Merchant Account Or Payment Gateway? Comparison Between These Confusing Terms

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Merchant Account Or Payment Gateway? Comparison Between These Confusing Terms

When you are paying for a purchase at the grocery store, the gas station or even over a website with your credit card, have you ever thought about the reason you have to wait? You know, when your card is being processed. Where is your information going, how does the whole transaction work? Most people don’t care much about it, but the whole thing is actually pretty interesting when you take the time to think about it. This article will show you exactly what happens to your account number and other personal information once a transaction is initiated.

Merchant Account Transactions

When you are at a store, and your credit (or debit) card is swiped, your information is then forwarded to a processor at the company who issued a merchant account to that particular business. Within a short small amount of time, your information is checked, the transaction is approved or denied, and the transaction is complete. It happens pretty quickly in most cases, and business pay a price for this. Fees vary, depending upon the total number of transactions that are typically done in a month and the type of transaction: swiped card, manually typed in, or no card present. One the system of checks and balances is completed by both the business and their merchant account issuer at the end of the night, money is transferred into the business’ account, minus the fees.

Payment Gateway Comparison

When you make a purchase from a website, a payment gateway is used. This is a much more complicated process (hence the reason you may wait so long for after you click the “submit” button). Basically, your information is encrypted, sent to the business who then sends it to their bank, who sends it to your credit card company who then issues a response, which is forwarded back to complete or decline the transaction (Are you lost yet? It can be a confusing process). An easy way to think about payment gateways are that they are a connection from an online website to a merchant account. The biggest issue with payment gateway is the security of your private information. Of course, companies go to great lengths to make sure that your private information stays just that. After all, it is their reputation and your future business at stake!

As you can see from this merchant account to payment gateway comparison, there is really a lot going on while you are standing there waiting to check out. Think about that when you next make a credit purchase. it usually happens so fast, even via the Internet, that your transaction will be done before you get through the process yourself!

Merchant Account, Payment Gateway, Payment Processor – An Introduction to Accepting Credit score Cards

admin    Technology     Accepting, Account, Cards, Credit, gateway, Introduction, Merchant, Payment, Processor, Score

Merchant Account, Payment Gateway, Payment Processor – An Introduction to Accepting Credit score Cards

In today’s market it is necessary for a company to accept credit cards. Credit cards are the most frequently applied payment process in most of the formulated planet, and certainly in the United States. Not only do payment cards make it simpler for shoppers to shell out for items, they also have numerous benefits for businesses whom accept them. Some of these benefits consist of: fraud detection and prevention, no far more returned checks, income is quickly deposited immediately into the businesses’ financial institution account, bigger security over dealing with paper currency, and ease of accounting. Getting card processing for a enterprise, on the other hand, can be a daunting process due, in aspect, to the studying curve and jargon affiliated with credit card processing. This write-up is intended as an introduction to the three principal facets of credit card processing: the merchant account, payment gateway, and payment processor.

A merchant account is a exceptional form of bank account offered by a financial institution that permits a organization to accept payments by way of credit score cards, debit cards, and electronic checks. The account can be imagined of as a virtual bank account that accepts electronic income. Usually a company will get a merchant account by means of an settlement with a merchant companies firm. A merchant providers business is a business which normally resells these accounts from greater banks, sets up contracts with payment processors, resells or delivers payment gateway solutions, devices, and is fundamentally a a single-cease-store for credit score card processing.

A payment gateway is an online system that fundamentally will take the spot of a conventional card swipe terminal. A normal payment gateway permits the business to log in securely to their on-line terminal, fill out a virtual terminal kind with a clients payment facts, and charge credit cards on the web. Payment gateways also generally provide a programming API that permits on the net enterprises to simply integrate credit card processing with their on the internet purchase types and purchasing carts. When a card is charged employing a payment gateway the data is securely forwarded to the payment processor for verification and, if verified, the consumers card is debited and companies merchant account is credited for the payment total. As with any approach of processing there is commonly a minimum of 24 hours before the funds are actually deposited into the merchant account.

