Thread: Accepting Credit Cards & Checks

I am looking for advise on credit card accepting sevices. We want to be able to accept credit cards and checks over the phone via an online terminal for the products we sell. Can anybody give me advise? What or who is the best company to work with? We sell anywhere between $10,000.00 to $30,000.00 worth of merchandise a month.

Why not sell online?

VH has a merchant account available to it's customers in the US. You should look into it.

If you aren't intending to sell online, how about checking with your bank and set something up with them? At least compare their prices.

Hi Bethers:
I plan on having an jonline store someday but right now we just need a to be able to accept credit cards over the phone. I just dont want to make a bad choice.
Thanks for your reply. If you get a chance check out our site and let me know what you think. How would you improve. Also if you would; Why is google not indexing us?

Why don't you just get a credit card machine from the bank. They all have numbers on them so you can manually enter the number into it. (Unless that doesn't work, but im assuming it does)

If you only want to accept credit cards manually - then, I go back to my original answer - talk to your bank (and it's what Watdaflip just said also).

As to your other questions - if there are no links anywhere on the internet to your site - the search engines aren't going to be finding you or spidering you often. You can read the ebook - last link in my signature for some help with optimizing. For example - your page title isn't going to do you any good as it is now. Read that - then if you have questions - look to the appropriate room and threads here and ask there.

If you want a site reveiw, I suggest you ask for one in that room. If you've already got one going - find it and put in a message that you'd like people to look again - don't start a new one :)

Hi... Saw this thread and thought I'd ask a question also... I utilize Pay Pal.. How can I accept checks....Is that available in the VH merchant account??.. Thanks Doug

Doug,
You'd probably need to put in a support ticket to find that out.

Paypal will allow people to pay my check - so you already have it covered - just remember that you need to wait for the checks to clear :)

I believe PayPal does the E-check and it usually takes about four days for them to clear.

If you already have a merchant account (to do business of the volume you mention, you must already have one), you need only to call your processor to ask them which gateway they use (AuthorizeNet, iPayment, etc.).

Once you know which Gateway to use, you can enter that into your shopping cart settings (Soholaunch, osCommerce, etc.), pay your processor a small additional fee per month to join your existing account to enable online funding (the Gateway fee), and make full use of online account management.

Anything else is over-complication and confusing.....Whatdaflip was steering you in the right direction: go first to your existing relationships and ask questions to see how they can help you "expand"......(using the correct terminology helps too, and allows you the advantage of not being taken advantage of! LOL)

Thanks Everyone... I'll be looking into the check handling in more detail soon.. I truly appreciate your insight and input... Doug

Dougnez and Morgantiry,

It just so happens that I am a Regional Account Executive with Advanced Merchant Services…corporate offices in Jacksonville, FL. I can get you set up for the credit services and check services you want.

We currently have a promotion running that provides FREE Terminals and NO Contracts to qualifying merchants. You may email me your contact information at mybizusa******.com.

Can you beat 1.81% standard CP and 2.28% total online CNP with $0.10 transaction fees?

As a Florida Inc. banking in FL, I could be interested.....but I like to know who I am addressing most of the time first!

Newbie question, and I have been reading to see if this question has been answered.
I am filling out the form to buy hosting with VodaHost, and it asks me if I want the SSL certificate and dedicated IP address for security of accepting credit cards and paypal (?), then on the Website Builder program it has little buttons that automatically add the paypal and credit card connection? Is that a secure line, too? I am not understanding the difference. I am starting a site to sell an ebook and various products down the road. Hope sales will be big, but wont' be to start I presume. Do I need the SSL certificate to start... I do want my customers to know they are using secure lines of course. Please explain the diff?

Having a Merchant Account of your own, either as part of a previously established business or a brand new one (if you submit a Support Ticket to VodaHost, they will reply with a Preferred Vendor for you to apply for one), you can opt to use this instead of PayPal in a shopping cart foundation (which has it's own advantages over a Blue Voda created website) and keep financial continuity overall in your business, as well as enjoy lower discount rates from what PayPal charges.....which are not the lowest, despite the simplicity of using them and their well-known and trusted Brand name.
> If you look in a post or two above, a fellow VodaTalk member is actually a credit card processor, and has offerd some rates and fees to consider and to give you a better feel for the big picture!

A SSL certificate is a "Seal of Approval" in the eyes of consumers, as they are only granted to bona-fide businesses which have maintained the compliance of providing proof of identity and so on that provides the consumer with the assurance that the website they are going to buy on is not a scam or that their info will not be stolen or mis-used. A SSL cert on your site certainly makes the distinction that you can be trusted and do business right, and is the rock-solid credibility you are looking to build with visitors from the get-go.

So, you can have the complete design ability preserved by using Blue Voda to create a site the way you want to, but as you might begin to realize, Blue Voda only can integrate a payment system like PayPal. Shopping carts or other eCommerce solutions allows you to use a true Merchant Account (in addition to PayPal) that generally has lower fees and rates than PayPal and more opportunities on the back end to manage your business with the various applications each Processor provides, but customizing the look-and-feel of carts is more difficult than using Blue Voda.

