry, it is still considered high-risk because of the following reasons:

• A higher number of chargebacks
• Frequency of bankruptcies
• Customer Enrollment Cancelations

Benefits of Merchant Services for Nutra Product Sales

Some merchant account providers specialize in high-risk merchant account but charge the higher fee for certain accounts. There are few providers who offer customized end-to-end payment solutions, which are more beneficial for the merchant as compare to others. Some also offer to process for numerous currencies. For these and other reasons, it’s best to do very systematic research of merchant processors that offer merchant accounts for Nutra deals.

Several benefits of using the merchant account for Nutra product sales are:

Payment acceptance through various means: If you want to grow your business it is important to accept payments by multiple means. Customers feel comfortable if they can pay or choose the payment option as per their choice and convenience, for the products or services they require.

Acceptance of all type of credit cards: If you have a payment processor that works with all credit cards, the merchant can deal with people and companies all over the world and expand their business.

No volume limit: Merchant service provider can provide you with a payment system that does not restrict you from making business deals and financial transactions. Also, a system where you can carry out transactions without any interruption or issues.

Extra benefits provided by some of the merchant account providers:

• 24/7 technical support
• Fast set-up and approval in 24 hours (depending on Acquiring bank)
• No hidden fees in terms of Nutra Merchant Account Solutions
• Instant integration with the website
• Affordable data processing rates

How to Shop for Merchant Services

Despite the fact that there are more choices nowadays in the card preparing industry, as a result, finding the correct processor can be challenging. You will require one that addresses your organization’s issues, but that can take some time and legwork. Discover what different administrations they are offering, for example, online installment doors. You can also inquire whether they handle things like various monetary standards. Also, discover a processor that can make different Nutra deals and shipper accounts accessible to your organization.

Instructions to Work with Conventional Merchant Services Providers

Pay organization bills on time and keep financials in order. Give clients great services and make returning items simple and convenient. Nutraceutical related merchants who give genuine items at reasonable costs could hope to remain in business and expect outstanding income. Search for long-term solutions for your Nutra deals here.

Apparel Payment Processing And Merchant Account Services

The clothing industry is growing by leaps and bounds, so as the level of competition in this industry.

On a daily basis, bulk transactions take place in each apparel store. It is important for a merchant to provide their customers with a payment processor that is convenient and secure. A good payment processor not only saves time for the customer but also takes less effort in making a successful payment.

Payment processor should be simple and seamless so that the merchant can invest his/her time more in the business plans rather than fixing payment issues. To run a business without much chaos, fewer errors and simple checkouts is like a blessing.

The Need for a Payment Processor

Customer waiting in a long queue to pay for the product at times gets impatient with the delay that increases the chance of the customer leaving the store without purchasing the product. It is important for a merchant to install a fast and reliable payment method in order to increase the sale and buy customers loyalty (if a customer’s experience in your store is comfortable and relaxing, there are chances that the customer will return). For the best customer experience, it is advisable to provide multiple modes of payment (i.e. excepting debit as well as credit cards).

To accept debit or credit card payment, business needs to have a high risk merchant account. Credit card payment processor provides a secure environment to carry out transactions without putting sensitive information of customer at risk. Unlike the traditional way of carrying out financial transactions, the impact of modern payment processor is long-lasting and more effective.

Painless Payment Processing Service

When we talk about payments, the first thing that a merchant would expect is a secure and uncomplicated payment processor. But it is common to come across certain complications like wrong entry, human error, duplicate authorization etc. While dealing with these issues, it is also important to take care of the data security and compliance. So choosing a payment processor that simplifies these complexities rather than increasing the mess is a highly important decision that every merchant has to take.

Payment Processor for Apparels Store

Three things that your payment processor should fulfill are:

1. Connect from anywhere

2. Connect to any payment

3. Connect via the device of your choice

It is important for the merchant to choose a payment processor that provides a comfortable payment experience to his/her customer so that you can win customers trust as well as his loyalty. It is important to understand what your requirements are while choosing a payment processor. Few “must haves” are:

FLEXIBLE PAYMENT PROCESSOR

Payment processor should work in favor of your business and customer, both. It should be well integrated, should reflect working of the business (how business operates), type of payment accepted and back-end system. A highly integrated system works as a lifeline for the merchant and the business.

SCALABLE

Payment processor should be able to cop up with the growth of the business, else merchant will end up in wasting a lot of time, resources and money in the up gradation of payment processor.