A payment processor is perhaps the most critical facet of card processing. It is a monetary institution, distinct from the merchant financial institution, that processes credit score transaction information. Processors supply pre-authorization, submit-authorization, fraud prevention, and refund services to corporations that accept credit cards. They are also responsible for the distribution of money amongst people and companies. The merchant bank merely acts as the recipient of the money from the payment processor. A payment processor can be thought of as the “plumbing” that connects a credit card in a buyers hand to the last recipient of that payment.

I hope this short primer assisted you realize some of the fundamentals of credit score card processing. While quite standard, understanding these three fundamentals will undoubtedly help you steer clear of pointless confusion when talking with merchant companies companies. Thanks for studying.

Ecommerce Essentials: A Merchant Account and Payment Gateway

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Ecommerce Essentials: A Merchant Account and Payment Gateway

If you are just starting an ecommerce business, searching for a merchant account and a payment gateway should be top priority. Together a merchant account and payment gateway will enable you to accept online payments in the form of credit cards directly on your website. There are myriad options for both merchant accounts and payment gateways, though they can vary greatly.

What is a Payment Gateway?
A payment gateway is the online equivalent of a point-of-sale system (like a credit card machine) in a brick-and-mortar store. When an online shopper selects “Pay Now” on a website, their payment information is passed through your secure server to a payment gateway, which serves as a liaison between your bank and the customer’s bank.

What is a Merchant Account?
The details of the transaction are then sent from the payment gateway to your merchant account. Your merchant account bank requests authorization from the customer’s issuing bank to complete the payment. The issuing bank then will either authorize or reject the payment and send the details of the authorization through the payment gateway to your website and the customer.

Hybrid Solutions
There are a handful of services that offer hybrid solutions that combine a payment gateway and merchant account into an all-in-one service. The advantage of doing so is the entire process to authorize a transaction takes just a few seconds; however, the cost of using such a solution is often slightly higher than if you were to obtain a payment gateway and merchant account separately.

What to Look For
Whether you opt for a hybrid solution or a separate merchant account and payment gateway, you should always research prospective options to find one that fits your needs. No matter what you choose, here are a few key features to look for:

Account Management
Compatibility with your site’s shopping cart
Encryption capabilities
Fraud prevention and security features
Hidden fees and payments
Reporting features
Startup costs

Since every ecommerce business needs to accept online payments but has its own unique needs, it’s important you research various options to find one that can best meet your company’s payment needs.

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What is the Difference Between a Merchant Account and a Payment Gateway?

admin    Technology     Account, Between, Difference, gateway, Merchant, Payment

What is the Difference Between a Merchant Account and a Payment Gateway?

If you decide to open an ecommerce store, you are going to have to become familiar with merchant accounts and payment gateways. In order for you to receive funds from an online transaction, you will need to have some sort of merchant account. Although your bank can probably provide one you should plan on paying dearly for it. If you do not want to do this you can check into the more popular ecommerce merchant accounts available online. With ecommerce becoming so popular, gaining a merchant account has never been easier.

Payment gateways act as a sort of go-between for the sellers shopping cart and the financial institutions involved in the transaction. Gateways are not visible to the shopper and handle the transaction between your customer’s financial institution and your merchant account. This is all done behind the scenes when the customer clicks “buy it now” or enters the checkout.

There are also third-party credit card processors such as Paypal. They do charge more per transaction but there is no monthly fee. This is best if you are just starting out in ecommerce and are unsure of how the payment process works. Almost everyone has a Paypal account. Once you are on your way to becoming an established business, you will want to check more thoroughly into merchant accounts and payment gateways to save money.

