You cannot accept credit cards without being a merchant, and having a merchant ID.

If that werent the case, then the local druggie on the street corner could set up a way to take credit cards for his dope, and then launder the money as if it were made legitimately…

The people that really make the credit cards happy are the ones that charge everything under the sun on the card – charging up possible 1,000 a month easily and pay in full
By reducing the merchant fees, will credit cards not like those customers anymore since it will be less profit from them.?
I can ask tough questions and always get amazing answers. Thank you so far.

you are somewhat incorrect.

merchant fees are negotiable. they usually involve a fixed amount per transaction plus a percentage. high volume merchants, like walmart, can negotiate lower fees. fees also tend to be lower for debit cards used in debit mode(enter your pin instead of sign).

credit card companies(mostly banks) absolutely hate people who pay off their balances in full every month, like me. as they get no chance for any additional interest earnings when i fail to carry a balance.

Online the cheapest I’ve seen is Google Checkout, but to get the best rates you need to be high volume.

Brick n mortar varies, but you usually get much better rates with a swiped transaction compared to an online transaction. Usually, your areas largest bank will have the best deal. Chasepaymentech, for example, has good rates for swiped transactions.

Best way to lower your fees is to force/require debit card use, as debit transactions are the cheapest.

However, I know that many banks do not like internet businesses, so is there a company that specializes in this type of accounts?

Hi. I agree that local banks aren’t too fond of giving individuals doing internet business a merchant account with credit card processing features.

I know, I’ve been there. That’s why I went with paypal when I started my online ventures.

But there comes a point in time when your sales will eventually be large enough to make you want to go with your own merchant account credit card processing.

But it’s not a step that should be taken lightly. There are many things to watch out for and you have to be well informed before choosing a company to go with.

For my company, when it was time to take the leap, I first searched online, like google and yahoo, and found a few companies that had great features, and some offered free merchant accounts.

One in particular is http://www.electronictransferservice.com .. now I’m not recommending that you go with their service, but at this website, I found a lot of information on credit card processing and companies that provide the service.

You should check out their FAQ page, it’s filled with tons of useful information. Another good thing is you can call them and ask questions and get answers from a real live person. That really helped me learn how all this stuff works.

I eventually went with another company, but at least I had the information I needed so I was able to make the best choice for my business. You will have to look into it yourself and figure out what kind of features you want and need.

But one of the main things is fees. You will want to make sure that you don’t get charged excessively, and that is one of the things you will have to make sure you know about, because there’s a lot of fees involved.

But with the right amount of effort and time that you put into your search for the right company, you should have no problems finding one that fits your internet business.

Hope this helps.

Good luck.

I found http://www.merchantaccountbasics.com and it has a lot of info on fees and other stuff so I think it’s worth taking a look, I know I learned a lot from it.

Anyway, I’m gonna stick with paypal for now and wait till my business grows big enough to support using my merchant account for processing credit cards.

Good luck, hope that helps.

I just went through the booking process on Expedia… and it said you need to be at least 18 years of age to check in.

That does not apply to me… my credit card is prepaid in case you’re wondering.

My question is, if I pay by credit card online, or even if I pay by credit card there, are they able to discover that I am not of age?

Alternatively, I was thinking of paying in cash, but would prefer to book online now to get the reduced rate, which would require the use of a credit card.

Please advise.

They will not know your age–in fact, they will probably assume you are over 18 because most credit cards require you to be at least 18. The only information that a credit card gives a merchant is 1) name 2) account number 3) expiration date of card 4) bank info and 5) Card Id Number (CID)–the three digit security number on the back of your card.

Feel free to book online with confidence!

http://www.wareprise.com/content/point-of-sale.html