SUPPORTIVE

There are times when things do not work as planned. Choose a payment processor provider that is by your side when needed. The provider should be available either by phone or through email or live chat whenever needed.

FINAL WORDS

We at Merchant Stronghold are a leading provider of payment processing services. We have a long list of happy customers who are engaged in the apparel industry and hence, we can do the same for you! Our team understands the unique needs of various industries including clothing and they are the best professionals to meet your business needs.

Gaming Merchant Account & High Risk Business Providers

As of now, the greatest internet gaming markets are generally in the USA. The European online betting industry is fast regardless of a calculation 10 billion Euros. The reason is that a few nations, for example, the US and China confine betting intensely. Or permit it in specific territories like Las Vegas and Macau.

Online Gambling Merchant Services

Online gambling is commonly known as gaming within the merchant services industry. It’s tabbed as high risk by most card processing providers. The reasons are as follows:

• Online gambling businesses feature a high-volume turnover

• Most gaming businesses are based offshore

• If the business is a startup or new, acquiring banks can be put off by the lack of credit and transaction history

Gaming Merchant Account

Merchant Stronghold understands the unique needs of online gaming. Whether it's online casinos, online gambling, online poker, social gaming or skill gaming, our experienced team intimately understands the challenges these businesses endure. Our high risk payment processing expertise can help your legal gaming business acquire merchant accounts and protect those accounts from excessive fraud using proprietary transaction algorithms created to seek out potential chargeback threats before they happen.

Gaming Merchant Account from Merchant Stronghold

Merchant Stronghold specializes in both online gaming merchant accounts and online gaming payment gateways and offers the best gaming merchant account in the industry. merchant stronghold team of experts in online gambling payment processors work closely with providers to ensure you can get the best for your business needs. So while once again we come to the risks involved in gaming, the higher the risks, the more unwilling a majority of the merchant account providers will be and lessen the risks, the more easily they will approve your website for money transactions through them. For the ones with the more risky gaming businesses, Merchant Stronghold gives you the opportunity to partner with us for numerous high risk merchant accounts including gaming merchant accounts. As long as your casino and gambling business can maintain a chargeback rate below 3%, High Risk Merchant Accounts can get you a merchant account geared for either your high ticket or your high volume need. Be sure you can have your merchant account set up in as little as 48 hours.

Most gaming businesses are offshore

If it’s a startup, getting banks can be put off by the absence of credit and exchange history In any case, in the event that you operate in the high risk industry such as gaming and internet betting, you shouldn’t think you can’t secure a merchant account for your business. All you require is to turn to a reputable payment processor like High Risk Payment Gateway & Merchant Account| Merchant Stronghold that specializes in the high risk area and knows your professional business like no one else. Merchant Stronghold specializes in merchant accounts developed specifically for gaming and casino companies.

5 Key Steps to Start Your Own Small Business And Payment Processor Solution

It’s era of technology, an era where most of our needs are fulfilled with just a few clicks. The Internet has made our life way more comfortable than we could imagine a few decades back. With the increase in technology, our lifestyle also changed dramatically and changed the way we do basic tasks. it includes sending emails, banking, purchasing things, contacting people etc. The Internet has brought almost everything at our fingertips. As the use of the internet is increasing, it has provided an opportunity for business owners to grow their business worldwide, to reach customers they could not a few decades back.

For setting up an online business, all you have to do is follow few simple steps and instructions which we will discuss one by one in details and your business will be ready to enter the online world. These days it has become easier than ever to develop & design your own website and have it uploaded either for free or cost that suits your pocket. It is not important to have the complete technical knowledge to develop a website. Let’s move with few basic steps to get you started your online business.

Steps to be followed to open your online business are:

CHOOSING DOMAIN NAME

Choosing the correct domain name is extremely necessary. It is ideal if your domain name is similar to that of your business name or your brand so it is simple for your sponsors and potential customers to find out your website. Once website name is finalized and it is up and running, you have to invest plenty of resources into promoting it and conveyance in traffic. Keep in mind to check the name’s accessibility to check whether the domain name of your choice is free to use or available. If the name is not accessible, don’t get demoralized. Often the owner of the domain name is willing to sell it and it’s simple to work out who owns the name by merely wanting it up in “whois” section on the domain registration portals.