All transactions go through the payment gateway. They provide information to and from the buyer’s and sellers financial networks. Once this is done, the money from the seller’s account goes into your merchant account.
It is extremely important that you check the differences in rates before choosing a payment gateway and merchant account. Don’t settle on the first company you come across. Do some investigating or you may end up losing money and fast. Check the services and the rates for both payment gateways and merchant accounts. Ultimately you will want to get the most services for the most reasonable amount of money. That doesn’t always mean the cheapest. You often get what you pay for and that goes for ecommerce as well.

There should be no hidden fees involved in any type of merchant account or payment gateway. Fees should be laid out for you to see. If you do not see a complete list of charges that would be incurred, do not use that service. There are reputable services and not so reputable services so know what you are getting.

Merchant accounts act on behalf of the seller whereas a payment gateway is an information port for all of the financial networks involved in the transaction. This includes the buyer and the seller. Businesses must have both a payment gateway and a merchant account if they are not using a third-party service. Without a merchant account a seller cannot receive money from an online transaction. Without a payment gateway, the transaction cannot take place at all. This is the major difference between the two.

North America’s leading offline and online payment processor for debit and credit card processing offering merchant account services, and payment gateway. Accept Credit and Debit Card Payments with our POS equipment.

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4 Common Questions Asked About Getting A Payment Gateway Account

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4 Common Questions Asked About Getting A Payment Gateway Account

Before getting a merchant account you need to find out the answers from these questions: What are the benefits of getting a payment gateway account? How much is the cost in getting one? Is it more beneficial to the customers or the merchant? Where can I seek assistance in getting one?

To those who are new in online business, a payment gateway account is essential for accepting payments through credit cards. Transactions can be done smoothly for both sides. Before getting one, you should be familiar of the FAQs about payment gateways accounts, here are the following.

What are the benefits of getting a payment gateway account?

Know the benefits first, before going ahead and get one. The payment gateway is great for businesses which are just new, it allows you to instantly start accepting credit card payments and skip the process of maintaining first a positive credit card history. If your business permits you a larger than average transactions through credit cards, the payment gateway can minimize the time it takes to process all those deals. With more time saved, the more money can be earned and set aside for other expenditures. With a payment gateway, you can strictly monitor and protect yourself, your customers and your business from fraud. It would immediately contact you once any of your customers reported of a lost or stolen credit card. This can significantly avoid any charge-backs.

How much is the cost in getting one?

You should be aware of the fees you have to prepare in availing a payment gateway account. You will be asked for the service costs of the credit card transaction processing. The calculation of this charge however will vary, like one payment gateway may use a certain amount of percentage on the product to be taken while some may have a fixed amount of fee to some purchases. Others services you might be charged of are withdrawals, reversals, and charge backs so make sure these are clearly stated on the user agreement before signing in for a payment gateway. For sure, the usage of a payment gateway can an some expenditures for your online business, so some merchant might have second thoughts in getting one. It takes away a percentage from the sales you made and can be a big disadvantage for those you can’t cater an ample amount of credit card transactions.

Is it more beneficial to the customers or the merchant?

The payment gateway is a an essential tool for online businesses and the best part is both the customers and the merchants can take advantage on it. It has benefits for you, your customers, as well as your business itself. Be vigilant on how heavy your credit card transactions are. The more credit cards you are catering to, the more you can make use of the payment gateway account.

Where can I seek assistance in getting one?

If you decide on getting a payment gateway account, you can ask all the relevant details and features about it through a customer service representative. There you can ask him about the processes involved, technical support, the different fees and etc. . Also know if you may need a retail merchant account in addition to this. A third-party service may be involved and an additional sum of money mas be required for each transaction.

Although it can man additional expenditures, you can clearly witness after some time how the payment gateway account has been a great help for your business.

Gary Albert: An Account Of A Renowned Copywriter

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Gary Albert: An Account Of A Renowned Copywriter

In the line of copywriting industry, only a few can be considered to have effective hands. Not all can write as compelling as those who have mastered the art because of natural talent and through experience.

