In order to get the most out of your online business, select a merchant account service that is reliable and be careful in the selection.

Online Payments and Merchant Account Services

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Businesses on the World Wide Web necessarily require an account to process online payments. Such an account is known as merchant account. This merchant account is special account with banks or online website and these are members of organization such as Visa or MasterCard. The business or online provider of merchant account services is an authorized provider of merchant account services for online businesses. Merchant account enables your website to receive payments of offers or services that are purchased from your website.

The process of online purchases

Customers who visit your website make a request for payment of services and offers on your website. This process is sent to merchant account provider’s network and the verification of credit card takes place at this stage. Once verified, an electronic response is sent to your website with a six digit authorization code that guarantees the payment and stores the transaction in the system. At the end of the day, a final request is sent to merchant account processing network where a systematic settlement report is made which lists the payments and card type. All the errors are reviewed and must be corrected here. After the completion of this process the funds are electronically sent to your bank account after deducting the rate that has been agreed to be paid to merchant account provider. At the end of the month, you receive a consolidated statement that lists your activities and associated fees charged to your throughout the month.

Merchant account fees

Setting a merchant account can be really easy once you have found a reliable source of online merchant account services. Selecting a reliable source is the most important factor while you select merchant account services as you are going to suffer a lot in future if you choose an unreliable source. While you set up your merchant account, there are a number of basic things that you must check. Merchant accounts charge customers with a fee for their services. These fees include discount rate, transaction fee and a monthly fee for using the services. Discount rate is charged from 2.5-5% depending on the type of business. The discount rate is low for low profit businesses and high for high profit businesses. Transaction fee is predefined without any changes and is from 30-50 cents per transaction. Monthly fee are charged for the services that are being taken by you from your provider and is decided before the agreement is signed.

Setting up Your Merchant Account

Setting up a merchant account isn’t a difficult job and needs some of the following information to be provided to the merchant account services provider. These include your name and business nomenclature. Merchant account services also need details of your business checking account and a copy of voided check. The merchant services also take some other details about your online business and a copy of return policy and business structure. Other information includes latest tax returns and other social security details.

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Ecommerce and shopping cart integration has been into the business for quite some time and many companies have maintained their online store. This has given an excellent boost to the scope of their businesses and attracts a lot of customers from around the world.

ECommerce and Shopping cart:

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The integration of both these features has to be harmonious in order to make shopping online an excellent experience for the consumer as well. Everyone certainly does not like to go to a store that has an unfriendly organization. The stores need to be simple and easy to manage and that is the key to sales going high and higher with time. Most of the merchants are interested in a nice and friendly integration so that the eCommerce and Shopping Card usability matters more than anything else. The best way to get this done is to follow certain guidelines while you are setting up your eCommerce and Shopping Cart.

Usability guidelines:

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With some simple usability guidelines, you can get your eCommerce and shopping cart integrated in the best possible way:

• Headings: Using headings in your online store is a great practice as this can help people guide themselves with the section of products that they are surfing. The site will become a lot more usable in case you have got each thing at the right place.
• Contact details: Make sure that you have provided contact details for your store on the online market just to make sure that customers can access you round the clock with no problems at all. This will set you open on phone and fax based business compared to just the online business.
• Search Function: Try and integrate a search function on your site so that the user can straight get to the products of its interest. You certainly want to attract customers to buy more and the first step to do that is to give customers the thing that they are really after. Once they get the desired product, they will certainly browse some other. Even the division of search into search by category will help.
• Filters: Give your customers all the possible filters that you can. This will help them filter their desired products through different checks to get exactly what they want. Size, weight, color and price are some examples of such filters.
• Page Management: Let your customers design the page for them. Make sure that you have your page designed in a way that it gives customers to customize their page and show the number of products on a page in the quantity that they wish.
• Related products: Showing related products will certainly help you get something better then the customer wants and once you impress the customer with your collecting the first time he visits your online store, he will always visit it again in case he needs something.

Simple usability guidelines in your eCommerce and Shopping Cart will make sure that you attract more people towards your online store ultimately increasing your sales and revenues at the same time. Make your online store a friendly experience for everyone who visits so that they visit again.