PICK A WEB HOSTING SERVICE

Web hosting services offer space for storing and access to websites. Don’t get attracted by free internet hosts as they put advertising on your website to cover their prices. As a business owner, you must be searching for an internet host that’s esteemed and reliable. Before going for hosting services, it is important to have a rough idea about how much space your website would take and how much traffic you are expecting through your website (web hosts can help you with an estimation). Read the reviews of different clients to perceive how frequently they encounter downtime or technical issues and how rapidly those issues are resolved.

DESIGN YOUR WEBSITE

Website designing was work professional as it was complicated and technology used to design these websites was not that advance as compared to the technology used these days and people had less knowledge about it. Today designing your website is less complicated than ever and can be done by an individual who has little knowledge about it. There are two methods via which you can design your own website:

First is to start from scratch and design your website which will include coding, complete technical knowledge and is very time consuming and can cost you the good amount of money as well.

The second method is way easier. There are plenty of professionally designed templates available, which are either free of cost or cost very less. All you have to do is choose any of the themes to design your website. Few of them also offer the live preview, so that you can check the chosen theme on demo website and ones you finalize the theme for your website add it to your cart and download the file. If you do not want anyone else to use the same theme as yours, you can become the sole owner of it by checking the option.

SHOPPING CART

A Shopping cart is a software that provides facility to p urchase products online and allows accepting payments. Distribution of payment information to the merchant, payment processor, and other parties is also organized by shopping cart software. So it becomes extremely important to choose best shopping cart software. There are mainly three features of shopping cart:

• Product information is stored in it
• Gateway for order and customer management.
• Provides product data and site information for user display

There are two types of carts:

• Hosting Shopping cart (which is hosted and maintained by the third party and it is free of cost but the customer will be directed to the different domain for payment)
• Licensed shopping cart (This is hosted by the business owner and is much more flexible but is costlier)

Payment Processor Solution for your online Business

More payment options you give to your customer, more payment processing you will do. In simple words, if a customer wants to buy a product or service. And, can choose the mode of payment of his/her choice, there are more likely chances that your product will be sold rapidly. Reason being, compared to the scenario where a customer is not comfortable with the method of payment and might search the same product elsewhere.

Payment options you can offer on your website are:

• Credit card
• Debit Card
• eChecks

Once you have got the website going, we’ll be happy to assist you. Let’s set up an online payment solution that’s best for you and your business. Contact us to Merchant Stronghold & find out more.

Get Approved For An Extended Warranty Merchant Account

Credit Card Processing In case you are facing problems to find at ease and reliable payment gateway for your organization that takes care of extended warranties then service provider Merchant Stronghold assist you to out. we have the exceptional technology that makes use of safe and secure virtual terminal to let you process credit card payments in retail or online commercial enterprise.

Extended Warranty Businesses are Considered High Risk

When selling an extended warranty via a credit card, the customer can dispute the charge during 6 months. As a rule, not everything is covered by your extended warranty. When a customer buys a warranty and finds out it doesn’t cover his/her specific situation, he/she usually gets annoyed and disputes a chargeback. That’s why the extended warranty businesses are classified as high risk.

Extended Warranty Industry Processor Solutions

The extended warranty industry is considered to be high-risk industry due to its high chance of loss exposure. They also have a high chargeback ratio in terms of the comparison between high-risk vs. low-risk ventures. When a customer buys an extended warranty using the credit card, there is a time period of 6 months for the customer to dispute it. If the customer is unsatisfied with the warranty, they will request a chargeback. If the business does have the required funds to refund the amount, the credit card processor and the sponsor bank would have to pay it.

Credit Card Processing Solutions from Merchant Specialist

We know it is difficult to get approval for the merchant account from a reputed financial institution. But, you don’t need to worry at all. We’ve connections with some of the best banks and could help you to get began with merchant account fast. We are dealing with extended warranties merchant accounts for so many years and our highly expert and skilled team is capable of designing flawless solutions for your business.

we are affordable and reasonable prices which range as per the terminals. This could rely on the employer’s history and the risk factors concerned in investing with you. But, don’t worry even if you are a high-risk commercial enterprise. We have been providing effective solutions to many high-risk commercial enterprises as well.

We are happy to work with extended warranty companies and we can offer a unique set of solutions that can help your business stay viable for years to come. From technology to customer service, to cutting-edge tools like Chargeback Shield and Fraud Prevention, we have the key components to help your business succeed.

