Accepting Payments Online Without a Merchant Account

Within a year after purchasing two credit card processing terminals, one for $350 and the other for $1,000, accepting payments online became much easier. Using web-based payment processing services, those terminals are no longer needed.

There are still reputable online services that require you to have your own merchant account to access their services, but there are far more companies that act as payment processors and maintain their own merchant accounts. Payment processors allow you to run your payment transactions through their accounts for a fee. Those fees are generally less than the cost of getting your own merchant account and quickly pay for themselves.

The growth of identity theft on and off the Internet to access your personal information and steal your wealth is growing at alarming rate. To help these issues, most payment processors provide valuable services to merchants to protect their private information. Most online credit card processors use encrypted website payment forms that not only protect the personal information, but also instill a strong sense of safety and satisfaction among consumers to protect their interests. The nominal costs are well worth the increased revenue that the online merchant can generate.

Listed below are some of the most popular payment processors, their strengths and general benefits.

PayPal - By far the most well known and feature-packed processor. Purchased by eBay in 2005, PayPal is free to create an account, includes: recurring payments through subscriptions, accepts credit cards, eChecks and transfers between accounts, option to set up multiple sub-accounts for allowing others in your office to access your account, monthly and annual statements, a Money Market Fund, personal, premier and business accounts, online payment button maker, encrypted button generator, instant return to your website after payment, a marketplace for you to shop for services that accept PayPal, option to list your services in the PayPal Shops and much, much more.

ClickBank - Deals primarily in electronically-delivered goods such as eBooks, MP3 music files, software of all kinds. Initial selling price limit is $50, although you can request higher limits once you establish a relationship with ClickBank by running sales through them. Setup fee is $49. Transaction fees are some of the lowest in the industry. Includes a marketplace where you can search for products and vendors who you would be interested in selling their products as an affiliate.

2CheckOut (2CO) - A well established credit card processor, which is an online distribution center for over 300,000 products and services. It provides a customizable transaction interface, multi-level customer service interaction, security features using SSL encryption network and anti-fraud measures that verify each transaction before funds are released. Merchants are then notified when suspicious transactions are made. You can get started immediately with no hassles of term contracts, additional equipment and can deal with international suppliers, with the exception of some prohibited products.

e-gold - Only accepts e-gold, not credit cards, checks, or any other form of payment. You must use a currency exchanger to fund your account and withdraw funds from your account. This is the favorite processor of many services such as High Yield Investment Programs (HYIP) since there are no charge-backs and all payments are final. Additional website software is required to get recurring payments. However, many other services also accept e-gold for payments due to the fact that it is a universal currency that can be utilized anywhere in the world without limitations.

e-gold is backed by physical gold and changes value according to the gold market. There is a small storage fee for having funds in your e-gold account. Creating an account is fast, free and secure. The included security options can be set to alert you whenever someone tries to access your account from a different IP address or even a different browser than the one you use.

Website Managers Custom Website Designs, Programming and Technical Consulting

Get Paid to Help Us Prevent Foreclosures

Copyright © 2006 Website Managers, LLC. You may reprint this article providing that this copyright notice and all resource links all remain intact.