People who have unparalleled skills in web copywriting may be referred to as the main pillars of Internet businesses. With their ability to manipulate words, they can direct people, alter traditions, and influence in the transformation of the society.

Internet copywriters are one of the highest-paid professionals in the land. It’s because they play a very essential role in the promotion of Web industry.

Being utterly distinct from offline copywriting, web copywriting has molded its own customs. It evolves in a different language and tone. For this reason, only few individuals successfully make their names in the field of web copywriting.

One of these people is Gary Halbert. He is an expert marketer and a remarkable copywriter. Being a genius in his field, he has made hundreds of unbeaten sales letters. Also, he is a respected figure in direct marketing. He gets paid with a large amount of dollars just to speak in seminars, conferences and other public appearances.

It was in the 1980’s when he started with the “Gary Halbert Letter”, in which he asked from his readers for a little charge. But still, his readers did not mind it; they were still willing to pay a little amount so they can read his works. Halbert discusses various topics which he uniquely links to his business.

Gary Halbert has a unique writing style. His discussions cover a variety of useful facts. For that, his audience has a lot to learn from him. However, Halbert is noted for some of his old fashioned preferences. An example is his belief that his customers should reach him over the phone when placing an order. He does not recommend over-the-internet purchases. He could have been rational if the Internet is still something new to the public. But in our society, the Internet is already very prevalent because of the convenience that entails with it. Even surveys reveal that more people prefer online buying over other methods available.

There are sources, however, that point Gary as “borderline illegal”. It was said that Gary abused his overpowering skills in writing to take advantage of his readers. In the 1980’s, sources report that Gary began selling info products which he failed to literally deliver to his customers. He never brought the products out but he kept the cash.

When the police came to arrest him at his house, where his operations are mainly based, Gary reasoned out that the orders were all stolen and that he cannot give away refunds.

When he was set off from jail, he was asked by Jay Abraham to speak for him. Abraham knew that Gary couldn’t refuse because he needed the cash. With their set-up, Abraham gained a solid reputation.

Gary did not regain his former status of being greatly admired; but some people claim that it was because Gary himself did not want to.

The story of this renowned copyrighter did not end there. He is distributing free copies of his most compelling newsletters with no charge. There is no need to register to anything — all is absolutely free. You can log on to his website and check them all out.

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Alert – Pip Android Doubling Forex Account Live

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Alert – Pip Android Doubling Forex Account Live

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It’s called Pip Android and you owe it to yourself to take a look at it right now.

We built Pip Android using proprietary “trading” algorithms that gives it the power to exactly mimic the trading style of our experts.  The system uses a unique multi-market trading technology that lets it work in all markets. Using Pip Android is like having a veteran Forex Top Gun trading your account 24 hours a day – 5 days a week.

Here’s the kicker .

You don’t have to take my word for it.

You can watch Pip Android trade a real account. Live here:

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Pip Android can pull off real-time profits because it’s been designed to succeed at all costs.  This Robot doesn’t know how to fail.  With over 74 years of Trading experience built into its DNA, it can’t help but double your account every single month.

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Social Media Marketing Best Practices Brent Mclean Is An Account Director At Alterseekers, Inc

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Social Media Marketing Best Practices Brent Mclean Is An Account Director At Alterseekers, Inc

Social media has become the new battleground where brands have opportunities to fight for the hearts and mindshare of consumers. While social media is a relatively new phenomenon, it has been hailed as the most important shift in communications technology and media since the advent of the Internet itself. Participation in social media has skyrocketed into the hundreds of millions of active users and is increasing and spreading into broader demographics. People are spending an increasing amount of time (hours on average) on sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and also on blogs. Social media sites are increasing and everyday people are reconnecting with old friends, finding new ones, building business relationships, sharing their photos, videos, and thoughts on their lives, the world, and even the brands that they use.

Whether or not you’re tracking and following the conversations, your customers are talking about you online via their social media networks. They are writing about what they like as well as what they don’t like.