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Like all the millions of people around the world, you might be tired of having a real low score. The bad credit and low score does damage a lot of your financial matters. No one actually looks deeply into the matter in order to improve the bad credit score. There can be a number of ways that people will offer you for a handsome amount in which one can improve the situation and have their bad credit and low score improved.

Things are not that complicated actually, you do there are three ways in which you can improve your situation:

• Get a copy of your credit report and verify from multiple sources,
• Schedule your payments regularly and continuous,
• Get a credit card with small credit amount.

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Copy of your credit report:

This is one of the simplest ways to make a watch on the credit report. You can try all the bureaus that are working in your country to have a clear picture of where you stand. This is important because all the different bureaus might be following completely different credit reports. One is sufficient but three of them help you track for errors and omissions.

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Once you gain access to your credit report, sit back in a calm environment and track down the list and see if any of the entry is now within your notice. There is no assurance that the bureau is not going to make any error. Look out for all the errors and omissions as well as false hood that persist in the report. If there seems to be any error, the best you can do is to write in a letter to your institution about your complain. While doing this, you need to make sure that you send the letter by registered mail so that you can track it afterwards and cater the situation where the bureau claims that they didn’t receive it.

Payment Scheduling:

This is another of the key elements that most of us overlook. Once you see yourself going down at the credit score, you need to make sure that you pay on time and you do not open any further credit cards. Late payments and more credit cards go against you and you will certainly face the fall. Once you get done with the current payments, you can move on to pay the accounts down and then finally pay them off. You cannot do all these payments instantly and it will take quite some time but you will certainly get a positive response gradually.

Once you are done with the payment, make sure that you have all the proofs that your account has been closed well. This is another reason why you will be constantly facing low credit scores. This path might seem difficult and long, but it certainly works.

Revival through credit card:

This one is another easy one. Once you wish to re-establish your bad credit, open a small credit limit credit card so that you can pay back on monthly basis. You can always opt for a secured card if you are not entitled to have an unsecured card due to your bad credit.

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The physical markets have turned into online markets lately and people have started adopting the online methods for purchasing a lot of their goods. This does help for most of the time as you need not to go to the provider for the goods or services rather you just place an order and you get the goods or services dropped right away. The online mode is safe and reliable but there are instances where people do fall victims to fraudsters. There are some symptoms as well as there are some immediate actions that you need to take just to make sure that you don’t lose much.

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Symptoms of Ecommerce fraud:

There are some typical cases where the type of fraud is quite the same. There hasn’t been any innovative frauds invented lately and there have been definite fraud cases so far.

These include:

• You buy something online but that is not delivered to the recipient’s address.
• You make a sale, deliver the object but you are never paid for that. The recipient does not pay you online neither on the delivery.
• The purchase you made was something different than what you got delivered in the package.
• You are being told that you won a lottery prize worth a million and for that you need to pay a few dollars as the processing fee. You pay the fee and you never get the million dollars.
• The business opportunity that you took part in was not as attractive and profitable as you expected before making the final deal.
• You help someone who seeks help from you in terms of cash and promises you to come up with a huge sum once his/her problems are sorted out but does not response after you send him money for help.
• You purchase software but that does not have a license or is pirated.
• You make an investment online that is marketed to you through email or website but do not get any response after the initial upfront payment.

Such events might have occurred in the past, of they might occur somewhere in the future until or unless you make the necessary actions once making a deal in the online world.

Actions available to you:

The moment you realize that you are dealing with something dangerous or scam, stop paying more money rather start thinking about ways in which you can recover your money back. Check the third party if that is available for a dispute resolution, this does not imply for most of the time as fraudsters run away the moment they are successful. In case you have purchased the stuff from an auction, see if the auction provider provides any dispute management option. Credit card payments can be requested for investigations. You can even check if you qualify for the fraud protection programs in case you paid through any online payment service such as PayPal. The best way against such a trap is to have complete record of every communication done. Take prints of the web pages, emails, record phone calls just so that you have the necessary information when required.

