How To Grow Your Online Small Business

Doesn’t matter if you own a small business or a large enterprise. The challenge to keep your business stabilized and profitable is always challenging. And when it comes to choosing the payment processor, you need to be very careful. Here in this the article you will get information regarding the Payment Processor for Small Businesses. Determining your business model, identify your needs in terms of the payment processor. Make a checklist and ask the following questions to get the ideal Payment Processor for Small Business:

• Do you own a business with a storefront?
• Does your business include traveling?
• Where your market is and what kind of customers you have?
• What is the currency that you usually deal in?

You can create some of your questions to determine and create a business model. You know the technology has advanced. Furthermore, figure out the payment the method you use or want to use for your business in the coming days. This will help in narrowing down which Point of Sale solution you would be pursuing and save you a lot of time.

Look through different Payment Processors Do not give in to the first payment processor that you come across. Juggle the market; check out the different services depending on your needs, ask whether you can get some customized service according to your business type. Also, look for the service that matches your requirements. You will find cheap services with an attractive plan. But, always put the security at your priority. Discuss your business needs openly and get the best Payment Processor for Small Business.

Put Security as the First Priority As a merchant, you need to keep yours as well as the customer’s money safe. Also,  a chargeback is a much greater concern than you realize. The secure payment the processor can help you avoid Chargebacks. And as a small business, you need to keep your chargeback rate less. If you need guidance to get the Payment Processor for Small Business then get an expert. Moreover, you should verify that the payment the processor is fully compliant with the latest PCI (Payment Card Industry) and EMV (EuroPay, MasterCard, and Visa) standards.

Frequently Asked Questions - Merchant Stronghold

Some of the frequently asked questions about our existing customers.

• What is the best payment system for small business?
• Names of the Credit card processing companies for small business
• What is the Credit card processing monthly fee for small business?
• What is the best way to accept credit cards for small business?
• List of credit card processing companies
• What are Mobile credit card processors?
• Options for Small business credit card payments
• Names of the Payment Processor for Small Business

If, you're a merchant and looking more information on how to set up your online business. Look at this!

Go to Link @ Merchant Stronghold

Guide for Offshore Merchant Account Buyer's

The term ‘offshore’ is basically used to describe banks from countries other than home country or foreign lands. An offshore account is like any other merchant account opened in any country other than the merchant’s home country. The main benefits of an offshore account are the security and the option of accepting major currencies. It also helps the merchant in increasing revenue due to tax relaxation, provides greater privacy to merchants and helps in gaining more customers (major currency acceptance).

Popular Among Merchants

E-commerce and offshore accounts are highly linked as merchants, irrespective of their industry types. It aims at attracting a majority of customers and look for maximizing sale to earn good profit. To achieve this, the merchant needs to have a merchant account that accepts the majority of credit cards. But it is not that easy to open a merchant account, as it includes many requirements and lengthy procedures, which is not the case with an offshore merchant account. Most of the businesses like to maintain an offshore account as it provides many financial and legal advantages to their client.

Offshore Merchant Account

Most of the merchants choose offshore accounts over merchant accounts for various reasons. Few of them are below:

• Hassle free procedure
• Low taxes/ tax relaxation
• Low initial costs
• International Reach
• Different currencies
• Major credit card acceptance

Why are Offshore Accounts so Popular?

No matter how small or big business you own, any merchant can get an offshore account. Especially, merchants who are planning to set up an online business, irrespective of their size, prefer offshore account over merchant account due to low initial cost.

Every merchant running an online business wants to hit the international market at a certain point of growth. An offshore merchant account makes the acceptance of various currencies as well as credit cards much easier. Although, merchants who are dealing with local customers with the prime objective of capturing the domestic market don’t get enough benefits from offshore merchant account as compared to the merchant targeting the global market.

How to Find a Good Document Preparation Merchant Service Provider?

The best advice is to communicate with the people in the same industry as you are and gather knowledge about the credit card processor. Make a list of it or check the services provided by them. Also, see the reviews of them or give them a call and talk to them about your queries. And, it is always better to invest your time at the initial stage and choose the right service provider rather than regretting your decision later.

Merchant Stronghold is one of the trusted names as document preparation merchant service provider and offers high-risk merchant account documentation service for businesses dealing in:

• Debt Counseling
• Student Loan Consolidation
• Finance Industry
• Medical Industry
• Legal Industry

Services offered by Merchant Stronghold are:

• MoTo (Mail order/Telephone order)
• Recurring billing
• E-commerce account

Simply complete our online application form. In addition, our well-qualified team will help you with the document preparation and board you within 48 hours. At Merchant Stronghold. We make sure to provide the best services at a very reasonable price.

