Merchant Account

[christophermoor]

I would have an idea of how much it might cost to have a merchant account. I am interested in having a merchant account for selling products online. I've heard of different rates in the US. Can someone please give me more ideas?

[shoesbuyonline]

I think it would all depends on which type of merchant accounts and which companies you would like to sign up. I use merchant account from MoneyBooker. I think you might want to go to their official sites for accurate information.

Have a nice day,

[derhammer88]

If you get an Authorize.net payment gateway with a merchant account, a general rule of thumb for a US based e-commerce business is about $15-$20 per month in fees (statement fee, gateway fee) and roughly 2%-2.5% in credit card fees per transaction. If you do no transactions its just the $15-$20 per month to keep it active. e-online data and Merchant Focus are two good spots to get them, but you need to have a US Bank account and address. If you are doing "high risk" transactions like adult,gambling, or travel industries, expect to pay two to three times that amount.

[donaldcarter55]

Your bank can give you the best idea, but you probably don't need a "real" merchant account yourself unless you're doing a lot of volume. What most people start with is a service that has their own merchant account. they sell you a psuedo-merchant account.

Fee's vary by volume - number of purchases per month, high, low, and average purchase cost, type of product - physical or intagible - e.g. is it a mountain bke, or a download?, the way you confirm the cc info/customer, and the number/percentage of chargebacks. And also if you are a "real" business - e.g. legally - and if so, for how long.

I resell for e-payment and they're pretty good from a resellers viewpoint. I also like ikobo and 2checkout. Leaning more towards ikobo no recent problems in the past year, low fees, nice api, good charge-back policy, and easy access to the $.

ikobo and 2heckout would be on my A list for someone just getting into e-commerce. e-payment is a little more involved. I like e-payment for recurring billing, but 2checkout, and I believe ikobo have both got new capabilities in that area.

All payment services have had problems art one time or another. ikobo, 2checkout, and paypall seem to have put most of them behind them. Paysystems is going through a bad time right now, and it would be best to avoid them - IMHO.


EDIT: BTW - $ savings on cc fees by being a "real" business" will often cover the cost of getting set up as an LLC within the first year given a moderate amount of sales.