When compared to businesses with physical locations, one of the best things about having an online-based business is how much money you save on start-up costs and ongoing costs. You also save money on utilities, business insurance, and even credit card processing accounts.
If you run a business on the Internet, you almost have to take credit cards as payment for your goods or services. Have you ever been to a website that wouldn't let you pay with a credit card? Think about how you'd feel if you wanted to buy something online but couldn't enter your payment information. Would you write a check, put it in an envelope, and mail it to the company, or would you just go to the next website selling the same products that DOES accept credit cards? Websites that accept credit card payments make 50–400% more money than those that don't. Credit card payments are so easy to set up that there's really no reason for an online business not to accept them.
You have a choice as a web business. You can apply for a traditional merchant account at one of your local banks and hope to be accepted. If you are, you will likely have to pay a set-up fee and sometimes a monthly fee for the service. Alternatively, you can use one of the many online card processing companies that work with online businesses like yours. Many of the online card processing services don't charge you anything to set up your website to accept credit cards.
Businesses that process credit cards
If you just started an online business or have a small business, you probably don't want a credit card processing company that makes you do a certain number of transactions every month. For a new business, it's hard to know what your minimum will be, and it might be better to pay a slightly higher per-transaction fee than a higher monthly fee in exchange for a lower per-transaction fee based on a minimum number of cards processed each month.
Paynet Systems: Offers a wide range of merchant accounts, some of which are designed for businesses that operate on the Internet. You can set up your account to accept payments from credit cards, ATM cards, and debit cards for free. You pay a small fee ($8–10) each month for the account and a fee for each transaction.
Merchant Express gives online businesses a way to accept credit card payments in real time by giving them a merchant account. Your Merchant Express account will also give you free access to a "virtual terminal," which lets you accept credit card payments by phone, mail, and online.
Charge.com is similar to Merchant Express in that it has a real-time processor for orders placed on a website and a virtual terminal for when customers call, fax, or mail in their payment information. Once the card has been processed successfully, the software will send you an email to help you fill the customer's order.
There are a lot of other companies that offer internet merchant accounts and can set up your online business to accept credit card payments with no set-up fee. Researching each company before signing up will help you compare the features and make sure you sign up with a company that can give you the options your business needs at the lowest fees.