Find the best credit card processor for your Identity Restoration Business

Are you running an Identity Restoration business? If you are then you need a merchant account to accept credit card and debit card payments. Your merchant account works as a bridge between your bank account and the customer’s bank. When you get a merchant account, you are required to follow rules and regulations established by credit card companies and your bank. This includes a number of fees associated with both the accounts.

There are various fees associated with a merchant account, some of them are based on percentage and others are on an item basis. Some of the fees are set by issuing bank while others are by merchant and credit card companies. It is necessary to understand fees associated with an account to run your identity restoration business successfully.

Fees associated with a merchant account

Cancellation fee: It is charged when you send your contract with an online merchant account before the due date of your contract. Not all the providers require a contract, but those who have this police ask for a cancellation fee.

Chargeback fee:

When money is returned to the customer. This fee is initiated by the bank of your customer, often because of fraudulent transactions. A chargeback is one of the reasons why merchants around the globe lose thousands of dollars. It is a fee that merchant account providers take for processing the chargeback request.

Gateway Fee:

It is a monthly fee to keep your merchant account. This fee is a charge to maintain your online merchant account. Some online payment gateways don’t charge money, while others may charge as much as $20.

Monthly minimum:

This is the amount your account is required to process on a monthly basis. The fee is charged to maintain the account, but if you don’t exceed the minimum, then the merchant account provider will charge you accordingly.

Statement fee:

A statement fee is charged by all the online merchant account providers. This fee is associated with your statement and it is taken at the end of the billing cycle. You will pay between $7 and $10. It is charged when you get a paper base or paperless statement.

Transaction fee:

As the name suggests, it is a fee that is charged every time a transaction is processed. Usually, it is between 20 and 25 cents. This fee remains the same no matter how big the transaction was.

Address - 10300 49th Street N Suite 427 Clearwater, Florida 33762

Email ID - info@merchantstronghold.com

Contact No. - +1 (888) 622-6875.

HIGH-RISK PAYMENT GATEWAYS FOR ALL TYPES OF MERCHANTS

Though it seems simple enough to apply to a bank for a payment gateway, it is challenging. A business can have a good processing record and still get turned down due to the type of business they conduct. Banks consider many businesses high risk because they have irregular high-ticket sales, excessive chargebacks, or work in industries that are highly regulated or the rules and regulations are murky, at best. Businesses owned by people with poor or low credit scores and those that are based outside the United States also fall into the high-risk category. So, when a merchant with any of these problems tries to obtain a high-risk payment gateway, banks turn them down for services.

Merchants that want to safely and responsibly process credit card payments must turn to a high-risk payment gateway processor, like Merchant Stronghold. Merchant Stronghold offers high-risk online payment gateway services for retail, mail order/telephone order (MOTO), and internet merchants.

Merchant Stronghold prides itself on working with clients with all types of backgrounds. Whether a business is small and unknown or large and established, Merchant Stronghold finds the solutions it needs.

Get high-risk online payment gateway services from Merchant Stronghold for businesses that sell the following products and services:

• Adult entertainment and novelties
• Auto accessories and parts
• Tech support
• Luxury goods and services, such as private planes and travel
• MLM and direct sales
• Collectibles and antiques
• Designer Fashions
• E-cigarettes

Merchants Have Three Basic Needs For an Online Payment Gateway

The first is security and anti-fraud protection. Protecting your business and protecting your customers is a cornerstone of a successful business. Once incident can wreck your potential and reputation.

The second need is for the payment gateway to be user-friendly. Not only does it need to seamlessly integrate into your website and merchant account but it needs to be customer-friendly so that your customers do not become frustrated and give up on buying your products.

Lastly, you have to find the best rates. Business-friendly rates regarding transaction volume and transaction fees can make or break your margins. Finding the right balance of security and financial acuity is critical for any payment gateway.

How To Get Best Rates For A Good Credit Card Processing

You must make sure that you’re not being looted in the name of special merchant services. We’re here to help you navigate credit card processing and help you get the best rate possible for your business. So, stick around!

Factors that affect the rate:

Privileged services:

Privileged services would not affect the basic rate, but it would surely affect your markup in the name of, PCI compliance, merchant gateway, statement fees and so on. So, kindly take in consideration all types of costs before signing up for an account.

Size of the ticket:

Different variations in your ticket size affect your price. Bigger ticket sizes are considered as high-risk that eventually increase the rate for you.

