Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What kind of merchants do you accept?
We accept all legal businesses wanting to accept major credit cards on their websites and merchants who need a virtual terminal to process orders taken by phone/mail. With our network of acquiring banks we can provide an account no matter what your category is, from mainstream e-commerce to gambling and online pharmacy.

Q: What do I need to start accepting credit cards on my website?
You will need a fully functional online store where you can easily plug-in our script (we give complete instructions). Once your application is approved, we will open a new merchant account for you at one of our corresponding banks in Europe, for which a copy of your passport and, depending on the bank, some additional company documents will be required. Beside that, you don't need anything special to accept credit cards at your business. We approve 90% of applications for European and international businesses.

Q: Is it really worth to accept credit cards?
Well, each business must decide for itself. However, merchants around the world rely on credit card acceptance to:

- Increase sales: In general, your customers can and will spend more with a credit card than with cash or checks.
- Increase credibility: Consumers recognize that a business that accepts credit cards is a legitimate business, one in whom the credit card associations have "endorsed" by allowing them to participate in the credit card system.
- Better customer service: Accepting a credit card is easy and fast, usually more efficient than virtually any other type of payment acceptance.

With ccNetPay payment services, you can afford this additional credibility and increased sales. There is also the fact that we do not charge a minimum fee, nor do we charge you anything when you do not process transactions in a month.

Q: Is it safe to process credit cards over Internet?
Yes, it is safe for you and for your customers. However, there are many precautions that should be followed to minimize risks.

ccNetPay uses the latest version of Secure Socket Layer (SSL) system that requires that credit card data be transmitted from your (or your ISP's) secure server in encrypted form. This ensures that no one can intercept the transaction and obtain sensitive information.

However, there are many other precautions that you are required to take, according to Visa, MasterCard and other card associations. The premier source for this information is Visa's information security site.

Q: Which credit/debit cards will I be able to accept?
You will be able to accept all major credit cards: American Express, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, DinersClub and associated brands and debit cards such as Visa Electron and Maestro. For details please contact us.

Q: What is a merchant account?
A merchant account is simply a bank account that is setup for a merchant. The big difference between a merchant account and a regular bank account is that a merchant account provides support for one or more payment processors such as ccNetPay to deposit funds from credit card transactions made through them.

We automatically open a new merchant account for each new customer at one of our corresponding European banks.

Q: What is a credit card processor (payment processor or payment service provider)?
A payment processor is a service company that performs charges and settlements for credit card transactions. Every credit card transaction eventually goes through a payment processor.

Q: What is a payment gateway?
A gateway is a technical service that will, in exchange for a transaction fee, accept and process credit card transactions from you. Payment Gateways generally provide additional services beyond payment processing such as transaction logging, statistics, automatic settlement, and reporting as well as additional security and fraud prevention filters and risk management from support staff.

Q: What is the procedure of a typical credit card transaction?
Typically, a transaction will take place in two phases, a charge and a settlement. In the first phase a charge is made and money for the transaction is set aside from the cardholders account. In the second phase, that money is transferred from the cardholder to the merchant. In general, the first transaction takes place as soon as the card is submitted, allowing the merchant to quickly secure the funds for the transaction. The second phase takes place later, and is usually done in batches at the end of the business day. Settlements are done in batches because some processors limit the number of settlements that you can do during a certain period, and because it’s easier and more economical to void a transaction before funds are transferred, than to credit a cardholder account after the fact. If you have ever checked your bank statement to find that there is a separate total for what you have and what is available, this means that a charge has been placed on your account that has not been settled yet.

1. A customer provides their credit card information to a merchant. With payment service providers such as ccNetPay, credit card information can be submitted in a number of ways, i.e. the customer types their card information on a website payment form which automatically continues the process. Or he can provide his card information over the phone or send a filled form over mail, in which case merchant manually puts this transaction into process later using a Virtual Terminal.
2. A merchant automatically or manually submits the credit card information to the payment service provider's gateway. When the merchant submits their information to a gateway, then the gateway will in turn submit the cardholder’s information to a processor for approval.
3. The processor runs a check on the card, and will respond with an approval or rejection for the transaction to the merchant or the gateway (who will pass that information back to the merchant). The amount of funds requested will be held on the cardholder’s account, but will not be transferred out yet.
4. The merchant notifies the customer of the success or failure of the transaction. If the transaction is successful, then the merchant will ship products/provide services to the customer.
5. At a later time, usually at the end of the day or week, the merchant (or if the merchant is using a gateway, then the merchant’s gateway) will settle the transactions it has performed that day.  By communicating again with the processor, the funds that were charged earlier are then transferred for the cardholders’ accounts to the merchant’s account. 

