It's Time To Upgrade Your Merchant Account

By Author: Bryan Johnson 1
Total Articles: 19
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The great thing about online retailing is that it's relatively easy to upgrade an ecommerce website. Many online merchants start out with eBay, the 800 pound gorilla of ecommerce. With some success running an eBay store, many merchants upgrade to something more sophisticated, such as a Yahoo store, or they may upgrade to websites with shopping carts from GoDaddy or Paypal. Some will upgrade to sophisticated CMS based websites like Joomla or Drupal. Some even upgrade to expensive custom built websites.

However, for some strange reason, most online retailers never upgrade their merchant accounts. Online retailers tend to treat merchant accounts like doctors, once they find one they trust, they never change, no matter what!

If you haven't compared merchant accounts lately, you may be in for a surprise. There are some new online payment systems with innovative technologies to solve the problems you face as an online retailer. Sure, it didn't matter much back in the eBay days, but now that your upgraded ecommerce website is doing six figure monthly sales, it's time to upgrade your merchant account.

Here are some ...
... things to consider when upgrading your merchant account:

What's the real cost?

Obviously, you want to find the merchant account with the cheapest rate. Even a small percentage difference adds up to a lot over time. However, you have to be careful when comparing rates. Merchant account statements are notoriously difficult to understand. Many merchant account providers, such as PayPal and Costco entice you with low rates, but come with hidden fees. Upgrading on price alone can be dangerous.

Is it PCI Compliant?

Most online transactions work like this: a customer enters their credit card information on your website, which is transmitted to your server, which is transmitted to an online payment gateway, then back to your server. As long as the data moves through your server, according to the Payment Card industry, you are responsible for it's security. PCI Compliance is a costly, time intensive proposition for most online retailers, who are already busy enough running their business.

Does it use the latest technology?

Does your merchant account provider allow you to store your customers credit card information so they don't have enter it each time they make a purchase? Does your online payment system offer a virtual terminal where you can process orders by phone or fax? Do they have the technology to process recurring, subscription or installment billing?

Does it accept foreign currencies?

Accepting payment in foreign currency is more important now than ever before. If you're still not accepting foreign currency, ask yourself this question: In this economy, can I still afford to ignore most of the world's customers? That's why you should look for an online payment processor who makes it easy to accept global payments.

One of the new online payment processors, Braintree Payment Solutions, has developed solutions to these problems and more. Braintree's innovative solutions are being used today by merchants processing billions annually and their unique approach is regularly identified by industry experts as one of the best solutions for PCI Compliance. From the merchant account and recurring billing to remote credit card storage and simplified PCI Compliance, they are a single partner for all electronic payment needs.

When its time to upgrade your merchant account, look to innovative new online payment processors like Braintree.

Bryan Johnson is the author of this article on PCI Compliance. Find more information relating to online payment gateway, and accept global payments here.