PCI Compliance:

PCI-Compliance is like a vow to protect the customer’s identity. It is the set of rules, which a company has to follow to keep the personal information of its customers safe.

Other considerations:

Many of the processors will charge you a minimum fee if you don’t meet a specific volume of processing. Many of them won’t show it to you at all. Also, worth noting is that if you have purchased a CNP (Card not present) then you might get a better rate otherwise, you get charged extra.

There is no control over the rates as all the companies have their own entities deciding on the rate. There could be a standard rate decided by a group or a region, but no one can say that the rate could be matched or has a single pricing model for all kinds of companies.

Wherever you can ask, we suggest you ask for interchange-plus pricing. Even if merchant accounts never promote these plans, they often have them. It’s the most transparent payment model which doesn’t have enough margin.

All in all, we are here to provide you with proper information on how to get along in this fast-paced world which is changing in a blink.

What is difference between US and European Merchant Accounts?

US Merchant Account

Initially, only US banks were providing the credit card processing services to the e-commerce merchants or other stores. After seeing the successful growth in online selling, the banks also started providing e-commerce merchant services for online selling to the merchants.

Now, there are several US banks that offer E-commerce Merchant Accounts, credit card processing services, and other transaction services. And this rise in the number of banks affected the prices and grew to be bargain-able or competitive. Also, if the merchant is not a resident of the US then he cannot get a Merchant account. But, all this comes to an end when European e-commerce merchant accounts came into existence and became available for Merchants.

European Merchant Account

In order to have a European Merchant Account or credit card processing services, a merchant does not require to be a US citizen, which means you could get a Merchant account from anywhere in the world. The European Merchant Account provides an award-winning gateway to the merchants. Now the Merchants have two options, which are the US and the European Merchant Accounts, to choose either one of them according to their convenience.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE US AND THE EUROPEAN MERCHANT ACCOUNTS

Pricing

There is a huge difference in the prices between the US and the European Merchant Accounts in terms of the gateway, setup fees, and discount rates etc. The European merchant accounts are way higher in prices than the US Merchant Accounts. The cost of the US Merchant Accounts decreased due to the high competition among the US banks. Unlike US banks, there is no such competition for the European Merchant accounts which leads to a higher cost. European Banks offer their services all over the world while the US banks provide their services in the US only.

Quality

In terms of the quality of the services, both the banks are equal. Both the US and European Merchant Accounts offering the same credit card processing services like VISA and MasterCard etc. Even though the banks are using the best credit card processing services and security services there also be a possibility of scams. The quality can be checked in terms of the time of approval, safety, and security etc. As we are all aware that a different gateway technique is used by every credit card processing service, which helps to keep the data safe. Also, there is no difference in the time of approval between both the US and the European Merchant Accounts.

Account Setup and Monitoring:

Availability

High-Risk Merchant Account for SEO Industries

If you are offering digital marketing services, you have come to the right place. Online marketing services such as SEO, SMO, SMM, website design, and development are businesses where a merchant account is a prime necessity.

Of course, it’s a digital age and you can’t tell your clients to send you a cheque. It will surely be a stunner for your client. Even you will think twice before putting alternatives in case you can’t accept payment online. So, it is crucial to make use of all the payment accepting ways so that things can go smooth. And, your clients can stay happy and satisfied.

Who Requests a High-Risk Merchant Account?

SEO / SEM and Web Development organizations are commonly categorized as high risk in the credit card processing business. In fact, the label high risk applies to any business with one or more of the following characteristics:

• A history of high chargebacks,
• Irregular very high-ticket sales,
• In an industry that US sponsor banks and processors are unwilling to support,
• Highly regulated industry,
• An industry with long delays between billing and delivery of the good or service, or
• An industry that relies upon recurring billing, free trials, or memberships, or

With respect to web development, SEO, and SEM businesses, typically they have large ticket sizes (aka large average transactions), they have a significant delay between billing and delivery of the good or service, and as a general rule, most US sponsor banks are unwilling to write these businesses. For those reasons, SEM, SEO, and Web Design / Development businesses are almost universally characterized as high-risk businesses, meaning they need a High-Risk Merchant Account.

Familiar with Online Marketing Industry

While any business involved in web marketing is an appropriate fit for our High-Risk Merchant Account, startup and existing businesses in the following sub-industries are some of our most common clients:

• Search Engine Optimization
• Search Engine Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Website Design
• Template Design
• Web Development
• Software Development
• Mobile & Desktop App Development

Contact us to start an SEO Merchant Account with Merchant Stronghold in as little as 48 hours!