Once you are into the ecommerce industry you need to do certain things that you haven’t done yet for your offline store or offline market. Online selling is somewhat different from that of the offline selling in shops and stores. Here, you reach a global market and hence you need to do every possible thing that will stride you forward in this endeavor. You need to ship items to other places; hence you need a shipping account. To increase your customer base, you also need to adopt every possible payment options available, the credit and debit cards in particular. Hence you need to open a merchant account with any credit card processing company. Here is the complete guideline for opening these accounts.

How to open a Merchant account?

A merchant account can be opened with a local bank, though the best way to do it is to open it with an online credit card processing company. Here’s how you do it:

• Finding the right service provider is the biggest task you need to perform in this case. Find out the reviews with the Better Business Bureau. You can find very useful reviews out there. You can either use the Merchant Service Providers (MSPs) or the Independent Service Organizations (ISOs). The better way is to open with the Merchant Service provider.
• You will now need to open an internet merchant account where your payments for the transactions will get deposited in the intermediary period. You can consult the Better Business Bureau for this one too. Try to get the ones which allow you to purchase your Point of Sales (POS) as this will help you to carry out smooth transactions and keeping records.
• Keep your records and documents in hand. You will need to submit some important documents such as your social security number, your bank account statements, you financial strength and plans and your credit history and credit reports. They may also ask for the Qualified Rate, Mid-Qualified Rate, Batch Header, AVS, Business Plan, Contract Term, etc. If you haven’t been in business for at least two years then you need to apply through a Business Banker who will help you to get a clean chit from them. Keep in mind that the ISOs charge more fees and hence it should serve as your final option.
• You then need to apply for the cards you want to accept payment from such as MasterCard, VISA, American Express, etc. Once you are done with that you need to wait for approval. Once approved you can start accepting credit cards.

How to open a Shipping Account:

Now that you have started accepting various credit cards, you need to shift your attention from the domestic market to the global market. For that you will need a shipping account such as FedEX, UPS, DHL, etc. The steps for that are:

• Choose the right shipping account provider. You can base this either on the fees amount or the reach of the company to different countries.
• Having done that you can now apply for the account and wait for approval. Keep in mind that you need to be operating the business for at least 1 month.
• Once approved you can start shipping anywhere.

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