Understanding Ecommerce Credit Card Processing Works For the Benefits of Ecommerce Businesses

To cope up with the fast-growing E-commerce market, every merchant needs an online payment gateway and online credit card processing that can help the merchant serve the increasing number of customers on a daily basis who like to shop online and use credit cards as a preferred mode of payment. To successfully run an e-commerce business, the merchant needs an online credit card processing that is effective and efficient in fulfilling its purpose.

Benefits of online credit card processing

1. Improves ability: To make the website visually effective, a merchant invests a lot of time and money. But most of the merchants do not consider it important to invest much time when it comes to payment processing. However, to improve online transactions for your E-commerce business, it is important to choose the right payment gateway (a system that enables the communication between the merchant processor and a PCI compliant website to share customer’s payment details) , bank account and merchant processor, via which business owner can carry out transactions 24 hours, 365 days. The payment gateway is designed to handle data collection, encryption and secure transmission of data to the merchant account.

2. Security: It is important for every online merchant to consider the security and stability as the key factor of their business. For the long run of business and retention of customers, a reliable online credit card processing service is a must. The technology that is used for security includes PCI compliance standards that make it very difficult for criminals to crack the code and obtain customers data. Therefore, the customers gain confidence to use their credit cards to make a payment without hesitation.

3. Convenience: The third advantage of online card processing that works in the favor of E-commerce business is speed and convenience of card processing. Unlike the traditional way of carrying out transactions, this is relatively faster and an easier way. With few mouse clicks and entering basic details of the credit card, the customer can easily buy products without wasting much time. If a merchant sets up an E-commerce solution through Host Merchant Services, it will allow the business to accept payments through Visa, MasterCard, and American Express hassle free.

4. Accessibility: To smoothen the process and gain accessibility from any part of the world, online credit card processing service can be configured to facilitate merchant to access the merchant account at any time. No longer bound to geographical location and address of the store, it is easier for the merchant to control and review business transaction from any part of the world with an online access.

5. Flexibility: When an online business touches international boundaries, it becomes essential to have a payment processor that can accept major currencies. We, at Merchant Stronghold, create such an E-commerce solution to deal with a variety of currencies. No longer bound by geographical boundaries, limited currency acceptance; the sky is the limit for your E-commerce business.

From the last decade, Merchant Stronghold has proven its worth by providing excellent customer services, resolving queries of clients in minimum time and providing them with the best solution for the credit card processing. Make sure to go through the list of various options available, pricing, after sale service and compatibility before finalizing a payment gateway for your business.

High Risk Merchant Account Tips by Merchant Account Services

We Are providing High-Risk Merchant Accounts Tips If You have a Business, you need to know about Merchant Account and also need a good merchant account for record keeping to credit card processing and for the chargeback investigation, Merchant Account Maybe your good Friend or the worse enemy. A good Merchant account provider understands the issues that will arise in your business. If you want to sell something online you need both a payment gateway and a merchant account.

Merchant Stronghold offers solutions for high risk merchants like you. We know it can be a hassle to go from one bank to another to open a merchant account, only to find that you will not get approved for your application. Some organizations may be willing to accept you but there is usually a high price that comes with it.

Get a High Risk Merchant Account: It is always challenging to get a merchant account for a high-risk business. You may be searching for the best eCommerce merchant account provider but most of them will say no to you. However, there is always a possibility for Merchants to get a payment processing solution. In the next couple of hundred words, you will understand the ways to get the right payment processing solution for your high-risk business.

Below a few Tips Advice that can help your search

The First one is, High-Risk Merchant Account looks at their respect for your business. Not with all business, but by the tech support business. Some claim to work will all “high-risk merchants account, but that is not big issues that occur in every single business. While they are all under the same “high risk” Merchants, tech support businesses have different issues. Be sure to network with local tech support merchants to learn of their merchant account decision, as this can help speed up your search.

If you work a tech support industry you need good credit card processing at affordable charges. Unfortunately, there are not various merchant account providers that provide Indian, U.S. or U.K based tech support industry with merchant accounts, and even fewer merchant account providers that offer reliable credit card processing at affordable charges.

The second one is, ask questions, this may be a common understanding for the advice, but sometimes a merchant Provider is so rushed to Provide a merchant account that it is looking at Specific information, but does ask some questions. and the question is. Do you know your current processing fee schedule? if not, then you need to inquiries. Ask Questions. ask about Chargeback Insurance and inquiries. ask about the processing fee record, and if it rises when something arises in your industry. and Ask about termination charges. these things are very important, and they should be asked before you sign on with a merchant account processor.

