Choosing The Right Merchant Account

I  used  ClickBank  exclusively   for the  first  three  years  I  was  online. It  was  easy  to  set  up,  the  initial cost  was  minimal,  and  they  had  a great reputation.

ClickBank charges you a percentage of  the sale price of an item plus a $1.00 per transaction  for  any  sale  you  make through their service. This can be higher than having an actual Merchant Account/

The  disadvantage  of  working  with ClickBank is that you are limited to just digital products.

In having my own merchant account, I save over 5% as well as having a cheaper per transaction fee. That is a huge difference. Also, the money is directly deposited into my bank account within two to three days. It’s a really big benefit to be able to get your money faster.

There  are  other  costs  when  setting up a merchant account. You can pay upwards of $195 for the setup fee on a merchant account,  but in the long run, the savings of having your own are huge and I recommend that you look into that.

Another benefit of having your own merchant  account  is if you  have  a retail  business  and  accept  cards  in your  store,  your  processing  fee  is only less  because the actual card is present.   

When  you  set  up  your   merchant account,  be  very  careful  that  you classify  it  properly.  That  includes what kind  of volume you expect to run  through,  what your high ticket price will be, your average ticket sales, etc.

If you  start  doing  business  outside the parameters you set up with your merchant account, you  can get into problems. I can attest to that. I have quite a story about losing $2.1 million dollars with a merchant account.

You want to pick a merchant account company who  understands  the Internet    marketing   community. Because the companies change their fees and policies I will not recommend any particular company at this time.

When classifying what you sell, you should have a very generic  description  for the type of products  you market. I recommend something such as “online digital products” so that kind of covers everything, at least for digital type products.   Be as generic as possible, so it’s not going to lock you into a specific product.

You don’t want to say you sell teddy bears   because   if   you   sell   teddy bears one day, and you want to sell an  eBook  the  next,  your  merchant account   can  come  back   and  say you’re not approved to  sell eBooks. Therefore, they can hold your money. That’s how it works, like it or not.

Whenever   you  see  your   business volume start to increase dramatically, you  want   to  call   your   merchant account and let them know that you are  having  a  good  week,  a  good month or a good year, etc.

Tell  them,  “I  just  want  to  let  you know that we’re having a lot of sales coming through, and you’ll be seeing more volume from us in the future.”

Always let them know what’s  going on and get whatever you talk about in writing from the person you are talking to. If they agree to do something, you have to get it in  writing in order to protect yourself.  

You always want to assume that you’re building a case for the worst possible scenario.   So, get everything   documented   from   your merchant account.

Play by their rules so you will be the one winning  in the end. You  want to  establish  a  mutually   beneficial relationship   with   your    merchant account  provider  so   you   can  lay the   groundwork   for   a   long   and solid partnership.

A good alternative to having your own Merchant Account is, Stripe.com .