There are two main ways to collect credit card payments online. You can get a merchant account yourself, or you can do a third party merchant account. There are many different merchant service providers available. We have chosen three who we feel are the best in price and service.

What's the difference between a third party merchant account and your own?

Own Merchant Account

Having your own merchant account gives you great flexibility and benefits. For starters, your customers will not be required to sign up for an account through a third party (such as Paypal) to pay you for your products or services. Depending on the solution you choose, you can take credit cards through many methods, such as over the phone, Internet, in person, wirelessly and by fax. Getting a merchant account also comes with countless benefits, and it will generally cost you less than a third party account. Most companies provide 24/7 customer service for immediate assistance. You will usually have less issues with the risk department since your application for an account goes through an underwriting process before getting approved. This helps ensure a smooth process rather than having accounts frozen or funds held due to questionable transactions.

You can also provide a much more professional image, such as having your own business name and phone number show up on your customer's credit card billing statement. Lastly and most importantly, a merchant account can provide a seamless integration with your web site, with features such as collecting credit cards without having the customers leave your web site. We recommend Gotmerchant.com for your own merchant account and here is why....

Our first merchant provider we signed up with lured us in with amazing rates and customer service. After just a few months of being with them they increased our rates up, put a 10% reserve on our account without telling us, and lied about the category our transactions fell into. They claimed over half our transactions were non-qualified which meant close to a 5% fee per sale. While researching providers, we realized that many companies used the same tricks to gain business. However, we found one company that is different. Gotmerchant.com is committed to providing personal service and competitive pricing. They have an excellent reputation and have been in business since 1998. If you wish to signup and get started accepting credit cards, then please fill out the following merchant application form.

For more info on rates, advantages and disadvantages keep reading...

Third party merchant account. This is a great option with no extra costs other then the fees, which are pretty reasonable.

Paypal is a third party merchant. They store the credit card numbers that charge your clients. With a third party merchant account, you basically go into your account, click "create item," decide how much to sell that item for, and decide if its going to be a recurring charge or not. Once you decide all that, they give you a link to provide your customers with. We believe paypal will never be shut down due to is size, power, and the fact it does background checks on the accounts they issue through bank account verification, along with many other security checks. Your customers can pay without having to join or have a Paypal account.

Benefits and Disadvantages

Paypal

Paypal is the quickest way to start collecting payments and millions already have a paypal account. Paypal has a VERY strong member base. Even if you have your own merchant account it would be silly not to also take payments using Paypal. Over 15% of our sales are done through people who refuse to use anything but Paypal. A big benefit with Paypal is that you can have a debit card sent out, and have instant access to your funds! Paypal will run the shopping cart for you so it's hassle free, and no coding knowledge is needed. There are no monthly fees with Paypal since you are only charged when you sell. Paypal allows you to deposit earned funds into your bank, spend them using a debit card, or request a check. If you plan on only having a paypal merchant account keep in mind you will be losing sales due to the fact many countries aren't supported by paypal, and some people won't signup with you if they only see paypal. (They might think of you as an unstable company due to you not having your own merchant account with someone like Got Merchant.) Another benefit of paypal is that it integrates fairly well into the free billing manager we include as well as others like modernbill.

Gotmerchant.com

Advantages to Gotmerchant.com include competitive pricing, your own personal account manager, 24/7 customer service, and fast email and phone responses. Gotmerchant.com is a name you can trust and a member of the Better Business Bureau. Please visit their web site for complete pricing information and reasons why you should choose Gotmerchant.com for your credit card processing needs.