Consumer surveys indicate a major shift towards plastic money in the past decade or so. It’s safe to that credit cards are taking over cash payments. Businesses, especially e-commerce merchants cannot afford to lose customers by refusing electronic payment options. This is made possible with a merchant account.

Now, with the variety of merchant account providers available you might feel a bit confused and lost. But with the right information, you will be able to choose just the kind of merchant account provider suitable for your business. Here are some points to consider:

Study their services – Since you will be lost in a sea of merchant account providers offering services for every kind of business, be meticulous in finding the right company suiting your business needs, which has good reputation and reviews. Save time by asking the right questions and for credible references.
Reasonable rates – Understand and review the rates you will be charged for recurring, per transactions and overall servicing. Fees usually depend on the kind of business you operate. High-risk merchant account are charged higher due to the risk involved.

Carefully review the agreement terms with your service provider to make sure there are no hidden fees involved.

Technical tools – Make sure your service provider offers tools to manage frauds and chargebacks and also prevent identity theft by securing customer information. Customer security is extremely crucial with cybercrime on the rise.
If you have been classified as a high-risk business by your merchant account provider, find out if there is a possibility of your business being reclassified into a low-risk category after taking corrective measures to prevent further chargebacks. This will lower your fees considerably.
Monthly processing volume – Make sure you do not have a capped processing volume on monthly sales. You do not want to incur extra fees once you have reached your limit.
All round customer service – Make sure your provider offers excellent customer support. Do not be hesitant to ask questions. If they are unwilling to answer you or offer you technical and functional support on time, move on to the next company.

At the end of the day, merchant account providers play a crucial role in managing your finance. Due diligence is the key to finding the right merchant account provider for your business.

A merchant account is an important account that you required in order to accept online credit cards. If you are planning on running a website that allows you to collect fees from those who visit your site, then you cannot start without merchant account payment processing agreement. If you are running a high-risk merchant account, it is most likely that you will have a hard time in finding out a credit card processing options. As there are only a limited number of providers who are willing to accept such clients and if they do, their rates are often quite high. High-risk accounts include the adult websites, online casinos, and pharmaceutical merchants etc.

It is essential but to have a merchant account that is tailored to fix a business which is deemed high risk or operating in an industry that has been deemed as such. As merchant carries high-risk business such as adult services providers, it is difficult and hard to obtain a merchant account. This is because due to the risks of credit card frauds increment and fake holders with of the high risk is involved. The result is that banks concerned on providing Internet accounts to merchants person, who can then turn to private acquiring institutions to provide them merchant account services.

With the use of merchant accounts, the online companies are able to accept transactions via credit cards. And because of the convenience of having to pay through a credit card, they are able to become profitable quickly and efficiently. However, getting a merchant account is not easy especially if you are considered “high risk.”

With International Bank Services (IBS) we provide standardized and customized High-risk Merchant Account solutions for your Risky Business venture.

Tag: UK High-risk merchant account

How do I find the right merchant account provider for my business?

Setting up a High Risk Merchant Account for Your Risky Venture