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We’ve gotten some emails about our post yesterday and we thought it’d be great to offer our readers even more methods to prevent credit card fraud for online merchants. Some friends who are seasoned online merchants have even stepped forward to let us in on common sense techniques to stop fraudulent transactions from hurting their business. Here are 5 effective tips that can help you prevent credit card fraud.

Tip 1: It pays to be suspicious
Be vigilant is scanning each order and watch out for information that may raise warning bells. These signs usually indicate fraudsters at work and you should scrutinize each transaction for credit card fraud.

Tip 2: Scrutinize each email address
Besides being suspicious of free email accounts like those provided by Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail and even Gmail, you should be able to spot and be suspicious of email addresses that contain random characters. They may be randomly generated. Also, try to see if the email address matches your customer’s name. Something is wrong if you have one “Jane Brown” placing an order with an email address like “jackie_blue459@hotmail.com”

Tip 3: Be wary of high-risk countries
Countries like Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Africa are classified as high-risk. While it’s not really advisable to discriminate against them all the time, it would be wise to practice precautions. Some merchants chose to disallow international shipping but if you do the same, you may miss out on a sizable chunk of business. Additionally, items shipped to port locations like Miami and Los Angeles may especially if a shipping mismatch has been detected. Fraudsters have been known to buy goods with stolen credit cards and shipping them off to other countries for a tidy profit.

Tip 4: Beware unusually high order amounts
If a customers orders 20 laptops that total up to tens of thousands of dollars, you may want to contact them and ask them for clarification. This is not a common purchase and if you have strong suspicions of credit card fraud, confront the customer or report this to the authorities before it’s too late.

Tip 5: Utilize IP firewall to block multiple attempts at fraud
Ask your merchant account service provider about additional information on IP firewall features. With this useful tool you can shut out fraudsters and prevent them from making multiple attempts at fraud once you’ve exposed them initially. Of course, some of the more resilient ones will try to use a proxy to mask their IPs but as long as you have set up roadblocks like a firewall, this will act as a deterrent for future fraud attacks.

Tip 6:

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In a recent survey, online merchants revealed that they are most worried about credit card fraud in the e-Commerce business. They expressed anxiety over their apparent vulnerability to fraudsters, and feel that they are spending too much time reviewing orders to spot cases of fraud, when they could have used the time to improve other aspects of their business. Other than the usual address verification system (AVS), most merchants are seeking ways to expedite credit card fraud detection, and not just discriminate against common warning signs like expedited shipping and international addresses.

For this we would advise merchants to take note of these quick payment gateway-related steps that can be performed in order to stop fraudsters in their steps:

Tip 1: Look at your daily reports from the payment gateway
This should be done every day before orders are processed. By scrutinizing the transaction, you’ll gain an insight into the various transaction attempts before your eyes, and instantly see declined transactions. It’s common knowledge that fraudsters favor online stores to test their fraud activities so you can conclude that numerous attempts made in a single order may be the result of thieves performing their dirty card testing fraud.

Tip 2: Look into shopping cart lockout feature
Simply said, this feature locks out suspicious customers whose credit cards are declined numerous times in a single session. Again this is an instance of credit card testing at work. If you shut out the thieves, less damage can be done to your web business. Using IP or cookie-based protocols, this shopping cart feature can be utilized if it’s available from your shopping cart software provider. Once obtained, you can then configure how many times a card can be declined before the “card holder” gets locked out. You can also choose to temporarily “ban” him for an hour or a day. This obstacle will stop fraudsters in their tracks and you will then be safe from their malicious activities.

Tip 3: Invest in add-on fraud services
You may think your payment gateway provider is trying to sell you a lot of features you don’t need, but if you take a closer look at some add-on features, you may find several that can help you weed out unscrupulous fraudsters. Beyond the standard Address Verification System, these features are designed to run additional searches, and dig deeper into a credit card’s history and background. You’ll then find out if the particular card is notorious for frequent chargebacks or have been reported stolen or lost. These add-on fraud detection services cost at least $20 to 30 a month but if you consider the money you can save from the clutches of fraudsters, the amount will suddenly seem like peanuts!

