Advantage Merchant

This account might take a little time and effort to find. But if you manage to find one, it will boost your business prospects in the long run. A low rate merchant account is your choice for your money management. A typical merchant account of this type offers set-up for fee. You pay one set-up fee unless you are purchasing a terminal, PC software. So, for most accounts, you'll pay around $99 to set-up the merchant account and Merchant America service. Some merchants are seasonal, so they don't process for months on end. Therefore, for those months, they pay nothing. One monthly fee does it all. If you have a discount merchant account, that same account can include processing for credit cards, debit cards, check services, check collection and Merchant America all for one low monthly fee.

Avoid poor quality or expensive services. Wait till you find an ideal service provider at your ideal monthly rate. With so many merchant account service providers, you will certainly be able to find your preferred merchant account plan with ease. For you, merchant accounts could mean increased profits, but at a high cost they could also mean a loss in revenue. Ensure that you're getting the low cost account to which you're entitled. Our advice is not to waste time with sub-standard business accounts that charge needless levies and provide inefficient service. If you commit to the very first merchant account service you happen to come across and engage its services without applying any thought, then you are bound to be in trouble. You'll end up paying way too much, and later, rue your decision.

Speedy, real-time Merchant Account set up is a great way to really streamline your payment processing. If you own or operate your own business and are starting out, chances are you do not want to spend a lot of money in the initial stage. Fortunately there are many merchant accounts provider out there that offer reasonable fees and prices for small businesses. Creating an Inexpensive Merchant Account. To simplify the billing, Merchant Discount falls into three pricing categories: Qualified Discount Rate: It is the discount rate you see advertised is referred to as your qualified rate and is a percentage taken from every dollar charged. Low Cost Merchant Account Carries Great Dividend. A low cost merchant account costs little, but provides enormous benefits to business owners, especially those interested in boosting sales but keeping payroll down. Besides, you do not have to sacrifice quality either when looking for merchant discounts to accept online payments from your customers. Considering all the features that are incorporated in a payment processing setup, a low cost merchant account is a bargain in more ways than one!








Discount Rate is the rate that is charged by the processor taking out a certain percentage from each transaction. Every bank charges a discount rate for processing credit cards. The processor also charges a small percentage of the transaction to handle the transaction for your business. There are two types of discount rates in credit card processing. Keyed Discount Rate and Swiped Discount Rate. Keyed Discount Rate: Keyed processing is done by entering or "keying" numbers into the terminal by hand. The rates for the keyed processing are higher than for the swiped processing because there is more risk involved. Keyed accounts could vary from: online ordered items that are keyed into the terminal, telephone orders that are keyed, or a retail store that cannot read the card's code has to be keyed into the terminal. Swiped Discount Rate: Many times swiped rates are much lower than keyed rates. The risk in the keyed rate is much higher therefore the swiped processing rate is lower. The reason for this is that a swiped rate, the card is present when the merchant runs it through the terminal.

The keyed rate, the card does not necessarily have to be present and the rate is higher. Our terminals are designed for keyed and swiped transactions in one. Please contact us if interested in our Value-Enhanced Terminal Equipment. This section is provided for information purposes only. The terms and conditions of your merchant account are between you and your bank or merchant provider, and should be consulted for specific information related to your merchant agreement with your bank or merchant provider. A merchant account is required to accept credit cards. A merchant account is a special account with a bank that is a member of the Visa and MasterCard associations. Such a bank has been certified by Visa and MasterCard associations and can provide you, the merchant, with all of the services related to your merchant account. Once your merchant account is setup and "live" on the credit card system, you can accept credit cards from customers generally as follows.

A customer presents their credit card for payment, Using their credit card number, you submit an electronic request to the processing network for "authorization to capture funds" from the cardholder's credit card account in the amount of the purchase. Traditionally, one would submit this request by swiping a credit card through an electronic transaction terminal provided by the bank, this request is provided electronically to our payment gateway servers, which then route the request along the processing network. The processing network immediately receives your electronic request and determines if the cardholder's account is valid and if the funds are available. If they are, the processing network returns an electronic response to your terminal or computer. This response is called an "authorization code", and is your guaranteed authorization to capture the funds. Typically, this code is a six-digit number. The transaction and its associated authorization are stored in a "batch", where other transactions for that day reside.





You print a receipt for the customer using the electronic terminal or your computer and the customer signs the receipt. As far as the customer is concerned, the transaction is complete. As far as you the merchant are concerned, there is one more step to complete the transaction. At the end of your business day you submit a final request to the processing network to go ahead and "capture the funds" that you obtained authorizations for during the course of business that day. This is called settlementor settling your batch. This request is also submitted using the electronic terminal or your computer. The processing network immediately receives your response electronically and determines if the capture amounts contained in your request match the authorizations for each item. If so, the request is granted and an "Accepted" response is returned to your electronic terminal or computer. A settlement report can be printed showing the grand totals by card type for the settled batch. Note: any corrections to your batch, such as voiding a transaction, must be made prior to settlement.

Within 48 to 72 hours the funds associated with the batch you settled are deposited electronically into your business bank account. Typically, the discount rate you pay to your merchant account provider are deducted from the deposit before it transferred to your bank account, resulting in a "net deposit" of funds. At the end of the month, your merchant account provider will mail a statement to you, detailing the credit card activity for the month and the associated fees you have been charged for such. Now that you understand the basics of how a credit card merchant account works, you can see the role that has in the processing of your credit card transactions.

Understanding your merchant provider’s rates and fees. All banks and merchant providers require "transaction fees" from you for accepting credit cards. Typically, these fees are broken down into 3 categories: a discount rate, a transaction fee, and monthly fees. For the bank's purposes, a transaction is usually defined as any communication between you and the processing network. A "credit" transaction is treated the same as a regular transaction. Settling a batch is usually considered a transaction as well, as it involves communication with the processing network.





Discount Rate, This is the percentage of the total transaction amount that the bank will usually deduct prior to transferring your deposit into your bank account. Typical discount rates range from 2.5% to 5%, depending on your type of business and other factors. A higher rate may be charged on individual transactions if the transaction doesn't conform to certain qualifications, as described by your bank or merchant provider. For instance, accepting a Visa Business Card" credit card may cost you 1% more than regular transactions. The reasons for these non-qualified transaction surcharges and complete details on all transaction qualifications should be discussed with your bank or merchant provider. Address Verification may also fall into this category when not used properly. Address Verification described below.

Transaction Fees, This is a flat amount that you pay for each transaction. Typical transaction fees range from 30 cents to 50 cents per transaction. Monthly Fees, These are fees charged for other account related services, such as customer service, your monthly statement, network access fees, and minimum monthly fees. All the fees and charges are required to be disclosed to you prior to your commitment to the merchant agreement between you and your bank or merchant provider, and are usually enumerated carefully to you in the merchant agreement itself.