Welcome to www.hostvista.com

Merchant Account Information

Merchant accounts are the interface between the bank and your website for credit card processing. Once your website design is complete and you need to process credit card transactions, then you need to look for a merchant account provider. There are 2 ways you can use a merchant account: 1) In real-time using a real-time gateway to connect to your merchant processor and charge credit cards within seconds and 2) To collect the credit card info online and then charge it manually once the information is sent to you.

The second method is not recommended if the info will be emailed to you via email, as email is not a secure form of transfer. If you are going to be using the second method then another option is to store the credit card data in a database on your site and access it via a secure login.

Merchant accounts for online business usually start at a rate of 2.2% and up, while off-line traditional business can pay as low as 1.5% for transactions. The rates for online businesses are more due to more fraudulent internet activities. If you do have a traditional off-line business with a lower rate merchant account, then you may actually prefer to use the second method of off-line processing to keep your rates low. However, this may be against your merchant account providers policies, so check with them before you do this.

If you are a new business, make sure to understand all chargeback terms. A customer can usually chargeback the fees they paid claiming they did not receive product or service and the credit card company will send you a letter requesting more information and the credit card holders signature. If you go over 1% in total monthly chargebacks, you may loose your account and get black listed. Always respond to your chargebacks promptly. It is also highly recommended that you always require a signature to be faxed in authorizing the charges for high value items or services. Usually a chargeback that cannot be proven with a valid authorized signature would be a lost case for the merchant.

We highly recommend Total Merchant Services for your merchant account needs. Also if you need a good web design company to install shopping carts and enable merchant accounts, we recommend Quadra Website Design.