So you a Canadian E-Commerce merchant looking forward to signing up with a domestic merchant account provider. You are lucky because you are on the right page. In this article, we will talk about factors that will help you to identify a reliable Canadian E-Commerce merchant account provider easily. The article is long, but it may not take over 7 minutes for you to read it.

You can turn on your fancy stopwatch now. Let the clock Tic. Tic Tic. Here we go..

Startups Or Experienced Welcome

The biggest challenge for a Startup Canadian E-Commerce merchant is finding a reliable processing company that says yes without processing history. It is common to see payment processing companies decline applications of startup merchants primarily because of no previous processing history and extremely low sales volume projection/forecasting. Without the processing history acquiring institutions sometimes consider the merchant to be risk-oriented. With low sales projections, processing companies may assume that the return on investment will be meager. To make things easier, you should evaluate Canadian processors that are comfortable in on-boarding startups. In case if you are an experienced Merchant and you have a current credit card processing statement with low chargeback ratio, then most of the Canadian acquiring Institutions would say yes. Before sending the application and KYC ask the processors if they are startup friendly. If they say no you can contact some providers that offer high risk merchant account services.

Types Of Cards Accepted

The ultimate goal of any business is profit maximization. In e-commerce, sector profit maximization can be achieved by attracting a massive amount of qualified traffic and then converting the traffic into sales. The type of card brands that are accepted by your Canadian E-Commerce merchant account provider will affect the profit you will be making. It will be better to work with a processing company that allows you to accept Credit cards of various local and international brands. You should also evaluate if your Canadian credit card processor is interested in allowing you to receive cross-border payments. It will open more promising markets for your business. Ask them about the list of card brands accepted.

Pre-Authorisation

Delay in product and service may happen because of multiple reasons. Sometimes delay in delivery results in chargebacks and disputes. If your Canadian e-commerce merchant account provider gives you the ability to use the pre-authorisation feature, then you will be able to reduce the return ratio to a considerable extent. Pre-authorization helps you to delay the settlement of the payment to your business bank account. It is an excellent approach to settle the payment once the buyer has received the product. Better be late in receiving payments then be fast in receiving chargebacks. Ask the Canadian e-commerce payment service provider if they offer the Pre-Auth feature. Also, ask them if there is any limit on Pre-auth.

Transaction Fee

Many sites on the Internet claim zero setup cost, lowest transaction fee, No monthly contract, No termination charges at all. Some of these claims may be true but based on our experience free is not always the best option. Understand this from a business owners point of view these payment processing companies are also responsible for meeting their financial commitments. The only way they can generate the fuel to run the business and attain growth is by charging from the merchants. Having said that please keep in mind that you should work with a Canadian E-Commerce merchant account provider that offers high-quality services and charges low transaction fees. Get multiple quotes and then evaluate the figures. Choose the best one and establish a stable long-term business relationship.

Reputation Of Processor.

Birds of a feather flock together. If you are a true professional, then you must work with a processing company that is equally professional. If the payment service provider offers reliable service then checking the reviews on the internet will not return a vast number of negative reviews. Please note that sometimes excellent processors may also have negative reviews. As a matter of fact, nothing much can be done for anonymous reviews posted by competitors and unhappy employees. Still, if you check the reviews of payment gateway companies on the Internet, then you will understand whether you are in safe hands or not.

Canadian E-commerce Merchant Account Provider – Setup Cost

A penny saved is a penny earned. Some payment processing companies may be comfortable to onboard merchants without any upfront cost. Please keep in mind that this should not be the only deciding factor. Use your analytical skills. Do some research. Explore the pricing of different e-commerce payment service providers in Canada and then choose a Pro. Apart from setup fee, you should also look at other fees like Monthly Maintenance Charge, Annual Charge, Wire Fee, Return Fee and Chargeback penalty.

Recurring And Subscription Payments

Some merchants from Industries like Online dating, Nutraceuticals, Health Supplement, Herbal, Online Services may require the facility of recurring and subscription payments. It will be an excellent approach to confirm with the processor about the availability of this feature. When you ask the processor about reoccurring payment please also ask the processor about the maximum ticket size for these subscription-based transactions. Some processors may offer Daily, Weekly Fortnightly, Monthly, Quarterly, Semi-Annual and Annual subscription. Please keep in mind that all the subscription modes mentioned above may not be available with Credit Card processing companies. Some of these options may be available with ECheck processors. Payday loan companies are a perfect example of merchants that accept echeck payments for weekly and fortnightly subscription modes in the USA.

Canadian E-commerce Merchant Account Provider – Integration And API responses

Integration is critical for the proper credit card transaction processing. Most processors will share a detailed API integration guide that can be utilized by your technical team. The integration is done by using custom codes and the API guidelines. If your tech team is not qualified enough on the specific programming language that is used by the processor, then integration can be challenging and expensive. Ask the processor for the API information and then cross verify the possibility of integration with your tech team. There is no benefit in getting an e-commerce payment gateway and not using it just because your team is unable to integrate it or just because your websites programming language is not compatible with the API requirements.

Invoice Payment Or Pay By Email Link

Most of the customers will be comfortable in placing orders on your website. But let me ask you a question. What if the customer is not in front of his computer and he wants you to take the card details when you don’t have any access to a virtual terminal. In that case, you can use invoice payment link or pay by email link feature that is provided by many PSPs. You can quickly send an invoice to the customers registered email, and then the customer can place the order at a later time by accessing the email. This feature may not make a significant impact on your revenue, but it will undoubtedly offer a flexible way of payment processing to your customers. Be proactive and ask the processor if they provide this facility.

If you have more questions about how to choose a Canadian E-commerce Merchant Account Provider, then send an email to quadrapay. Our team will be happy to assist you.

You can turn off the stopwatch now. Happy processing