If you are planning to open a new business and intend to accept credit card payments, you would first have to open a merchant account with a merchant bank like Solid Trust pay. But there is the chance of your application to open an account being turned down for the reason that you are a new business entity and especially if you intend to do online sales.
Does this mean that you will not be able to accept credit cards? This would mean losing a large percentage of potential customers especially overseas shoppers and impulse buyers. The answer to this question lies with numerous companies that are willing to accept credit card payments on your behalf for a fee. They would be more expensive than operating your own merchant account with a reputed merchant bank like solidtrustpay, but would help to get your business started on the facility to obtain card payments.
So how do these alternative merchant providers operate?
The merchant account alternative will assume the role of the seller when doing online sales unlike when operating through a merchant bank which only processes card payments. When a merchant signs up with a third party merchant, he will use the alternative merchant’s programs to enter product information and create a link to his website. When a customer goes to the website and makes a purchase he will be directed to a secure site to make the payment. The third party merchant will process the transaction and inform the merchant of the details of the order subsequent to which the merchant will ship the products. The merchant will be paid by the third party merchant periodically as agreed weekly, fortnightly or monthly.
The third party merchant goes through this process by paying a merchant bank as solidtrustpay to use their interface to perform this transaction hence the higher rate on transaction fees.
These third party merchant companies have a very low or sometimes no startup cost involved as against the likes of Solid Trust Pay which is a merchant bank offering merchant account services, where the initial startup fee will be higher. But the transaction fee which will be charged by the 3rd party merchant will be higher than that charged by a merchant bank.
If you are a new business you can benefit by using a third party payment service. It is very easy to get started with and as there is no major startup fee involved you will not lose a large amount of money in the event the business does not do too well. They only charge a transaction fee and will not have any monthly fees levied on you while accepting payments from almost all major credit cards.
If solidtrustpay.com will not provide you with a merchant account you should go ahead with an alternative merchant provider to get your business started. Once you are established visit solidtrustpay.com to open a merchant account which will be more beneficial for you at that point.
In the long run using the services of an alternative merchant provider will be too costly for your business and processing card payments through an established merchant bank like solidtrustpay will see the overall costs reduced because with Solid Trust Pay you are ensured to get the best rates as well as the best service.