Everything I know about a merchant account

If you need Merchant Account and If you are searching online for key phrases related to high-risk merchant accounts and provides of Visa, MasterCard, American Express, discover credit card processing services for high-risk business types and if you need some help. then you come to the right place #Merchant Stronghold. Almost everything you need to know about receiving credit cards in USA, UK, and Canada with a high-risk merchant account can be found here for our goal.

The Best Mobile Payments can help Transportation Service Providers

In this modern era, where technology has boomed, it has hit many sectors and one of them is transportation. No more standing in long queues, no more waiting; mobile payment has made the task easier for transportation service provider as well as the customers. Mobile ticketing and mobile payments have become a vital part of modernized transportation. It has not only strengthened this specific sector but has also linked local and regional economy. With just a mobile device in your hand, you can pay for transportation services by using any virtual payment method (according to your preference).

Especially if you are traveling to big cities, local commute (taxi or car) is the option most of us would like to opt for. Your taxi driver may only accept cash payment which may cause you trouble like no cash, shortage of change, security issues etc. So it is better to use cashless payment methods, especially if you are related to the transportation industry.

Advantages

Mobile payment has many advantages over tradition method of payment i.e. cash payment. When you are in the transportation industry, there is a lot of cash flow on daily basis, which most of the time is with the drivers as they are on road, providing services. It is not possible for the drivers to come back to the main station to deposit cash after every trip. So he has to carry cash along with him all day long until he is off duty. Due to which they become a target and may end up in unfortunate incidences (robbery). It is best to use mobile payment method for security purposes, better services, and greater revenue. Let us discuss few of the advantages of mobile payment in detail:

1.Effectiveness: It is very common for a customer to not have the exact amount or a change with him, resulting in wastage of time in arranging the difference for the customer. When you accept the payment through mobile, it merely takes 20-30 seconds to swap the card and get customer’s signature. This will increase the effectiveness of transportation service and time saved can be utilized in serving the next customer, resulting in greater revenue.

2.Control: If you have more than one driver i.e. multiple drivers, it becomes important as well as tedious to control and manage funds effectively. You need to find out an organized way to watch your money. By using credit card processing, you will be able to keep an eye on payments made by clients, what each driver earned, everything you want to know with the help of an online merchant portal.

3.Convenience: In today’s world, the flow of virtual money is more than hard cash. People like to use credit/debit cards instead of paper money as it is easy to carry, convenient and a secure way of making payments. The transportation industry is rapidly growing, which increases the demand for multiple payment methods for the customer’s convenience and safety. Most of the customers availing transportation services prefer making the mobile payment rather than paper money, as it is the most convenient.

Apart from these three advantages, there are many more advantages of using mobile payments. The above-listed advantages help service providers to manage his/her business more efficiently, increase profitability as well as provides security. With the help of such payment processors, payment is directly deposited into the merchant account, so there is no chance of losing a payment.

Are You Considered a High Risk Merchant Account In USA

When Merchant Business is established and Applies for a Payment Gateway At the Merchant Bank, They get approved or disapproved from the high risk departments considering the business to be high risk or Low risk business.

Some of the risk factors that make a business high risk area follow:

• You have lost your previous merchant account due to high chargeback ratio.

• Questionable sales and marketing tactics

• Potential legal and financial liability

• Your credit is really bad.

• The industry is known for excessive chargebacks or fraud incidents

• Trial continuity business

• Previous credit card processing is not good enough

• You’ve been branded as a terminated merchant (TMF).’

It is important to note, that this high risk merchant account categorized is based in your business industry. the high risk category includes businesses who have been dropped by a previous credit card processor, businesses that are on the MATCH or TMF list, companies whose owners have bad personal credit or low credit scores, or businesses who are based outside the US.

About High Risk Credit Card Processing

The first thing that you need to understand is that while one provider might consider you high risk business another may not. It all depends on their risk department guidelines. If the guidelines are strict, then you won’t get approved. If the guidelines are relaxed, then you’ll have yourself a merchant account. It’s that very simple.

Why Are You Considered High Risk

That depends. There are a number of reasons why a provider would consider your business as high risk business. Maybe your industry is known for having a high instance of chargebacks or fraud. Maybe you have bad credit.