The brands that are successful in this new world of social media are those with a solid social media strategy for how to actively participate in the conversation around their brand. Consumer brands like Starbucks, Webkinz, Cold Stone Creamery, and Burger King have built awareness, preference and general goodwill among consumers through active social media marketing efforts.

But is social media marketing all just warm and fuzzy? Hardly! Blendtec achieved a five-fold increase in blender sales with a viral video series “Will it Blend.” Starbucks uses its “My Starbucks Idea” site (powered by the Salesforce.com Cloud) to generate and vet valuable product and promotion concepts. Dell estimates that their social media efforts create about million in revenue. Comcast set up the “@comcastcares” Twitter account to actively monitor and respond to customer complaints and requests – for a vastly better customer experience – which leads to increased retention and better word of mouth. Social media efforts can generate real business value and results, and those results and be tracked and measured.

But for every social media marketing success story, there are hundreds of failures. So many companies have gone to the effort of launching social media sites, but created boring, lifeless pages on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, and blogs that no-one is paying the slightest attention to. Why? Simply put: poor planning. These companies jumped on the bandwagon of social media marketing without developing an adequate plan with business goals and metrics and a relevant creative strategy, and their efforts simply died on the vine.

So who wins in social media? The brands that make a big splash seem to follow a pattern:

Start with a clear objective

If you don’t know what you want your customers to do, then how can you expect them to do it? If you don’t know what your business goals are for your social media marketing efforts, then how can you drive toward them and how will you know when your efforts have worked? You need a social media strategy. You need to set goals, create tactics, measure, and adjust. Slapping some social media pages together is not a plan.

Offer something of real value

Your customers engage in social media to enrich their lives. They are happy to interact with your brand, if you’re giving them valid reasons. Starbucks has 3.7 million Facebook fans on this principle alone! They regularly offer their customer fans coupons and other cool stuff, and it absolutely works.

Show your human side

Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun Microsystems, achieved 400,000 visits per month on his blog merely by being honest and human. He was open with his thoughts and opinions and allowed his readers to post comments with the same openness. People respond to human connections over social media. The more real and transparent and the more personable your brand can be, the more you will win in this space.

Entertain

Let’s face it: social media is fun. We share our wacky stories with our friends and family. Likewise, we invite companies and brands into our personal conversation if they’re fun! Burger King gets recognized for their outrageous promotions like the Whopper Sacrifice application in Facebook where users could “sacrifice” ten friends from their list in exchange for a free Whopper. Successful brands have found that they can show a more fun and edgy side in social media than in other channels, and be rewarded accordingly.

Engage in the conversation

Your customers are talking about your brand, and they’re doing it via social media. Shouldn’t you be a part of that conversation? Starbucks embraced this principle with MyStarbucksIdea.com, where users can submit their thoughts and ideas and see progress on what’s being done with those ideas. Many brands monitor mentions of their name online and respond to customers who need help or have a complaint. When done correctly, customers appreciate this level of support and interaction, and retention and referrals will improve accordingly!

Track & Measure Sales Impact

The point of social media marketing is to make money. You can’t manage what you don’t measure, so track everything and make sure you’re responding to the information you’re receiving. We’re living in real time and social media has never been so demanding of instant gratification and response.

Earn while you learn

If you’re not making money, then you shouldn’t be in marketing. I’m not talking the hard car salesman here, but everything you do should track back to how it impacts your sales. If something’s not driving sales, then figure out what needs to change. You’re never going to bat 1,000, but the more profitable your marketing efforts are, the more “at bats” you’ll get from your company.

For more information on Social Marketing, please download our Free Webinar on Monetizing Social Media: How Do You Make Money with Facebook and Twitter.

