Applying For Merchant Account Is Easy With Quadrapay.
If you want to accept payments by credit or debit card, then you need a merchant account. The first step towards procuring the ability to take credit cards is to apply for a merchant account. You can approach any local bank, or you can also contact a payment service provider. Credit card processors evaluate every application on multiple factors. In this detailed article you will know about the best ways to apply for a merchant account online. So let’s weekly understand the application process for any credit card merchant account.
To accept credit card payments, You will have to send the filled merchant account application to the selected credit card processor. This merchant account application is a detailed document that collects vital information related to your processing capability. The app also outlines factors associated with your line of business and monthly transaction volume. With the application form you will also have to send business documents. Some of these business documents are listed below.
Applying For Merchant Account – You Will Need These.
- LLC, Inc, C-Corp or DBA registration document. These are few of the business licenses that are acceptable by most of the payment processing companies across the United States. For other countries local business licenses are applicable. You are supposed to send a copy of the business license.
- Business Bank Account/ Business Checking Account. This is the bank account where the processing company will send the funds. Sole proprietor businesses can use their personal account to accept payments. For the proof of bank account, the merchant can send a copy of the Void check or a recent Bank account statement
- Utility bill for business as well as the residence of all major stakeholders. To open a merchant account, you will need to ensure that you explicitly mention your physical addresses to the payment gateway company. Please note that processing companies do not accept Virtual or PO Box addresses in most of the cases.
- Website whois certificate. The whois certificate gives detailed information about the owner of the domain. Since all the transactions usually take place online, these days processing companies require this document before approving any merchant account.
- EIN Number from IRS or Tax ID number. Processing companies perform a credit check, and they require EIN as Social Security Number of the Company/Directors.
- Business plan. Most of the times entrepreneurs do not share this document with the processing company. Based on our understanding of a business plan and the curriculum vitae of directors plays a critical role in analyzing the vision of the company.
When you apply for merchant account then submit all the documents mentioned above. You will have better chances to get a positive response.
Check Website Compliance Before You Apply For Merchant Account.
Any merchant services company will evaluate the virtual presence of the merchant. For this, the merchant must ensure that the website complies with the recommendations and guidelines of various Credit Card schemes. Below mentioned is a checklist that you can follow before you apply for a merchant account.
- Make Sure Your Website Is Complete. Merchant service companies are usually very busy, and they prefer not to work with websites that are not complete. To start accepting credit cards online make sure that your site represents a positive image of your company.
- Terms And Policies. It is mandatory for any E-commerce website to have policies and terms pages on the site. Place these links is the top menu or footer menu. A proper and easy to read and understand refund policy will help the processing company to come to a favorable decision about your merchant account application. Terms and condition pages also help businesses reduce the chargeback ratio. It will help if you spend time evaluating the refund policy on your website. Your website must have a delivery timeline preferably mentioned on the shipping policy page. It would be best if you give a clear indication about the time required for the product to reach cardholder’s location.
- Ticket size/Monthly Sales Volume. Credit risk is the most crucial factor that plays a vital role in the approval for rejection of any application. It would be best if you are careful about High ticket items. If your monthly sales volume comprises of the majority of low ticket item sales, then you should refrain from selling High ticket items. When you fill the merchant account application make sure you project correct figures for Monthly sales volume, Maximum ticket size, Minimum ticket size and number of transaction each month. Please understand “The lower the ticket size and the monthly sales volume the lower the credit risk will be.” There is no harm in starting with low sales volume and gradually move upwards.
- Avoid Stolen Content On Your Website. We have seen many applications getting rejected because the merchant’s website had plagiarised text. This does not happen all the time, but it can certainly create challenges for some applications.
Best Way To Apply For A High Risk Merchant Account
The above-stated content is generic to all kind of industries. Now we are going to talk about Industries that are considered high risk. High Risk/Startup/New and Bad Credit Merchants should approach processing companies that cater to the needs of high-risk businesses. Only a small fraction of processing companies perform High Risk Merchant solicitation services. These companies implement additional measures to reduce credit risk and liability.
When you apply for a high risk merchant account, you have to be extra cautious because the processing company will analyze your application much deeper. It will help if you stay as realistic as possible. Please keep in mind that Credit Card processing companies can quickly identify what you are hiding about your business. Before approving your application, they will perform various analysis and test.
We strongly encourage High-Risk Merchants to get PCI compliance certification done. This may indeed help in creating a favorable impression of your business. You should be ready to accept additional security features that include 3D secure processing, AVS – Address Verification System, Rolling Reserve, and Proactive risk monitoring. This will help the processing company to reduce the risk exposure. The pre-authorization facility can also help merchants in reducing the chargeback to sales ratio.
Now that we have discussed a lot about how you can apply for a merchant account it’s time for you to send your application. Please email us on [email protected] so that we may assist you with your processing requirements. To apply for a merchant account, you can also fill a basic online merchant account application form here. We can also assist business owners if they wish to apply for an Echeck Merchant Account or ACH Gateway. Our processing partners offer Flat rate as well as tiered pricing model. The transaction fees are subject to the analysis by the credit card or ACH processing company. Startup merchants in USA should prefer to not a processing volume over $25,000 per month.