Some examples of high risk industries include:

• Document Preparation

• Downloadable Software

• Educational Software

• Electronics Business

• Extended Warranties

• Financial Aid Consulting

• Financial Services

• Fine & Cosmetic Jewelry

• Insurance Providers

• Magazine Subscription

Common High Risk Industries:

High Risk business with bad personal or business credit scores, a high chargeback history, a startup, or high frequency or high average tickets can be considered high risk on an individual basis, the majority of high risk businesses are labeled as such by the industry they operate in.

About Best High Risk Merchant Account & Payment Gateway

Merchant Stronghold is the #1 High Risk Merchant Services Provider

About Merchant Stronghold: Merchant Stronghold is Headquartered in Clearwater, Florida. It provides credit card processing services for businesses of all sizes. Voted the #1 High Risk Merchant Services Provider in 2015, and 2016. Merchant Stronghold specializes in high risk and offshore merchant accounts. Our all-in-one merchant accounts include everything that a high risk or offshore merchant’s needs to process successfully.

High Risk Merchant Account: HighRisk Gateways always care about our merchant’s business as our business. We think and act like your business partners by serving high-risk credit card processing and eCheck/ACH processing. Opening a merchant account with Highrisk gateways is not.

Payment Gateway: For any online business, reliable and secure payment processing is critical. Merchant Stronghold provides world-class payment processing services for online businesses just like yours, providing a full suite of complimentary merchant services in order to drive maximum payment.

eCheck Payment Gateway: HighRisk Gateways is a well known trusted e-check payment gateway provider in the Indian market. HighRisk Gateways can place almost every Indian genuine business for E-Check, ACH or Check21. Which allow the merchants to add the e-check option in their various payments platform. Your business may be a high risk and high volume.

High Risk Specialists: We’ll get your high risk or offshore business processing right now with Merchant Stronghold’s fast processing system and keep your processing better than anyone else in the market.

International Merchant: HighRisk Gateways is an online international payment gateway service provider, specializing in e-commerce merchant solutions for high risk merchants. We accept merchants of all sizes and all risk types from low to high risk. Through our online secure, cutting-edge payment technology platform and our.

Here’s how Merchant Stronghold can tangibly help your business:

We Get You Approved: Our 12 processor relationships ensure 98.7% of accounts are approved and get you start your business as soon as possible.

We Get You Setup, Fast: Same day approvals & included gateway integration means you’re ready to take payments faster, without waiting for that big queue.

We Minimize Your Chargebacks: Our in-house chargeback management tools can lower chargebacks by 72%, so that you can concentrate only on increasing your business outcome, rather than having tension about your chargebacks.

Merchant Stronghold Is The High Risk Merchant Services Provider

Introduction To Merchant Stronghold

Merchant Stronghold is Headquartered in Clearwater, Florida. It provides credit card processing services for businesses of all sizes. Voted the #1 High-Risk Merchant Services Provider in 2015, and 2016. Merchant Stronghold specializes in high risk and offshore merchant accounts. Our all-in-one merchant accounts include everything that a high risk or offshore merchant’s needs to process successfully.

Processing Includes debit and credit card processing, check processing (ACH), payment gateways, and charge-back management services. We help businesses to accept their payments from anywhere, as you are getting POS Machine services, Virtual Terminal, Online Settings to integrate that in your website so that customers can pay on there on. Our services are available via an easy online application. So click on the link and get yourself started NOW.

High-Risk Merchant Specialists: We’ll get your high risk or offshore business processing right now with Merchant Stronghold’s fast processing system and keep your processing better than anyone else in the market.

Here’s how Merchant Stronghold can tangibly help your business:

• We Get You Approved: Our 12 processor relationships ensure 98.7% of accounts are approved and get you start your business as soon as possible.
• We Get You Setup, Fast: Same day approvals & included gateway integration means you’re ready to take payments faster, without waiting for that big queue.
• We Minimize Your Chargebacks: Our in-house chargeback management tools can lower chargebacks by 72%, so that you can concentrate only on increasing your business outcome, rather than having tension about your chargebacks.

Let's Understand The High Risk merchant

When Business is established and applies for a payment gateway at the Bank, they get approved or disapproved from the risk departments considering the business to be high risk business or Low risk business. There are few reasons why any business can be considered as a high risk business.

Lets Understand The Low Risk merchant

Its essential to understand about your business whether it comes under Low Risk Category before you apply it at the bank for a merchant Account because merchants in our payment processing world are categorized under low-risk, medium-risk, and high-risk categories. There are a number of points or reasons concerning which any business can be classified as Low Risk or high risk or medium risk Business and for an example while reviewing the business it is reviewed that how much risk is involved in the business, what is their risk level, which is the country wherein they got incorporated and their processing history etc.

