Online Credit Card Processing for Your Business

Online shoppers want to get the same benefits from your eCommerce store that they get from brick and mortar retailers. Offering a wide range of payment methods will make your customers feel safe and comfortable and they will increase their online shopping. Accepting credit/debit cards in your online store increases your sales. The problem that many online business owners face is that they are confused by the many choices available and they don't know where to start.

There are two ways in which an online business can accept credit card payments online;

Real time online credit card processing
Here is where the customer submits their payment information and the payment is processed online through a payment gateway. Even though the payments are processed right away, the costs are usually higher.

Card present or swiped
The merchant will collect the card information by swiping the card through a mobile card reader or credit card terminal. The costs involved here are much lower than card not present or online transactions.

For a business to start accepting online debit and credit cards, they first need to have an online merchant account and payment gateway. And just like any other business decision, you have to adequately research before selecting a provider that you feel is right for you.

Setting up an online merchant account that is quality and secure is critical if you want to launch and operate a successful business. You can avoid unnecessary fees and charges if you find a provider that understands how to set up an online merchant account correctly and understands the needs of your business.

A merchant account may have cost implications like set up fees, application fees and minimum monthly fees. It may also take up to a month for your account to be fully set up and one has to be patient. Depending on your credit history, your application may or may not be approved and you will need to estimate your sales volumes to know the approximate number of transactions you will expect per month.

When shopping for merchant account providers, you may choose to go with your local bank of one of the many available online merchant account service providers. If you already have an offline credit card processing merchant account, then you can just ask your provider to add an online processing feature to your account.

Online payments for medical billing
Medical payments via credit/debit card will help reduce the headaches of bill collecting from patients and processing them. A merchant account gives your patients the freedom and flexibility of making payments in various forms. The system works in a very simple way; the client pays using their credit/debit card, the payments get processed immediately and. There are many available credit card processing systems that are customized specifically for medical billing and come with other features that make your billing work easier.

Law firms
With the growing trend of accepting payment through credit and debit cards, attorneys and law firms that are looking to accept credit card payments have a lot of available options in the market. There are providers that offer services that are specifically tailored for attorneys and are even endorsed by associations but a firm is also free to use the standard credit card processing services that are available to the other businesses. For those lawyers who have reaped the benefits of accepting credit card payments from their clients, they have realized that it is one of the ways of attracting and maintaining clients.

Mobile payments
Mobile commerce and e wallets have recently emerged as the standard payment of the days to come; merchants are trying to position themselves for tomorrow by trying to meet the demand for mobile credit card processing.

Whether it is accepting credit cards through a mobile devices or accepting mobile payments via a Smartphone, mobile credit card processing has become prevalent and will continue to grow in its usage and adoption.

The capability to accept credit cards through a mobile device gives your business the flexibility of accepting remote payments with ease and securely. Merchants can easily process real time transactions from any locations as long as they are connected to the internet.