Q: How do your services fit in that procedure (linked to previous question)?
When a customer completes an order on your website, his/her credit card information is safely submitted to us. This is done from your website directly using our script modules, or it can be sent from a shared payment form hosted on our servers. Additionally, credit card information can be also submitted manually using a Virtual Terminal. When this information is received, ccNetPay runs a check on the submitted card through bank networks and our sophisticated anti-fraud systems and when done, our software responds to your website with an approval or rejection. If approved, a customer on your website gets an "order complete" message and funds will be secured for a transfer from his/her credit card account to your merchant account. If you are using direct API integration, then all payment pages including an "order complete" page are on your server, which means that you have complete control how they look. Alternatively you can use a payment form hosted on our servers, which you can also customize to your design needs.

Q: Can I accept credit cards on my adult (porn), pharmacy or gambling (casino) website?
Most credit card processors do not offer services for websites of these categories and it's difficult to find a bank that will open a new merchant account for you. With ccNetPay you don't have to worry about that. We accept almost every type of business as long as it is legal in your country. Also, a merchant account will be opened without the need for any special financial documents at one of our corresponding banks in Europe.

Q: What is a high-risk merchant account and can I still use your services as a high-risk merchant?
When your business has a history of bad credit or your category of business tends to have an increased rate of fraud and thus higher possibility of chargebacks (over 1%), your business is marked as a high risk and you cannot obtain a standard e-commerce merchant account anymore. You will need a high risk merchant account at that point. Breaching 1.00-2-00% chargeback rate may cause a credit card processor to suspend all services for you and your merchant account may be closed by your bank and because the risk of dealing with chargebacks is very costly for the processor, such businesses are called "high risk". We accept many such high risk businesses with some conditions, so please feel free to fill out the application form and get a free quote.

Q: Do I need any extra software to start accepting credit cards?
No additional software is required on your behalf. Your online store is already programmed in one of the popupular programming languages (php, asp, cfm...), so you simply plug-in few snippets of the code we give you and you're done. Once set up, you will be able to safely login at our gateway to manage your transactions, merchant accounts and to print statements.

Q: Are there any limitations to a monthly sales volume?
We do not have limitations regarding your monthly sales volume. High-volume businesses are also accepted.

Q: What is a chargeback and is there any fee?
A cardholder may dispute a credit card charge for many reasons, and when they do it is "charged back" to the merchant by the cardholder's bank. The cardholder is within his/her legal rights to begin procedures to dispute the charge up to six months after the date of sale, although in some cases the charge may be disputed up to 3 years after. Fee for a chargeback is 40 EUR. Businesses with a chargeback rate of more than 2.00% are not accepted.

Q: Can I accept currencies other than USD or EUR?
You can accept and process in over 30 worldwide currencies. For settlements, you need to choose one of 4 main currencies: USD, EUR, GBP, CHF.

Q: What is your typical processing fee and how can I get a lower fee?
Our processing rates vary from 3.50% to 5.00% for mainstream e-commerce merchants and from 5.00% to 10.00% for high-risk merchants. Typical start-up processing fee with ccNetPay is 4.50% but it will be chosen depending on the exact type of your business, monthly sales volume, desired holdback period and the percentage of chargebacks. High risk businesses (pharmacy, adult, gambling and bad credit history) always get higher rates due to higher risk factor, which can drop through time. Typical rate for pharma/gambling is 6-7%.

Q: Will I receive statements of all transactions?
Online transaction reporting is available 24/7, providing up to the minute, detailed information merchants can use to confirm payments, identify processing problems, and other issues. You will be able to login to our systems and print out statements yourself or see your entire history of transactions in real-time.

Q: What is your payout schedule?
You will get payed weekly on every Friday. Each week's settlement has a hold period of 5 to 10 business days (e-commerce) or 15 business days (high risk merchants). Hold period depends mainly on your processing history.

Q: Will my business name appear on my customer's credit card statement?
You choose your own billing descriptor. This is a short text describing your business.

Q: I want to apply for your services? How long does the whole process take?
Once you fill out our online application, our team will review your information and contact you by e-mail or phone with further insctructions. When everything is arranged, you will receive a contract which you will have to fill out and send us back. At that point we'll arrange a merchant account with all processing services for your company and send you simple payment modules which you can easily install into your online shop. Whole process should not take longer than 5 - 15 days.