More Information From Merchant Services On Duty Free Allowance In USA

Voted the #1 High Risk Merchant Services Provider in 2015, and 2016. Merchant Stronghold specializes in high risk and offshore merchant accounts.

This is a guide to the duty free customs allowances in each country. While we try to ensure accuracy, the amounts may change at any time after publication.

That is so true. At times we forget to take care of those simple things. Before you travel, make sure you have all the necessary information and you have you're itinerary planned accordingly. After all, nobody likes to face problems in a foreign land. When traveling abroad, it is normal to be excited about Airport Duty Free Shopping. Which is great, but how many actually know the Duty Free Allowance of the country they are going to carry those shopped products into?

Yes it is very, very crucial to know the Duty Free Allowances to avoid any unwanted surprises that might sour your experience.

What is Duty Free Shopping?

So first, the basic question “What is Duty Free Shopping?”

Duty Free Shopping is something wherein you can purchase products without being charged of the government levied duties or taxes. These will be charged to you otherwise, on imported products bought at regular stores.

You’ll find such Duty Free Shops typically at airports, cruise ships, and port cities.

Technically, to be exempt from duties on your shopping you must be going outside of the country. Although, if the products you purchased at a Duty Free Store, are within the permissible customs limits (varies from country to country), you can buy them even on arrival in your home country as well.

But there is still a condition that you need to have traveled out of your country for at least 48 hours. And to ensure this condition is met, the personnel at the billing counter of a Duty Free store might ask you to produce your passport and boarding pass.

However, Duty free does not necessarily mean tax-free. If a country levies Value Added Tax, it will still be applicable in this case as well. So if you are shopping Duty Free, VAT may not be exempt.

Everything needs to know about international merchant accounts

Merchant account services worth high quality can be provided to you by Merchant Stronghold irrespective of your geographical location. Business owners from various countries are opting for our services regularly. For processing credit cards, merchants don’t need to depend on a single merchant account; our international banking partners are always there to help our customers.

International Merchant Accounts

Offering multi-currency payment solutions to international customers can help a business boost their bottom line in a very short amount of time. An international merchant account not only allows your business to reach new markets and increase sales but provides your customers with a familiar and seamless shopping experience. Our huge network of international merchant accounts includes

• Merchant Services
• Payment Gateway Services
• Credit Card Processing Services
• Shopping Cart Services

Merchant Services: Merchant services is a broad category of financial services intended for use by businesses. Merchant service providers typically require the merchant to have a merchant account with the provider, either directly or through a referral partner, such as banks service. When it comes to serving global businesses, a wide range of merchant accounts are offered by Merchantstronghold. Your business requirements are bound to find the right solutions from online merchant account, MOTO, and retail merchant account services. Besides providing offshore and international merchant accounts to e-commerce merchants, we also serve them with merchant accounts that fall under high-risk and low-risk categories.

Payment Gateway Services: When you buy something at the store and you go to the counter to pay, a store clerk processes the transaction on a cash register (or maybe even a mobile device like a smartphone or tablet), which functions as a point of sale (POS) terminal. The same sort of thing happens when you buy a movie online using your credit card, except the entire process is completed virtually through a software service called a payment gateway. Our virtual terminal can be accessed by you without any extra cost once you qualify as a Moto merchant. It will enable you to accept credit cards through mail orders or via phone calls. Know more about the payment gateway provided by Merchantstronghold.

Credit Card Processing Services: Merchantstronghold offers a variety of credit card processing services alongside multiple merchant accounts. China UnionPay, American Express, MasterCard, Diners Club, Visa Electron, Discover, Visa, and JCB are a few of the major banks that can provide you with credit cards. Payments received in a little over 160 currencies can be processed by merchants. Euros, GBP, and USD are some of the most used currencies. You must acquire more information on the credit card processing services.

Shopping Cart Services: When it comes to making your e-commerce website more user-friendly, you’ll need to identify the right shopping cart. Our Merchant Stronghold payment gateway works well with 40 shopping carts that are quite popular. PrestaShop, Magento, Zen Cart, X-Cart, and osCommerce are a few of the shopping carts that have gained much popularity in the recent times. The payment modules included by Merchant Stronghold shopping cart services for each of these modules are free. Acquire more knowledge on our shopping modules and carts.