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Did you know that close to 20 billion was spent online last Christmas season in 2009? E-commerce is a booming phenomenon and any merchant can see that opportunities are endless when it comes to selling on the Internet. Retailers who have been delaying their online venture need not feel fear. It’s never too late to get into the game. Developing an e-Commerce website to accommodate your transition from offline to online sales can be pretty dicey but not completely impossible. So many merchants have made the transition, so why can’t you do the same? Why should you be left out and be content with crumbs when you could have the whole pie, dish and all? Setting up a full fledged e-Commerce site is very doable, here’s what you need to get started:

1. Your very own website
Setting up a website is not difficult if you know how. Even so, this can take up a lot of your time. You may want to hire a good web developer to help you create a masterpiece while freeing up your time to put your plan action. Consider roping in adept freelancers from sites such as the Digital Point forums, Odesk as well as Freelancer while leveraging on a pool of talented developers.

2. Product photos
A picture speaks a thousand words. And that is exactly why you need to get your products’ photos online to grab customers’ attention. Enlist help from a professional photographer or a friend to put up good looking photos of your products. This will certainly help in increasing sales, if not traffic to your site.

3. Product copy
Your products need good descriptions and not just for customers but for the search engines too. Search Engine Optimization is one topic you should read up on. Rope in a good copywriter and let her dish up tantalizing product descriptions that will catch potential customers’ eyes.

4. Shopping cart software
This is an essential element in your e-Commerce business. Without a shopping cart, your customers cannot purchase your products. Get several quotes from reputable software providers and choose the best based on features and prices you can afford.

5. Merchant accounts
A trustworthy merchant account provider will never fleece you. Try to get one that suits your needs so that you can quickly accept your customers’ credit cards online.

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As an online merchant accepting credit card payments, you have numerous security issues that you must be aware of for the safety of your business and your consumers. At this time, there are two main aspects of credit card security for credit card processing, including “AVS” and “CVV”. Both allow credit card transactions to be completed anonymously over the internet, and any merchant accepting credit cards online should require both forms of information of your customers.

Address Verification Service (AVS)
The “AVS”, or address verification service, is used to determine that the address provided by a customer matches the address associated with a credit card account. This helps generate confidence that the person who is entering the credit card details is the person who owns it. While the AVS is not required to process credit card transactions, when it is provided the transaction processor will send a response back with details of how much of the address provided matches the address on the credit card.

An online credit card payment will not be declined if the address is entered wrong, it becomes the merchant’s decision to decide what to do if the address only partially matches or not at all. You have the option of denying the sale, requiring the buyer to submit additional information, or giving them the opportunity to correct the address submitted, before processing the transaction.

Card Verification Value
The card verification value known as “CVV” and sometimes referred to as the CVV-2, is the three to four digit number found on the back of American Express, MasterCard and Visa cards. This number is never listed on any credit card statements or receipts, so that if an individual has found a credit card statement in the trash, they will not be able to complete a sale requiring the CVV code to be entered for verification purposes. The reason for this number not being listed on anything but the actual credit card itself, is when a customer is able to enter the CVV code, it is looked at by the processor as a strong indication that the customer has the credit card in hand. This increases the potential of the card belonging to the person who is attempting to use it to make a purchase online.

It has been proven that most all credit card fraud done online occurs when a thief has found a discarded receipt or someone’s personal credit card statement. By requiring the CVV code to be entered, an online merchant can significantly reduce that type of fraud from occurring.

If a CVV number is entered and is incorrect, the transaction will be declined by the credit card issuer.

Providing Your Consumers with Top Notch Security
If you are going to be accepting online credit cards payment for your products or services, it is very important that you provide your customers with a guarantee that you’re protecting their credit card information.
Credit card processing typically requires that the customer’s information is transferred about four times, which means there are four instances when someone could gain access to the cardholders details. When a customer first sends the credit card information to you via your checkout or web based form. You are solely responsible for security as the internet merchant, at this stage in the credit card transaction process. Having a secure server and a valid security certificate with the https protocol will protect and encrypt private information you receive from customers.

You will want to be sure that the credit card processing software you use, also known as a payment gateway, for your business is secure by using a reputable processing company with experience in online payments. As customer information is moved in and out of a database through the transaction process, the security must be top of the line and this is ensured by choosing a solid company that offers encrypted software for this part of the process.

