Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Credit Card Processing Explained

By Wade Henderson

Whether you work online, offline or both ways, there will be a period in your business life when you will decide the possibility of using credit card processing.

Having credit card processing is a decision that may be easy for you to make. What makes it more complicated is selecting a merchant provider of accounting because this decision may have greater repercussions in your bottom line.

Unfortunately, not all merchant accounts are the same. Soon you will learn that lenders have different approaches to rates, fees, and limits without mentioning customer service. Finding the right combination is crucial for your business.

Here you will find the process and some especial considerations that will allow you to find the most appropriate solution.

The first step is when a customer makes a purchase using his or her credit card, either from our store of your website.

The software captures the information regarding the customer and the sale and it will later transmit it to the acquisition bank.

Then, the software will transmit the information from the credit card and the amount of the purchase to the bank where the acquisition was done.

The acquisition bank will later request authorization from the emitting bank. If it is accepted the acquisition of the bank transaction is processes and it is sent one more time for approval.

The funds are then transferred from the emitting bank to the merchant account.

The funds are then transferred from the customers' account to your business account.

One of them is the first-time fee that is charged only once to get it started. There are also transactions fees that are paid by the seller on every transaction.

First, there is a fee that is charged once at the beginning to get the system started. There is also a transaction fee that you will have to pay for every transaction made. Additionally there can be a Discount rate which is a percentage that you will also have to pay on every sale you make. Some credit card processing companies will also charge a Rate of return which is a percentage of your monthly sales and it is kept in reserve in case of fraudulent transactions.

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