Either solution ideally should have an SSL cert applied, and keep in mind that you need a dedicated IP account (added cost), and that the SSL cert is applied to only 1 domain name, which needs to be the Primary domain name of that account (1 dedicated account, 1 domain name per account). There are other solutions for multiple domains, but they are not economical for most users, called "Wildcard SSL" so I won't go into that.

How to choose?
A. If you plan on doing more than $2000/month, you should really look into getting a Merchant Account, as the rates and fees PayPal charges are ridiculous.
B. If you want to be totally free to design a website the way you want to, then Blue Voda is the way to go, and adding PayPal is simple.
C. If you want the rich features of a shopping cart and still have the control of the design aspect, then you will need to find a 3rd party cart like MALS or eCart that you can install into Blue Voda, a possible additional monthly cost for subscription/license.
D. If you want the solid foundation and rich features of a true shopping cart that you can easily "customize" I suggest you start with Soholaunch (offered free at VodaHost), and use either PayPal or a Merchant Account.
E. If you are looking for a secure, robust, and complete shopping cart eCommerce solution, then I would steer you to osCommerce which also allows either Paypal or a Merchant account, but will take a considerable amount of commitment and effort to learn and manipulate.

Both Soholaunch and osCommerce have Templates (a few Free) that you can use to change the look of the cart, and which you can further customize as well. Again, this is not the easiest of tasks, and is another investment of your time and learning you must consider.
(There are ways to pay to have it done for you, but not everyone has budgeted for this)

Best Advice?
Sit down and really make not only a website Plan, but a Business Plan, and using these you will see clearly what you will need to incorporate in your design and how your operational design emerges as well. You will find with this refined understanding that you may have the choice actually dictated for you!


Good Luck!

Hey KarenClark1,

I'd be glad to speak with you about setting up a Merchant Account. My company's rates are highly competitive and I can explain the security issue for you. You can email me at mybizusa******.com My office is in the Birminham, Alabama region.

Thank you both. I will be in touch, Muzicman, when I get sorted out.

Easier to bump like this (to keep this at the end of the thread, since most people look at last posts only) as it answers many questions outright....

Originally Posted by Vasili

Having a Merchant Account of your own, either as part of a previously established business or a brand new one (if you submit a Support Ticket to VodaHost, they will reply with a Preferred Vendor for you to apply for one), you can opt to use this instead of PayPal in a shopping cart foundation (which has it's own advantages over a Blue Voda created website) and keep financial continuity overall in your business, as well as enjoy lower discount rates from what PayPal charges.....which are not the lowest, despite the simplicity of using them and their well-known and trusted Brand name.
> If you look in a post or two above, a fellow VodaTalk member is actually a credit card processor, and has offerd some rates and fees to consider and to give you a better feel for the big picture!

A SSL certificate is a "Seal of Approval" in the eyes of consumers, as they are only granted to bona-fide businesses which have maintained the compliance of providing proof of identity and so on that provides the consumer with the assurance that the website they are going to buy on is not a scam or that their info will not be stolen or mis-used. A SSL cert on your site certainly makes the distinction that you can be trusted and do business right, and is the rock-solid credibility you are looking to build with visitors from the get-go.

So, you can have the complete design ability preserved by using Blue Voda to create a site the way you want to, but as you might begin to realize, Blue Voda only can integrate a payment system like PayPal. Shopping carts or other eCommerce solutions allows you to use a true Merchant Account (in addition to PayPal) that generally has lower fees and rates than PayPal and more opportunities on the back end to manage your business with the various applications each Processor provides, but customizing the look-and-feel of carts is more difficult than using Blue Voda.

Either solution ideally should have an SSL cert applied, and keep in mind that you need a dedicated IP account (added cost), and that the SSL cert is applied to only 1 domain name, which needs to be the Primary domain name of that account (1 dedicated account, 1 domain name per account). There are other solutions for multiple domains, but they are not economical for most users, called "Wildcard SSL" so I won't go into that.

How to choose?
A. If you plan on doing more than $2000/month, you should really look into getting a Merchant Account, as the rates and fees PayPal charges are ridiculous.
B. If you want to be totally free to design a website the way you want to, then Blue Voda is the way to go, and adding PayPal is simple.
C. If you want the rich features of a shopping cart and still have the control of the design aspect, then you will need to find a 3rd party cart like MALS or eCart that you can install into Blue Voda, a possible additional monthly cost for subscription/license.
D. If you want the solid foundation and rich features of a true shopping cart that you can easily "customize" I suggest you start with Soholaunch (offered free at VodaHost), and use either PayPal or a Merchant Account.
E. If you are looking for a secure, robust, and complete shopping cart eCommerce solution, then I would steer you to osCommerce which also allows either Paypal or a Merchant account, but will take a considerable amount of commitment and effort to learn and manipulate.

Both Soholaunch and osCommerce have Templates (a few Free) that you can use to change the look of the cart, and which you can further customize as well. Again, this is not the easiest of tasks, and is another investment of your time and learning you must consider.
(There are ways to pay to have it done for you, but not everyone has budgeted for this)

Best Advice?
Sit down and really make not only a website Plan, but a Business Plan, and using these you will see clearly what you will need to incorporate in your design and how your operational design emerges as well. You will find with this refined understanding that you may have the choice actually dictated for you!


Good Luck!