Finally, when customer credit card information is viewed or handled by you or anyone inside your company, it is just as important that you ensure security at this stage as well.

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A new mobile payment method
If all goes well, a groundbreaking online e-Commerce payment solution from Verizon Wireless may be on the cards. Together with Danal, Inc., Verizone Wireless is set to launch BilltoMobile this spring. This payment service allows a whopping total of 91.2 million wireless subscribers the opportunity to buy online and bill it to their mobile bill (BilltoMobile… get it?). In other words, whatever they buy online will be charged to their Verizon Wireless bill on a monthly basis. The limitation here is, however, only digital goods can be purchased. Besides that there will be a monthly $25 spending limit so kids who don’t own credit cards do not have to worry about burgeoning mobile or card bills, unlike this 12 year old who racked up $1,400 in debt after going on a spending spree buying up virtual credits for Farmville, a popular Facebook game.

So what is Danal Inc.‘s role in this service? For one, Danal will work with Verizon Wireless while leveraging on their slew of high profile e-Commerce merchant partners. Together they will integrate vital features such as anti-fraud solutions and subscriber authentication for an enriching online mobile payment experience. Parental control is also yet another much-needed feature lauded by many.

According to Ryan Hughes, vice president of business development at Verizon Wireless:

“Verizon Wireless strives to bring its customers services and features they want and that make their lives simpler. Working with Danal will give our customers the opportunity to make direct online mobile payments with the most secure, feature-rich, convenient method available.”

How it works

In order to conduct a transaction, the customer has to locate the BilltoMobile button on a participating website when making a purchase. To login, they need to provide their mobile numbers as well as mobile billing zip codes. Then, after several seconds, a text message containing a one-time password arrives. This passcode is to be keyed into the online checkout window and after doing so, the transaction is deemed complete! It’s amazing that all this takes only a mere 15 seconds, 20 if you’re a little slow in entering the passcode but still, 15 seconds is pretty darned fast!

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There are 4 main elements you need to consider if you want to grow your e-Commerce business. Here are 4 key points:

1. Making good first impressions with your website
Don’t treat your website any less than you would your own brick-and-mortar store. Think of it a major element of your corporate identity, something that your customers will see and remember for as long as you exist in the e-Commerce arena. That’s why you website has to capture customers’ attention and make them sit up and take note of your offerings. First impressions count so you really need to go the extra mile to ensure that your website is professional, has good navigational elements and has a generally appealing look and feel.

An e-Commerce site is not like a personal site. Each element exist to turn visitors into customers and encourage repeat customers to purchase even more from your site. All products should be in the appropriate category with clear descriptions and prices. Don’t forget to display the benefits the customers will enjoy if they buy your items.

With some good testimonials and a strong money back guarantee, you are sure to drive even more visitors to your website. Last but not least, provide plenty of secure options for customers to pay so that they can do so easily and with peace of mind.

2. Create a thriving business with a merchant account
If you feel that sales have been lacking when you first started your e-Commerce website, chances are that you need to take the next step – acquiring your own merchant account. More than 90% online sales are made using credit cards, and if you want to capitalize on this, make sure you apply for a merchant account that lets you accept major credit cards from eager customers. Online merchant providers are not like other providers who specialize in brick-and-mortar businesses. You need to seek them out because only they are able to provide quality services to boost your online business presence.

3. Shop for the right shopping carts and server
Naturally a shopping cart software goes hand in hand with your e-Commerce site. You CAN sign up with free shopping carts but remember, you get what you pay for. Free shopping cart providers do not offer some of the better features your website needs so do take that into consideration. One hint: it would be wise to select shopping carts that do not force your customers to register beforehand.

As for a secure server, you need to spend approximately $150 per year or more to obtain a digital certificate from a reputable company such as Verisign.

4. You can’t go wrong with reputable payment gateways
A great example of a trustworthy payment gateway is Authorize.Net. This gateway acts as the link between your e-Commerce business and payment processors, and you need this in order to get your funds cleared. Fraud can also be eliminated by good payment gateways so be sure to put more thought when choosing a gateway provider.

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