How to Sign up for Merchant Services

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Author: Zabel1

For the past several decades, credit card usage has been on the rise, particularly among consumers who shop online. As more and more credit card companies offer rewards and “perks” to their regular users, men and women are finding they can earn free flights and other bonuses when they use their cards to make purchases. And the added bonus of flexible payment over time continues to be a big draw to consumers who use credit cards.

As a business owner, you might be interested to know that customers who have credit cards tend to spend more â€" often significantly more â€" than customers who pay with cash. Credit card users also tend to make more impulse purchases, and to make more purchases over time and with more frequency, than cash buyers.

The end result is pretty obvious: businesses that accept credit cards as a form of payment tend to make more profits, and be able to more effectively grow their businesses, than those that operate on a cash-only basis. The corollary to that conclusion: if your business is not accepting credit cards as a form of payment, you stand to lose both money and potential customers.

So how can your business begin to accept credit cards? Isn’t it a time-consuming and expensive process? While accepting credit cards was once a costly and complicated procedure, as more and more merchants have moved online, the process of accepting credit cards has become simpler, and the number of vendors willing to help you set up a credit card system has multiplied. These merchant account service providers are in the business of helping you accept your customers’ credit cards for your goods or services, and signing up with a merchant account service provider is a simple process that can be completed in less than an hour in most cases. What’s more, most individuals are able to begin accepting credit cards within a few days of submitting their applications, meaning you can be serving a whole new market and establishing a wider customer base in less than a week.

Of course, signing up for a merchant services account is a little more complicated than simply filling out an application. Before any forms are filled out, you need to do a little research to determine which account service provider is best for your business.

Merchant accounts are available for many types of businesses, doing business in many different ways. Not all merchant account providers offer services for all types of businesses. For instance, online businesses, as well as those dealing with adult toys, tobacco, gambling and some other products and services may be considered high risk businesses, and require a merchant provider experienced in high risk accounts. Typically, these businesses are considered high risk due to the large number of chargebacks associated with them.

Other businesses may accept phone orders, while still others want to accept payments from across the globe. Today, there are even merchant accounts for service providers and other businesses that want to accept payments via their mobile devices.

In addition, some merchant account providers have more experience serving specific types of businesses. In some cases, it can be in your best interest to select a provider who has a strong background and expertise in serving the needs of your business.

Once you’ve narrowed down your selection, take some time to examine the fees associated with the type of account you would be using. Both the types and amounts of fees associated with merchant accounts can vary widely among merchant account service providers. Fees should be detailed in the account provider’s contract, but be sure to ask if all fees are described in the document you’re asked to sign.

It’s also a good idea to check with the Better Business Bureau to see if any complaints have been issued regarding the service provided by the merchant account provider. Also check online sources for reviews and comments from other business owners that use or have used the merchant account provider.

After identifying a few merchant account providers who you believe are a good match for your business and reviewing their contracts, you can begin the application process. Most applications are brief, and the information you provide will be used to determine your credit rating, as well as the credit worthiness of your business.

Once the application is filed, it can take from a few days to a couple of weeks for the approval process to complete.

Of course, be sure to read any contract thoroughly before signing, and make sure to have any questions or concerns addressed beforehand. Just like any other contract, the agreement with your merchant account service provider is a legally binding document, and you must abide by its stipulations or risk sometimes severe penalties.

Accepting credit cards as payment for your business makes good financial sense. Luckily, signing up for a merchant account that will allow you to accept credit cards is a simple process, and one that can yield rich rewards over time.

Karen Zabel is a freelance writer who writes about Merchant Credit Card Processing Services