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Gmail Adds Warnings for Suspicious Account Access

admin    Web Marketing     Access, Account, Adds, Gmail, Suspicious, Warnings

Gmail has added a new security feature to identify suspicious logins to your account. Using the broad geographic region of IP addresses logging in, Google says, “a login appearing to come from one country and occurring a few hours after a login from another country may trigger an alert.” The red alert bar displays above the email box:

The feature is activated by default and will be coming to Google Apps customers soon. This may be a little inconvenient if you travel a lot, but you can click “Ignore” on the warning and move on with your life. If you’re not traveling, or are worried about the activity, the “Details” link shows the geographic areas of the last several logins. If you think your account has been hacked, you can also change your password from that screen.

But . . . is it just me, or does this example (the first paragraph from the blog announcement) seem a little . . . out of context?

A few weeks ago, I got an email presumably from a friend stuck in London asking for some money to help him out. It turned out that the email was sent by a scammer who had hijacked my friend’s account. By reading his email, the scammer had figured out my friend’s whereabouts and was emailing all of his contacts. Here at Google, we work hard to protect Gmail accounts against this kind of abuse. Today we’re introducing a new feature to notify you when we detect suspicious login activity on your account.

I got one of those emails a few weeks ago from someone I knew wasn’t traveling, and I’ve seen the same scam attempted on Facebook always—asking for money in London. The hackers don’t care where you are—but if you were actually in London, this new feature wouldn’t help, since it wouldn’t look like suspicious activity to Google (if the user had already established they were in London) or the user (if they checked the warning flag) at all.

Regardless, the new feature is a nice (although by no means comprehensive) way to track suspicious account activity.

What do you think? Is this feature useful, or more likely to get in the way?

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Google Adsense Disabled the Entire Account!

admin    Google Optimization     Account, Adsense, Disabled, Entire, google

The darkest nightmare a hardworking affiliate webmaster fears is receiving a dreaded Google Adsense Warning, or even worse, a notice that Google Adsense has been disabled for the entire account. The notice starts out like this:-it has come to our attention that invalid clicks have been generated on the ads on your web pages. We have therefore disabled your Google Adsense account. Please understand that this step was taken in an effort to protect the interest of the AdWords advertisers.”Some webmasters use Google Adsense to generate 100% of their website income and the account may hold many different websites. In that case, every website is disabled at one time. An automatic disqualification can be devastating, especially when Google has no obligation to explain its decision in detail. Advertisements can cost a good amount of money, especially for popular blogs, for more details visit to www.instant-adsense-dollars.com if a company is able to secure such a space, it can benefit from the publicity, and you, moreover, can benefit from the advertising fees that you set but blogs aren’t the only way to make money online. You could open an online store. You could sell things on eBay. EBay is the world’s most popular auction site, with thousands of users buying, selling, and trading every conceivable item every day.Not only does the account become disabled, but also existing click-through earnings are refunded back to the advertisers.Life gets tough, but is it that easy to get an account banned? Yes it is.The terms of service every Google Adsense Webmaster accepts, describes the easy do’s and don’ts.Do use the Adsense approved formats onlyDo keep your click-through data and income private.Don’t display Adsense on registration or thank you pages.Don’t use Adsense code and a competitor’s content-targeted advertisement on the same page.The easiest method an account can be banned is by a Webmaster clicking on the site’s own ads.Just how many click-throughs are needed to get a site banned isn’t exposed, for more details visit to www.google-atm-machine.com but Google Adsense watches for multiple clicks from the same domain. One person was banned who clicked twice from the same domain within a 24-hour period. That doesn’t mean that is Adsense policy, because Adsense appears to place suspect sites on watch status until the action is duplicated.Spikes in click-through percentages are hefty red flags. Those are the changes worth becoming proactive over by emailing Google Adsense. A site that rises from a consistent 1% click-through rate to a 10% click-through rate on one day could become suspect. The actual percentage that creates the flag isn’t made public for obvious reasons.What’s the safest way to protect an account?Don’t click on the site’s own ads ever.Deceptive practices work for a short time, but they always come back to hurt the originator.

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